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I am going to reply in the most rage inducing way, by providing a tiny counter example. Really, though. I think you make a great point and are truly on to some

by Zyst 10y ago

I am going to reply in the most rage inducing way, by providing a tiny counter example. Really, though. I think you make a great point and are truly on to something here. That said back to the aforementioned tiny counter example: Windows, for instance is coming up with things such as Game Mode[1] that are incredibly interesting. This is a feature that doesn't really compromise existing behavior, rather amplifies. It's proof that some degree of continuous iteration can be healthy, it isn't necessarily healthy all the time. But saying development should stall outright is always a hard sell, there's always a way to improve anything. [1]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/how-game-mode-will-make-games-run-better-on-windows/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/how-game-mode-will-ma...

ChuckMcM 10y ago
Not rage inducing at all but brings up another part of the problem nicely. Do you remember the great Vista SKU explosion? That was when Microsoft tried making 16 or 20 different "versions" of Windows with different prices aimed at different markets. I believe that the goal there was not confusion but to capture revenue from people with specific needs, something which back fired on them from a customer support perspective. The "enterprise" model of software development often has a base product that you install with all of the features but individual features are enabled or authorized by specific authorization keys. This was something VMS did and I'm surprised that Dave Cutler didn't make it part of NT unless it was protected by patent or something back in the day. But generally game mode is a wonderful thing for gamers, turns your PC into an "x-box" like experience, and makes it easy to use from across the room. As a gamer would you pay $25 to enable that? $50? For me a killer new feature is Windows System Linux (WSL) which I use all the time now. Would I pay $50 to enable the "developer edition tools"? Probably. But then I want bug fixes for those tools essentially forever. Pay for features, bug fixes for free. Even there however you end up with odd cases where things like NFS support, is that "enterprise" software or is it "developer" software or both? You know the "enterprise" guys have no problem paying $500/seat to get "enterprise" support but if they only want NFS client support and they pay the $50 "developer mode" upgrade instead Microsoft might feel like they are leaving money on the table (they aren't but that is a longer post).
- digi_owl 10y ago
  IBM did that on hardware even back in the day. Want more RAM for that mainframe? Have some IBM service rep show up, pop the doors open, move a jumper, and bill your company a massive number of dollars.

by Zyst 10y ago

ChuckMcM 10y ago

Not rage inducing at all but brings up another part of the problem nicely. Do you remember the great Vista SKU explosion? That was when Microsoft tried making 16 or 20 different "versions" of Windows with different prices aimed at different markets. I believe that the goal there was not confusion but to capture revenue from people with specific needs, something which back fired on them from a customer support perspective. The "enterprise" model of software development often has a base product that you install with all of the features but individual features are enabled or authorized by specific authorization keys. This was something VMS did and I'm surprised that Dave Cutler didn't make it part of NT unless it was protected by patent or something back in the day. But generally game mode is a wonderful thing for gamers, turns your PC into an "x-box" like experience, and makes it easy to use from across the room. As a gamer would you pay $25 to enable that? $50? For me a killer new feature is Windows System Linux (WSL) which I use all the time now. Would I pay $50 to enable the "developer edition tools"? Probably. But then I want bug fixes for those tools essentially forever. Pay for features, bug fixes for free. Even there however you end up with odd cases where things like NFS support, is that "enterprise" software or is it "developer" software or both? You know the "enterprise" guys have no problem paying $500/seat to get "enterprise" support but if they only want NFS client support and they pay the $50 "developer mode" upgrade instead Microsoft might feel like they are leaving money on the table (they aren't but that is a longer post).

digi_owl 10y ago
IBM did that on hardware even back in the day. Want more RAM for that mainframe? Have some IBM service rep show up, pop the doors open, move a jumper, and bill your company a massive number of dollars.