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Re: [TenTec] Orion and O II Firmware Update?

To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion and O II Firmware Update?
From: "Barry N1EU" <barry.n1eu@gmail.com>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 21:39:58 +0000
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 8:39 PM, Rick Denney <rick@rickdenney.com> wrote:
>  Everyone who does
> software for a living has had to make the transition from hobbyist
> coding, where you fix bugs as they appear including the ones you
> accidentally caused with another fix, to commercial coding, where the
> product has to demonstrably fulfill requirements in rigorous testing.
>
> Judging from what I read from Orion owners, Ten Tec has been going
> through this transition.
>
> Elecraft follows a different model--and the changes fly. As long as
> the software coding team maintains strict change control, they will
> probably minimize those side effects. But at some point, they will
> have to declare that the software fulfills all their intended
> requirements and has all the features that they intend to provide, and
> then reduce their effort to fixing bugs only. That will assuredly
> happen when they want to develop a new model, as they will surely have
> to do when Sherwood Labs finds another radio on the market with 1.2 dB
> better dynamic range, etc. This may happen early if one key person has
> a health problem, or gets divorced and takes an industry job, or
> decides to retire, or goes under a bus. Then, the change control will
> have to shift to a new model. Ten Tec has already made that shift to
> corporate software management, it would seem, (as have most of the
> other major manufacturers). They apparently feel that releasing
> software without rigorous testing violates the lessons of the past.

Rick, I think you have some good points in there but I honestly don't
get the thrust of what you're saying - that Ten-Tec has a more mature
system of control over change release because they don't release
changes?  That Elecraft is eventually going to drive off a cliff
because they release successful changes at a rapid pace?

(I love both the Orion and the K3 by the way)

73,
Barry N1EU
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