1.0 ??

[Georg Wrede]

1.0?

Does that imply a simultaneous 1.0 for D and DMD??

Suppose they were decoupled. Then we might decide on D 1.0 (say in 
December) and from there go on with fixing library issues, *installing* 
issues (especially on Linux), and even try to create a package that 
strives to be as good as Shrink-Wrap, i.e. simply work out of the box, 
and be somewhat usable regarding GUI development. Say, in March.

In the meantime we could polish DMD, interact with the GDC guys to get 
the two exactly alike, and then maybe even write some example code with 
more user value than the current printf-Hello-World style examples.

---

I recently talked with a CIO (who was somewhat familiar with D), who 
said that "short of taking a snapshot of D and sticking with it, there's 
no way we're gonna start using a moving target as our base, no matter if 
it's ten times as good as the next language." And he didn't seem likely 
to go the snapshot way.

The implication being that 1.0 or not, what a company needs is 
stability. Stability in code, tools, programmer knowledge (as in hiring 
and firing folks), a developer community specifically knowledgeable with 
the problems of the _current_ version, a community developing and 
maintaining up to date libraries targeted _precisely_ at the current 
release, and of course a conviction that the current state of affairs 
will continue for a reasonable amount of time (i.e. a belief in 
everything not becoming obsolete in three months, be it due to a super 
cool new version or simply code-breaking upgrades).

So,,, we need to create an _illusion_ of stability. This might be by 
publishing 1.0, and at the same time separating the newsgroups into two 
distinct areas:

  - faq
  - learn
  - issues
  - general
  - howto

and otoh:

  - future.general
  - future.issues
  - future.brainstorm
  - future.roadmap
  - future.implementation   ( = down-to-earth view on new things)

Or some such, anyway.

We might also promise to not publish a new (stable) version within 12 
months of 1.0. (This may really be a more important promise for the 
customers and prospective developers and consultants than we here 
realize just off-hand.)