Very Computer

You're probably wrong.  Or IBM is retarded.  From reports I've heard,
OS/2 March beta is full of bugs.  There is no way they can magically
clear that up in a month.  If they do release on June 1, call OS/2
DEAD.

Ian.

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Well, since the 2.1 beta on the "March" CD-ROM bears file date/time
stamps in February, it's a safe bet that the folks in Boca had already
done a few more builds internally before any of us got the CD-ROM  (at
least that's my guess).

What's more worrisome is the Cringely rumor report that IBM figures that
2.1 is so stable that the final release won't be tested outside the
company (or, more likely, I would guess, in the labs and at a few large
accounts elsewhere).  If this is true, I do think they could be headed
for trouble...  It's not like Microsoft didn't do a considerable amount
of testing on, for example, DOS 6, but even that didn't make the release
entirely trouble-free...

My two cents...on a day when <crash & burn> I got to rebuild my desktop
from scratch (nothing like seeing that gray screen background and the
tutorial coming up at'cha again to put a smile on your face!).  Now, if
I could only get the seamless 8514 drivers to believe they're really
seamless (the seem otherwise inclined :)

Joe

Associate Professor of German | Hamilton College | Clinton, New York

Most of the bugs reported about the March beta seem to center around the
new INI file format.  Each new version of the makeini patch IBM released
has made the system much more stable.  I suspect once these problems are
worked out, 2.1 will be very stable.  The question is, have they worked out
all the bugs from the new INI file format?

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Heeren Pathak                      | Millions long for immortality who do

Mitre Corporation                  | on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
(617) 271-7465                     |                    -- Susan Ertz
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Disclaimer: Mine not Mitre's.

First, I will remind you that I not a programmer.

It has been said that OS/2 2.1 march beta is too buggy for may/june
(Comdex) release). I would think that some bugs can be very annoying
for a lot of users, but still not too difficult to fix. Others might
be less annoying, but harder to fix. Am I right in that assumption?

I I am right, could it be that the bugs in the march beta is mainly of
the first kind? (An IBM'er who should be well informed, told me that
he thought that IBM would be released 2.1 end of may/beginning of
june, based on the version of 2.1 that he has access to. But he also
said that quality is their first concern, so they will not set an
official release date before it is ready.)

Olav Torvund
University of Oslo
Norway

: > Brian Powell writes:
: > I just spoke to an OS/2 rep from Boca who said that OS/2 2.1 will
: > *definitely*
: > be shipping on June 1.  He said not to tell anyone he told me though, so
: > I won't mention any names...
: >
:
: You're probably wrong.  Or IBM is retarded.  From reports I've heard,
: OS/2 March beta is full of bugs.  There is no way they can magically
: clear that up in a month.  If they do release on June 1, call OS/2
: DEAD.

Actually, I've been running the March beta for a few weeks now and it
has been *very* stable for me.  After I installed the latest fixes
(from around 4/20/93), the system has been just fine.  I think that
the biggest bugs have been squashed and what's left are just a few
small installation and configuration problems that should be trivial
to fix.  With that in mind, June 1 does not seem at all outrageous...

-- Brian

o------------------------The Ohio Supercomputer Center------------------------o

o------------------------"My other computer is a CRAY"------------------------o

Quote:>I think that
>the biggest bugs have been squashed and what's left are just a few
>small installation and configuration problems that should be trivial
>to fix.  With that in mind, June 1 does not seem at all outrageous...

I hope the two "small" installation problems that made it hang on disk two
until I turned the AOX card off, and then reformat my external harddrive (when
asking it to reformat C:) because it didn't recognize the internal drive at
all, are fixed or are "trivial to fix".

Otherwise I know someone who will live on the Dec beta until 2.2 is released.
   _
/Bjorn.
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Claimer: I speak for myself.    // Trollnasvagen 3A  Intl:+46 920 226870
// Keeper of the OS/2 archive   // S-951 61 Lulea    Natl:0920-22 68 70
// at ftp.luth.se (130.240.18.2)// Sweden

Quote:>: You're probably wrong.  Or IBM is retarded.  From reports I've heard,
>: OS/2 March beta is full of bugs.  There is no way they can magically

the 498g is full of holes ... how do you know that is the latest build?

Quote:>: clear that up in a month.  If they do release on June 1, call OS/2
>: DEAD.

If I were a betting man (however I dont have flat odds), I would say that
OS/2 2.1 will be ready for spring comdex ...

Quote:>Actually, I've been running the March beta for a few weeks now and it
>has been *very* stable for me.  After I installed the latest fixes
>(from around 4/20/93), the system has been just fine.  I think that
>the biggest bugs have been squashed and what's left are just a few
>small installation and configuration problems that should be trivial
>to fix.  With that in mind, June 1 does not seem at all outrageous...

actually all fixes are a bit more extensive than just a few K of code.
With the 498g build, there were still some problems with the .ini files
and how they leaked/corrupted memory and especially the cache.  I think
that most of these fixes are known and have been addressed in the last
couple of weeks.  rumor has is that it is remarkably close for release.

-Bob-

Bob Angell                               | Data Integration (multi-platform)
Principal                                | AWK, C/C++, RDBMS langs, Paradox
Management Systems Engineering           | Health Systems Engineering
Applied Information & Management Systems | Database design/development
1238 Fenway Avenue - SLC, UT 84102-3212  | Simulation/Modeling/Neural Nets

IBMLINK:DEV4534, TEAMOS/2                | OS/2 2.x Application Developer

      [Disclaimer:  I don't speak for IBM or the University of Utah!]

Quote:>What's more worrisome is the Cringely rumor report that IBM figures that
>2.1 is so stable that the final release won't be tested outside the
>company (or, more likely, I would guess, in the labs and at a few large
>accounts elsewhere).  If this is true, I do think they could be headed
>for trouble...

My experience with beta programs (managing them, not participating in them)
show that a very small portion of the testers report a very large portion
of the bugs. Let's imagine that IBM has identified 100 external customers
who has reported some 90% of all the bugs reported on OS/2 2.1. Of course,
others have reported those bugs, too, but these 100 customers give a 90%
coverage.

In this scenario, which is not at all unreal, IBM should be able to do
testing using a small amount of customers. Also, given that IBM have been
able to identify all (or most) of the bugs reported in the March beta, as
they say they have, we are talking regression testing only. It has been a
while since IBM stopped enhancing 2.1, with better messages and whatever.
Right now, it's bugfixing, bugfixing and (you got it) bugfixing.

I believe that IBM is getting it right this time. I believe OS/2 2.1 will
be great. And, I believe it will be June. Early June.

Eirik

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Hmmm, I don't suppose it crossed your mind that they might be working
pretty hard, and have actually dealt with those bugs already. If you
want to call it magic, OK. After all, MS said IBM would never make
seamless Win work under OS/2, so perhaps they can do magic.

I don't doubt there will be a few bugs in the release version. Is
there a piece of software that doesn't contain a bug? But I think they
are committed to making 2.1 as bug-free as possible.
--
Tom Hatton

(415)-476-8693

They are as a matter of fact. I spoke with one of the engineers,
and he informed me that they get build drops about once a day, if
not more, with many of the reported problems addressed in each
build.

...Paul

--
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            Bureaucracy: noun, plural - Bureaucracies.
         The process of turning energy into solid waste.
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Cranking up the rumour mill - it has been whispered that there will be
one more wide beta, specifically to trying to catch INI problems. This
would put off release until about July, but I'll take that if it comes
out with bugs "de minimus."
--
Tom Hatton

(415)-476-8693

[...]

Quote:>You're probably wrong.  Or IBM is retarded.  From reports I've heard,
>OS/2 March beta is full of bugs.  There is no way they can magically
>clear that up in a month.  If they do release on June 1, call OS/2
>DEAD.

>Ian.

I've recieved reports saying Elvis is still alive, so I know at least
he isn't dead :-)

Leo

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