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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.software
- Path: sparky!uunet!psinntp!spunky!jfr
- From: jfr@redbrick.com (Jon Rosen)
- Subject: Re: PasteUp released?
- Message-ID: <1992Jul29.045114.5523@redbrick.com>
- Organization: Red Brick Systems, Los Gatos, CA
- References: <1992Jul21.155133.11884@doc.ic.ac.uk> <1992Jul21.184839.3353@digifix!uunet.ca>
- Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 04:51:14 GMT
- Lines: 58
-
- In article <1992Jul21.184839.3353@digifix!uunet.ca> sanguish@digifix.com writes:
- >James Grinter writes
- >>
- >> Basically what I would like to know is, has PasteUp been released in
- >> the US yet? A dealer here in the UK says July 30th, but before they
- >> told us June 30th, so what could be happening?
- >>
- >> Secondly, if it has been released in the UK, what is it like? Can it
- >> do all that Glenn Reid (thanks for some early info Glenn) assured me
- >> it it would be able to?
- >>
- >
- > I just called RightBrain and was told they hope to be shipping by
- >Friday...
- >
- > The most unfortunate thing is that capabilities of PasteUp have been
- >kept in the dark for the most part. I guess that protects RightBrain from
- >having other companies steal their ideas before they get a chance to ship.
- >Unfortunately, in my case, it meant that I had to make a decision today about
- >whether I would purchase FrameMaker or PasteUp. Do to the fact I have used
- >Frame before, and I have not used PasteUp, I went with Frame. :-(
- >
- > Hopefully, come mid-september, october time frame PasteUp will be out,
- >widely reviewed, and I will upgrade/sidegrade to it.
- >
-
- At the BANG user group meeting in June, there was a demo of PasteUp. The
- demo was quite exciting and holds much promise for the future. At that
- time, we were told the product would be shipping by the end of June (which
- was less than 20 days away). At the end of the demo, I asked if I could
- "pilot" for a while. I brought the system down four consecutive times
- doing relatively trivial operations (trying to rotate a text frame,
- enlarge a font size, etc).
-
- I mention this, NOT to slur RightBrain or Glenn, but rather to point out
- that small software companies (as well as larger ones) can get too
- aggressive in trying to get to market with a product that simply isn't
- ready. I asked about the obvious serious errors that my simply "touch-
- tests" had uncovered and I was told that, yes, there were a few bugs
- left to get out, but that they were sure they would still make their
- ship date. Well, I don't know about RightBrain, but fixing these bugs
- (which were NOT minor or cosmetic but effected major functions in the
- product) was probably not simple, and more importantly, fixing them
- would leave insufficient time in my books for testing of the fixed code.
-
- I sympathize with RightBrain's plight. I was there myself back in the
- 70s and early 80s, trying to keep my company financially solvent while
- fixing the last major bugs in a new piece of software. But it is
- important, nee CRITICAL, for the first release of a major new product
- to at least do 99% of the things beginning users will ask of it without
- any bugs. You don't generally get a second chance.
-
- I look forward to PasteUp. But I hope when it is released, its FINAL
- source code version (the one with the final bug fixes that will make
- the release) will be tested for at least a month. That will insure
- a stable product.
-
- Jon Rosen
-