CompuServe Messages

Bill, You have a warped view of what happens when a bug is reported. I can assure you that a developer who is insistent on putting his own program and his own method above a bug fix, while other developers have successfully done the same operation in acceptable ways that do not break, will soon find himself inundated with folks telling him not only to bug off, but telling him how to bug off and still get the job done. You know, a while ago, someone from CBM made a statement about a certain field in the Gadget structures, and claimed that it would completely change meaning in the next release. I objected, strongly, not because I had used that field in any way, but because I knew that some developers had used it in ways that were going to break a lot of code, and that their usage was, if not entirely kosher, at least reasonable, given the way it was documented. I got flamed royally for that criticism, from a number of developers, both in public and in private, and virtually noone would admit that they had used that field in public. The end result? A decision was made to go ahead and use that field for its new purpose, but only in conjunction with the assignment of a meaning to a previously reserved bit in another field, that had been very specifically documented as reserved. What does it all mean? I had made my comments, not as a developer, and not as an authority on gadgets, but as a person who had noticed a possible problem that did not have to make it into the next release. Everyone, including those who had flamed me and those who suported me, were happy with the result. You do not have to be a certified developer in order to comment on things. Get involved if you feel strongly about it. Pay the money if you want to test the new stuff, or show by your actions that you are very good at testing and perhaps they'll waive the fees. -larry