I too agree that this would be an excellent way to
handle these kinds of firmware releases. Those of us
who aren't squeamish about alpha and beta code can go
ahead play, and the more conservative types can wait
until it is moved to a "released status" area. This
approach effectively satisfies everyone.
I have no doubt some basic smoke testing should have
caught the recent problems with the firmware version;
it is however very hard to test all ?real world? user
activities in a lab environment. But on the other hand
having a small army of end users poking at it is very
effective way to achieve meaningful testing without
having a huge software QA department that a small
company can't really afford.
Also as Paul pointed out it should be made very clear
that the status of what you are downloading is clearly
defined. That will set the appropriate end user
expectation so that they can choose whether to load it
or not.
Duane
N9DG
--- WA3FIY <wa3fiy@radioadv.com> wrote:
> Yes Paul, that sounds like an interesting and
> effective way of
> upgrading the firmware. Of course, the big question
> is, how
> does it sound to the guys at Ten Tec? :-)
>
> Anyway, I don't mind trying out the new stuff at
> all. So far
> though, others have beat me in finding the bugs!
> :-)
>
> -Lee-
>
>
> On 26 Aug 2002 at 15:54, Paul Christensen wrote:
>
> > One solution is to post new software/firmware as
> "BETA TEST ONLY." If
> > you're up to it, download the software and be part
> of a group who is
> > willing to test drive it and record and report any
> imperfections to
> > Ten-Tec. I suggest that Ten-Tec place a
> conspicuous disclaimer on
> > beta releases that by downloading the beta
> software, "user agrees to
> > use such software at his or her own risk and user
> further agrees to
> > indemnify Ten-Tec from any actual, consequential
> or incidental
> > damages." In fact, this language should accompany
> ALL
> > software/firmware downloads. Once Ten-Tec
> receives reasonable
> > confirmation that the software/firmware is
> working, they would move it
> > from beta to safe download status. Seems pretty
> simple to me.
> >
> > Paul, W9AC
> >
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