Oscar Olsson wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003, Patrick Terry wrote:

One could expect the following from a good software manufacturer:

* Creating bugfixes for releases made before the release reaches end of
sales/end of support, which should be at least 2-3 years after its initial
release.

They do, they're called maintenance releases, and 6.1.3 is one such
release. It is not generally practical to release fixes for individual
bugs, since in many cases the replaced binaries will be the same for
different bugfixes, so it would not be possible to apply to different
fixes. Additionally it would not be possible to properly test all
combinations of bugfixes. By the time you have considered two or three
combinations of individual releases you may as well have just released
the next maintenance release (6.1.4?), this will be less effort and more
supportable. I don't disagree with Legato's strategy here - I think it
makes sense.

* Making patches easily accessible for the general public, or at least for
those who have legally obtained a copy of the product. One should not need
a software update contract to get bugs fixed in the product one has
purchased. Its not WinZip you are seeling.

Well, until recently this was the case. I don't know why Legato have
hidden away the patches, I think this is a bad move and don't understand
what they think they will gain from this. I hope they will soon see
sense on this and put it back the way it was.

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