[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Executor schedule
>>>>> "Ziv" == Ziv Arazi <zivarazi@aol.com> writes:
In article <4j4vuv$2te@newsbf02.news.aol.com> zivarazi@aol.com (Ziv Arazi) writes:
Ziv> Now that Executor is *almost* beta, is there a rough estimate
Ziv> of when it wil be in beta 0, 1, 2 etc. ?
If we absolutely had to start selling Executor 2 today, with no other
improvements I think we'd have a product that would sell enough to
allow us to start paying off some of our debt (engineers are
expensive) and hire some more engineers.
On the other hand, if we polish Executor 2 up a bit, I think we'll
sell *more* copies and have less tech. support expenses.
So the question is when do we hit diminishing returns on the polishing
aspect so that it makes sense to start shipping and increase revenues
to increase the number of engineers. Some of that is based on how
many major bugs we have left, some is based on how long it will take
to secure releases for the shareware we'd like to put on the CD-ROM,
but I think the answer is that we're close enough to start the beta
process Friday, March 29.
Beta0 will be a CD-ROM that we make about 12 copies of and send them
to preselected beta-testers. It will be laid out exactly like we want
Executor 2 to be laid out. This is not the version that we will send
people who paid extra money to get a beta CD-ROM because since it is
the first beta, it's bound to have some pretty nasty flaws (there are
some other legal reasons, too). We hope to have the beta0 master
done on Friday with all the copies made and shipped out via 2-day air
on Monday April 1, coincidently April Fool's Day.
April 17 we hope to have beta1 mastered. That release will go to
everyone who received beta0 as well as all the people who paid extra
money to receive a beta CD-ROM. If immediate feedback on beta1 is
good, we'll also be shipping this version to reporters and to people
at Apple.
If no showstoppers are found with beta1 by the time the UPS person
drops by here on Friday the 26th of April, we'll ship a master disk
for replication to the disk duplicators. It will be byte for byte the
same as beta1 except a few places where we'll have changed the
identification strings from "Executor 2-beta1" to "Executor 2.0". If
there are showstoppers, we'll build a beta2 and send that out widely
and use it as the master, etc.
All new features will have been added by the time we cut beta0. The
only features that are still to be written are:
done SCSI removable media fix
Big HFV support in makehfv
Caps Lock fix
Browser facelift
Windows hot Key detection for saving/restoring + suspend/resume events
done dangerous video hack
800k disk detection (if possible)
After beta0 is out we'll concentrate on testing, fixing showstoppers
and documenting other bugs. Melissa has written a 32 page mini manual
(first draft will be sent with beta0) and we'll fine tune that as well
as some electronic documentation and our packaging.
NOTE; When beta1 has been mastered (tentatively April 17), the
pre-beta prices will no longer be good and the student/educational
discount will dissappear entirely, at least until after we receive all
the final copies of Executor 2, send out all the free upgrades and get
the first batch of E2 off to distributors and dealers.
I know some people are disappointed that Executor 2 won't have serial,
QuickTime, networking or multifinder support, but remember, most of
the world has not heard of Executor 2. All we need to do is bump our
current meager (almost non-existent) revenue stream by a factor of 4
and we can start paying off debt and hire a couple or more new
engineers. If we can bump it up by a factor of 10, we should be able
to easily hire all the engineers we need to get drop in System 7.5
going.
--Cliff
ctm@ardi.com
[BTW, don't be surprised if we still slip here and there, but those
are the official dates we're trying for.]
Follow-Ups:
References: