[maemo-developers] About release dates (was RE: maemo Bug Jar #7)

[From: Quim Gil]

Hi Frederic!

ext Frederic Crozat wrote:
> I'm going to play the devil advocate *on purpose*

I'll keep trying to answer the best I know and can.

> (I'm only commenting regarding Diablo release, not hardware release)

And I'm commenting about the release process in general, not the Diablo
release specifically. We release essentially in the same way, no matter
whether a release goes with a new device launch or not. Think also that
'hardware dependencies' are not related only to device launches. There
is also the case of new production of devices already in the market,
willing to have the latest release preinstalled.



> Nokia Internet Tablet have created their own niche market and don't
> have any competitor yet (since they are not designed, on purpose, as
> PDA nor smartphone), so this argument is bogus.

With all respects, what seems bogus to me is the argument "don't have
any competitor yet".


> I don't buy the "business" perspective for a "software" release

Up to you. I'm just trying to explain how we work on a release beyond
pure development.


>> Also, who said our release dates are so fixed? Remember how upset some
>> people were last year when I dared to give rough time estimations for
>> the Hacker Edition and the OS2008 releases, and at the end they came
>> later? Guess what was the role of quality in that.
> 
> Well, you just said in your linuxtag talk that "releases were always
> delivered on time", so it means they are fixed (or if they were
> decided like "ok, we are releasing tomorrow", then you really need to
> change the way you deliver a message in a talk :p )

The 770 Hacker Edition is not an official program and doesn't count. The
Nokia N810 with OS2008 inside was launched on time.

If my main purpose was to avoid risks with evil advocates then yes, I
should probably talk less and be more accurate in what I say or write.
Instead, I try to be frank and informative to ease common understanding
and, hopefully, increase collaboration.

-- 
Quim Gil
marketing manager, open source
maemo software @ Nokia