That's been there a long time. Perhaps you mean OSPF over demand links.
> - SLIP (I never heard why that was dropped from the beta)
It wasn't dropped, it was broken - an error. Being a beta, don't run it
if you don't like it. They've said it will be fixed.
> - V.90
Sure, the grass is always greener. Ascend just released 6.1 with V.90 in
it - and users are having tons or problems. Go check their mailing list -
reboots, connect failures, etc. Well, smells like a rushed release to me.
These things should have been caught in beta.
>The Lucent/Livingston policy of refusing to give an ETA smells a
>bit. Paul.
Tough shit. This has been their policy *forever* and if you don't like it,
I can point you at other vendors. I'm really sick of people whining about
an established policy that was in place before they got a unit. You didn't
have to buy it in the first place if you don't like the release policy. The
"I paid for this, so you have to make me happy" argument is complete bullshit.
I still thing they screwed up by caving in and giving an initial date for the
V.90 beta - which they missed by a wide margin you should recall. They should
have stuck to the "it'll be out when it is ready" stance. With a beta
development it is nearly impossible to set real dates - I never believe them,
which is good since they are rarely met. All they do is give people a false
warm-fuzzy feeling - oh, I have a date. Then the date slips, and they get
pissed. So they've given another date - and the morons actually believe it
again! Lemmings! Sheep! Software release dates are a fiction! More often
than not, the date is missed. And many times the product is rushed to meet
a date, and so doesn't get tested properly. I once worked for a vendor that
so rushed a release out they door that no one noticed that *PPP* was broken!
Why? Because they caved in and gave a date, and didn't want to face the users'
anger by missing it.
Lucent (Livingston) has a history of providing solid products. They have
a history with few noticabler bugs, and fewer MAJOR bugs - in the final
releases. The worst in memory were the teething problems with K56flex. And
that was all modem code - the ComOS itself worked very well. They've rolled
out complex protocols like OSPF and BGP and had them work solid from day one,
with only minor issues reported - and fixed quickly. Other vendors have
labored years and still don't have the level of OSPF support Livingston did
day one (or any at all in some cases).
Is anyone stupid enough to believe giving a date will change ANYTHING? That
the engineers are all just sitting around with their thumbs up their collective
ass because they don't have some magical date to meet? Do you for a minute
doubt that they aren't working hard on providing a solid release, pulling
together all of the myriad pieces that go into an access server? A number of
issues have been reported with b15 - which is normal and expected. It is a
beta, it is *meant* to uncover issues that need to be fixed. Each of those
reports needs to be tracked down, confirmed, the cause found, and then fixed.
Then it needs a preliminary test - and THEN it goes into the next beta build.
It will be done when it is done. PERIOD. Date or no date, that WILL NOT
CHANGE. If they give a date and it isn't done in time, then the date slips
and is meaningless. If they give a date and finish it early, then they'll
ship it early - and the date is meaningless.
One thing I don't see them doing is shipping something just to ship it,
so as not to miss the release date. I'd lose a lot of respect for them if
they did, it'd make them no better than so many other bug houese.
SHIP DATES ARE MEANINGLESS. Get that through your head.
There are plenty of vendors willing to blow smoke up your ass and promise
dates - repeatedly - that they never meet. I respect Lucent's policy far more
than being jerked around by a vendor's empty promises. It is ready when it
is ready. If you can't live without dates, you are using the wrong vendor.
End of story.
If you have a bug to report, report it. If you have a feature to request,
request it. If you want to whine - shut the hell up. It doesn't do anyone
any good.
-MZ
-- <URL:mailto:megazone@megazone.org> Gweep, author, webmaster, human being, me "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 781-788-0130 <URL:mailto:megazone@gweep.net> <URL:http://www.megazone.org/> Hail Discordia! - To unsubscribe, email 'majordomo@livingston.com' with 'unsubscribe portmaster-users' in the body of the message. Searchable list archive: <URL:http://www.livingston.com/Tech/archive/>