Biggest Issue with D - Definition and Versioning

[Sean Cavanaugh]

Hmm my experiences are similar for 90% of companies, though I have seen 
some exceptions (Perforce is receptive of feedback and bugs, Certain 
divisions of Microsoft are communicative, but not MSConnect).   The 
common denominator for communication looks pretty simple to me:

If there is anyone between you and the developer on the other end, it is 
doomed to be a black hole.   MSConnect is a form-letter 'your bug is a 
duplicate, we can't reproduce it, and please test it in our new version 
for us so we can fail to fix it even though we know about it', but 
working directly with divisions in Microsoft is much possible (i.e. 
console support for programmers working on XBOX is stellar for instance, 
completely the opposite experience of reporting bugs to MSConnect).


On 1/16/2012 10:32 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 1/16/2012 12:00 AM, Gour wrote:
>> Recently I was evaluating one CMS written in one popular Python
>> framework and after reporting bug which makes it unusable for even
>> simple page layout, hearing nothing from the developer and then seeing
>> it's fixed after more than two months, it was not difficult to abandon
>> idea to base our sites on such a product.
>
>
> Your other ideas are well considered, but I have to take issue with this
> one.
>
> I have submitted many, many bug reports over the decades to Major
> Software Vendors with well supported software products.
>
> How many times have I gotten anything other than a robo-reply?
>
> zero
>
> When my company has paid $ in the 5 figures for "premium" tech service,
> what is the response to bug reports?
>
> nothing
>
> -- or --
>
> that's not a bug
>
> -- or --
>
> you're a unique snowflake and nobody else has that problem
> so we won't fix it
>
> How many times has a bug I reported ever been fixed, even waiting a year
> for the next update?
>
> zero
>
> I take that back. One time I got so mad about this I contacted the CEO
> of the Major Software Vendor (I knew him personally) and he got out a
> crowbar, went to see the dev team, and (allegedly) thwacked a few of
> them. The bug still never got fixed, but I got an acknowledgment.
>
> This has obviously never impeded anyone from using their software tools.
>
> It's also why:
>
> 1. I never bother filing bug reports to Major Software Vendors anymore.
>
> 2. With Digital Mars products, anyone can file a bug report with
> Bugzilla without needing me to acknowledge or filter it.
>
> 3. Anyone can read and comment on those bug reports.
>
> 4. I think we've had great success using Github and allowing anyone to
> fork & fix & publish.
>
> I know our response to bug reports is far from perfect, but at least we
> aren't hiding under a rock.
>
> It's also true that if a company wanted to bet the farm on D, and were
> willing to put some money behind it, their concerns would get priority,
> as full time professional developers could get hired to do it.