Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 10945 Location: California, USA
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:26 am Post subject:
FYI. We finally found the cause of the PowerPC library loading slowness and the PowerPC toolbar icon rendering issues.
Both are now fixed so after we fix a few more of the remaining known issues, we will be able set a new start date for the NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access Program.
Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 10945 Location: California, USA
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:59 am Post subject:
Now that we have fixed the PowerPC library loading slowness and the PowerPC toolbar icon rendering issues and OpenOffice.org 3.0 has been out for nearly a month, Ed and I now feel that we can set a new start date for the NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access Program.
We have set the new start date for 15 January 2009 and, just to be safe, the end date to 31 March 2009. While we probably could put it out earlier than 15 January if we worked uninterrupted, the end of November and December both have large holidays where Ed and I stop work and visit our extended families so we did not think it would be realistic to release something right in the middle of the U.S.'s "Christmas through New Year's Day" holiday season.
Ending the program on 31 March 2009 makes this Early Access Program several weeks longer than normal. Given the level of stability that NeoOffice users have become accustomed to and the problems that we have found so far in the OpenOffice.org 3.0 code, our gut feeling is that program member's will need more time to find (and for us to fix) all of the critical bugs in this release. So, to be safe, we will have a longer than usual Early Access Program for NeoOffice 3.0.
Edit: Changed all "2008" dates to "2009" as my original post was referring to the past.
Patrick
Last edited by pluby on Mon Nov 10, 2008 4:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
Sounds wise to me, given the weird junk that's still turning up in OOo v3 . Incidentally, another point where NeoOffice scores over OOo v3 is that OOo doesn't cooperate with Default Folder - and it's the only app I have among loads and loads that doesn't. It makes OOo just that little bit more tedious to use (once you get used to Default Folder's added functionailty, it's hard to be without it...)
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:46 pm Post subject: Early Access vs. Beta
Is the early access program really a beta program for which you pay for the privilege? Or have you really finished testing by the early access launch & the same version is then released to the public a couple of months later? Sorry that I'm a little skeptical.
Joined: May 25, 2003 Posts: 4752 Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:17 pm Post subject:
The Early Access Program is one of the ways that Patrick and I try to say thank you to all the donors who have helped keep NeoOffice running and able to be continually improved. It is not a beta program; it represents our best effort to deliver software that is ready for release. If it is not quality software, we do not release it...this is the primary reason why we postponed from our initial date. EAP is also a period in which we try to thank these donors by focusing our support on addressing any problems they have which may complicate deployment of 3.0 in their specific work environments.
During EAP, bugs in the software are fixed with software patches, just as with our shipping software. Unlike other projects, we do frequent hotfixes called "patches". When EAP ends and we make the public download, we simply post a version that already contains all the patches from during the EAP period, so new users only need to download the main disk image.
Usually, people with EAP releases just need the final EAP patch to get all of the fixes included in the public version. Sometimes if we need to recompile everything this may not be possible, however, but we try our best.
Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 10945 Location: California, USA
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: Re: Early Access vs. Beta
Gandalf99 wrote:
Is the early access program really a beta program for which you pay for the privilege? Or have you really finished testing by the early access launch & the same version is then released to the public a couple of months later? Sorry that I'm a little skeptical.
To answer your quetion, I think that I need to explain how the NeoOffice project is run. NeoOffice exists solely on user donations. Since only a tiny percentage of users actually donate funds, our operations fund only two people to do all NeoOffice development. bug fixing, and user support.
With such a tiny number of people running the project, there is no dedicated testing staff so as our important warnings for users says, all releases (both Early Access Release and free releases) are tested by users.
If you do not want to invest any effort in helping to test NeoOffice, then I strongly recommend that you do not participate in the Early Access Program. Since NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access includes the big changes that OpenOffice.org made to NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org code, we expect that many changes and new bugs will appear.
Because of these OpenOffice.org changes, providing our rapid user support would be quickly overwhelmed if we skipped the Early Access Program. So, instead, we limit the Early Access Program to our large donors so that we can provide rapid investigation and fixing of bugs found by these donors.
The large donors provide over half of our donations come so it only seems fair that they should get the first opportunity to try out our new code and, in return for there donations and testing effort, they should get priority for the bugs that they find and the support requests that they post.
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: Early Access
Patrick--
Thanks for the quick & thorough response. Here's what I understand from what you said; please tell me if this correct:
Early Access users are beta testers who, in appreciation for their willingness to make larger donations & test the program, have the opportunity to use the program sooner, provide more input into what still needs addressing in terms of bugs, & receive more timely help.
Assuming that's accurate, I feel like I can now make an informed decision about whether I want to participate. And thanks for making NeoOffice available for free.
Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 10945 Location: California, USA
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject: Re: Early Access
Gandalf99 wrote:
Early Access users are beta testers who, in appreciation for their willingness to make larger donations & test the program, have the opportunity to use the program sooner, provide more input into what still needs addressing in terms of bugs, & receive more timely help.
Yes, I think your description pretty much sums it up.
Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 10945 Location: California, USA
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:27 am Post subject:
vida18 wrote:
Can you show NeoOffice 3.0's screenshots ?
We have not posted any screen snapshots on our main website because there really is hardly any difference in what NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access and NeoOffice 2.2.5 look like
To be honest, I have to look closely to determine whether I have launched NeoOffice 2.2.5 or NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access.
To be honest, I have to look closely to determine whether I have launched NeoOffice 2.2.5 or NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access.
The progress bar in the splash screen is thinner in 3.0EA...but then again, 3.0EA seems to launch much faster for me, so I hardly even get to see that difference
Smokey _________________ "[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
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. Incidentally, another point where NeoOffice scores over OOo v3 is that OOo doesn't cooperate with Default Folder - and it's the only app I have among loads and loads that doesn't. It makes OOo just that little bit more tedious to use (once you get used to Default Folder's added functionailty, it's hard to be without it...)
