[ic] stable interchange-4.7.x.tar.gz + adjusted docs

[Ed LaFrance]

At 09:22 AM 04/05/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>On Thu, Apr 05, 2001 at 12:27:46AM -0400, IC-Admin wrote:
> >
> > Hi Jon (Jensen),
> >
> > Mike said the stable interchange-4.7.x.tar.gz version will be out
> > within two months, will the documentation already have caught up with all
> > new features ? You said that much more or different documentation
> > will be out with 4.8.x. Which version will that documentation refer to
> > ? To version 4.7.x or to again newer developments within 4.8.x.
> >
> > Is there be a "vacation summer break" in between 4.7 and 4.8, so
> > that we get chance to catch up and get docs and versions in sync ?
> >
> > I wished the Akopia/RedHat team would take some time out and just
> > relax in the sun. It's really hard to know when to jump on board for
> > someone who has the luxury and option to wait. What's your advice ?
> > When will be the time, where docs and version will most probably "be
> > whole" again ?
>
>
>I suspect that is never going to happen.  It's partly the nature
>of perl and partly the nature of commerce.
>
>It's also partly the rapid growth of ic.  There is a core,
>there is a UI, there is a presentation system (templates)
>that is mixed in.  There is "construct" which has taken on
>a life of its own.


[snip]

In my former life as a corporate weenie, I wrote technical documentation, 
so I understand this qwandry all too well.  The product is ever-changing, 
the dust never settles.  There is always a reason to wait, there is always 
a big burst of changes coming up, "and after that we'll get the docs in 
order"...there was as much confusion inside the company as out, sometimes.

I'm not criticizing here, I'm saying I totally understand why Interchange 
is in such flux and why the docs are so far behind.  I'm also saying that 
after six years of living that way, I firmly believed that is was not the 
best way to manage a product - and I still believe that.

- Ed L.




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