In article ,
Dan BEst wrote:


Expecting the developers to add in code to check for rare events like
this just doesn't happen.

Sorry, but I'm a developer and I ... when you manage 10-20 billion
dollars' investments..

Yeah, I kind of bristled at that one also. I'm a developer too, and
produce software for medical labs. Because of the potential liability
involved (not to mention peoples health), our customers are pretty picky
too. I actually spend much of my time developing interfaces between the
analyzers in the lab and our system. Diagnostics are designed in from
the ground up. There's nothing worse than when something doesn't work
and it doesn't give you any clue as to why it's not working.

--
Dan Best
s/v Tricia Jean, Tayana 37 #192

Ahhh, but there is a GIANT difference between what RayMarine firmware is
designed to do, and what your Multi-Million Dollar Investment Software,
or your Healthcare software is designed to do. RayMarine is a "Consumer"
level Firmware system, and needs to fit in caparativly Small Codespace,
when balanced against the Stuff you guys are writing. Why would ANYONE,
with any sense of software smarts, expect to get anything more from
RayMarine, than they get from their Whirlpool Washing Machine, or their
Kitchen Stove? These are Consumer Products, of limited Production runs,
and your expectations are for Mission Critical Software.... Does anyone
else figure these guys are just whiner's......

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

Bruce in alaska wrote:

Ahhh, but there is a GIANT difference between what RayMarine firmware is
designed to do, and what your Multi-Million Dollar Investment Software,
or your Healthcare software is designed to do.

Bruce, I'm not trying to get into any kind of a ****ing contest or
anything, and I certainly accept your point. When you are creating a
product, there are a lot of things you have to balance (not the least of
which is the sales end of the organization's desire to get it out the
door yesterday). Also, features sell the thing, while great diagnostics
will only enhance your reputation among a relative small group of
technicians, resulting in few, if any, additional sales. Often times
though, those same diagnostics save money in the long run. It's just
hard to sell that to the company exec's.

As to the code space requirements, I just don't buy that. Sure, there
was a time when I counted clock cycles and bytes (back in the early '80s
when I was building machines with embedded processors), but those days
are long gone. At the scale we are speaking, memory size and processor
cycles are basically available for the taking.

All that being said, I agree with you that it is bad form for someone
who has a problem with an installation he did himself to seek bargaining
power with the company by posting videos, etc. without ever bringing an
expert in to go over the installation.

RayMarine is a "Consumer"
level Firmware system, and needs to fit in caparativly Small Codespace,
when balanced against the Stuff you guys are writing. Why would ANYONE,
with any sense of software smarts, expect to get anything more from
RayMarine, than they get from their Whirlpool Washing Machine, or their
Kitchen Stove? These are Consumer Products, of limited Production runs,
and your expectations are for Mission Critical Software.... Does anyone
else figure these guys are just whiner's......



--
Dan Best
s/v Tricia Jean, Tayana 37 #192
http://home.comcast.net/~triciajean192/

On Feb 1, 12:40 pm, Bruce in alaska wrote:

Why would ANYONE, with any sense of software smarts,
expect to get anything more from RayMarine,
than they get from their Whirlpool Washing Machine, or their
Kitchen Stove?

I didn't buy my kitchen stove to help me navigate.

wrote in message
...
On Feb 1, 12:40 pm, Bruce in alaska wrote:

Why would ANYONE, with any sense of software smarts,
expect to get anything more from RayMarine,
than they get from their Whirlpool Washing Machine, or their
Kitchen Stove?

I didn't buy my kitchen stove to help me navigate.



Don't be modest... LOL

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On 2008-02-01 15:40:43 -0500, Bruce in alaska said:

Ahhh, but there is a GIANT difference between what RayMarine firmware
is designed to do, and what your Multi-Million Dollar Investment
Software, or your Healthcare software is designed to do.

Bruce, I have no real disagreement with you or even what you were saying.

But to some programmers, it doesn't matter who is paying the bills. We
pride ourselves on writing code that any damned fool can run and debug
after we leave.

Because pretty much anyone that follows *will* be a fool. [Sorry for
being so non-PC, but I know my abilities, and I really AM that good.]

I'm most proud of the sub-systems that I've written that others have
co-opted without *any* involvement on my part.

I'm even more proud when none find a way to screw things up -- as long
as they leave my code untouched. When they "adjust" my code, they
invariably screw up.

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/