A question of coding ethics
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
I am using win98 (stuck with it, long story:() so of course I am going to support it.
CPUA 0x5041 Sonork 100.11743 Chicken Little "So it can now be written in stone as a testament to humanities achievments "PJ did Pi at CP"." Colin Davies Within you lies the power for good - Use it!
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
It depends on who your customer is. I'm writing some software for the general market of home users. There's no way I'd require Win2000 or higher for my app. I'm intending to support 98, ME, and possibly even 95, too. ------------------------------------------ When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord, in his wisdom, didn't work that way. So I just stole one and asked him to forgive me. - Emo Phillips
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
W95 is dead. But 98 and ME still have users, I'd give them another 18 months, in my situation. However if I have clients who specify 98 support; I'll have to consider it. If a client was to ask me to support 95; I probably wouldn't even bother returning his email. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Coding ethics and which OS you support aren't really the same thing. If you don't support a particular OS then you are going to miss out on a particular set of customers (or disappoint a subset of readers if it's a free product). Hoever, if you are a hardware manufacturer and you only supply drivers for, say, Windows 98, then you'll be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. cheers, Chris Maunder
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
What Chris said. It's not about ethics, it's about who you plan on targeting with your software. Win 98 is by no means dead yet. In fact, it's rather easy to make your software work on 98+ and 2000+, as long as you require IE 5+. I know, as I'm doing that right now with my own project. --Mike-- Just released - RightClick-Encrypt v1.3 - Adds fast & easy file encryption to Explorer My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
I only support >= Win2K.
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What Chris said. It's not about ethics, it's about who you plan on targeting with your software. Win 98 is by no means dead yet. In fact, it's rather easy to make your software work on 98+ and 2000+, as long as you require IE 5+. I know, as I'm doing that right now with my own project. --Mike-- Just released - RightClick-Encrypt v1.3 - Adds fast & easy file encryption to Explorer My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm
I wouldn't want to miss rights-managment, NTFS and all the other functions that work only with special flags under W95/98/ME (or are completely disabled).
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Hello, the codegurus around the world.;) I believe that if your software is more competive, this software shoud support Windows OS except Windows 3.1 X|. Especially in some network program, some programmers are suffering from WinSock version issue as well as TCP/IP ans RAS issue. Anyway, if we get the competitor in the same product area, we must lose the market if the competitor product supports all Windows OS. Please, don't send me your email about your questions directly. Have a nice day! Sonork - 100.10571:vcdeveloper ;)
-Masaaki Onishi-
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
I would be willing to bet that there are more windows 98 home users out there than XP home users. People dont upgrade their OS at home the same way a business does. So I would say that if you are targeting the home user, it would be a good idea to include windows 98 support. If you are targeting a business, the story is completely different.
Build a man a fire, and he will be warm for a day
Light a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life! -
Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
I make sure that my apps run on all versions of Windows (9x, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP) - the majority of our customers are still using Win9x, so I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I worked any differently. To make matters worse, there is an old Win16 app that I still have to support, and very occasionally, bugfix (via Borland C++ v5). Nasty.
Faith. Believing in something you *know* isn't true.
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Nishant S wrote: Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. I think it depends on who the apps are designed for.. businesses are nowadays more or less all using Win 2k or a similar OS... but where I work [damn call centre] the people that ring in are nearlly all still using win 98... Then again, a lot of them do need new computers.. so they will all probably head off to get brand spanking new Win XP machines :-)
"When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it" Nish on life [methinks] "It's The Soapbox; topics are optional" Shog 9
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
It depends who you are targeting, I'm aiming at home users so whatever I write must work on Win98 upwards. :(( A quick look at my website visitor stats has revealed the following OS usage during 2001 & 2002 OS 2001 2002 Win95 7% 2% Win98 33% 25% WinME 11% 8% WinNT 3% 3% 2K/XP 21% 36% So while 2K/XP users are increasing rapidly I'll be stick with Win98 support for a while yet :) JohnJ X| Life is hard and then you die! X| http://www.rainbow-innov.co.uk[^]
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
Hell we still support Win95. Until two years ago this january we supported 3.1 . The golden rule still applies. Them who have the gold makes the rules. If our customers wanted DOS and were committed to buy the product well then I would fire up a DOS compiler, get all my old DOS libs out of storage, and go to work. OS snobs pay heed - we will steal your customers. Richard Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions....there was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions. Mark Twain - The Mysterious Stranger
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W95 is dead. But 98 and ME still have users, I'd give them another 18 months, in my situation. However if I have clients who specify 98 support; I'll have to consider it. If a client was to ask me to support 95; I probably wouldn't even bother returning his email. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
Gee it must be great being rich and not needing to hustle any work. Richard Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions....there was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions. Mark Twain - The Mysterious Stranger
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Just had a conversation with PJ where he said he was supporting Win98 for an app. Now I’d reckon that Win98 is now considered an obsolete OS. Unless there are strict client-requirements, I’d avoid Win98 support for my programs. I would like to know whether the general audience here agrees with me or whether you have a different set of coding ethics with regard to old OS versions. Nish
Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]
I'd go along with that, don't forget Microsoft's 5 year lifecycle -- Win98 will be officially unsupported around 2003, so its a fair suggestion that it should be treated as in its final stages. If you're targeting businesses though, they really ought to be running 2000 or even XP by now (mind you, I wish they did where I work!) -- Paul "It's always the last drink that kills you." [a wise man] MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Sonork: 100.22446
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Gee it must be great being rich and not needing to hustle any work. Richard Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions....there was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions. Mark Twain - The Mysterious Stranger
Richard Stringer wrote: Gee it must be great being rich and not needing to hustle any work. mmmm maybe I detect some sarcasm. Richard this is a serious reply. My original response about win95 may have seemed arrogant or humorous depending on your reading, however it is true of my feelings. The same prospective clients who wish to have apps running on Win95, are the same clients who pay late, screw around with the specs, use small screens and a host of other problems. I'd much prefer to deal with clients who are prepared to upgrade there H-Ware or OS if needed and respect both my work and time. The Win95 companies seem to be run by Accounting or Management types who are always trying to cut costs, whilst the other group is more the Engineering mentality of "Lets do the job". I don't know your business base, but for myself I try to make use of the Pareto 80:20 rule, for example 20% of my clients give me 80% of my revenue, and 20% of my effort is for 80% of my revenue. Some clients have cost me to work for, and this is what I'm trying to avoid by eliminating Win95 and soon Win 98. Best wishes, and I'm free to argue with anytime. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
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Richard Stringer wrote: Gee it must be great being rich and not needing to hustle any work. mmmm maybe I detect some sarcasm. Richard this is a serious reply. My original response about win95 may have seemed arrogant or humorous depending on your reading, however it is true of my feelings. The same prospective clients who wish to have apps running on Win95, are the same clients who pay late, screw around with the specs, use small screens and a host of other problems. I'd much prefer to deal with clients who are prepared to upgrade there H-Ware or OS if needed and respect both my work and time. The Win95 companies seem to be run by Accounting or Management types who are always trying to cut costs, whilst the other group is more the Engineering mentality of "Lets do the job". I don't know your business base, but for myself I try to make use of the Pareto 80:20 rule, for example 20% of my clients give me 80% of my revenue, and 20% of my effort is for 80% of my revenue. Some clients have cost me to work for, and this is what I'm trying to avoid by eliminating Win95 and soon Win 98. Best wishes, and I'm free to argue with anytime. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
Colin^Davies wrote: The Win95 companies seem to be run by Accounting or Management types who are always trying to cut costs, whilst the other group is more the Engineering mentality of "Lets do the job". It is my experience that accounting and management orders and uses most 3'd party software. We write programs for P&C Insurance companies. All the way from company software to individual general agents. If, for example , we write an app for a company they will send the app to all of their agents for use in the field. This may be an office in PoDunk running a pent II and wind95 to a TOTL Sony laptop running a pent IV and XP Pro. They don't care about my personal preference in OS's. They DO NOT WANT to wsate any time helping agent X install and run the app on his particular setup. It's gotta go and run with as little trouble as possible or the customer will go elsewhere. Im not in this business to be the latest and greatest with the glitter and the flash. Just tell me what the app is supposed to do, any constraints and limits, give me a prioritized wish list, time frame and we will give a quote on writing the application, documentation, support, and distrtibution. And finish on time with a product that works. And thats all the customer really wants - not the latest EX style menus, colors, etc.. Functionality uber alles. Richard Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions....there was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions. Mark Twain - The Mysterious Stranger
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Colin^Davies wrote: The Win95 companies seem to be run by Accounting or Management types who are always trying to cut costs, whilst the other group is more the Engineering mentality of "Lets do the job". It is my experience that accounting and management orders and uses most 3'd party software. We write programs for P&C Insurance companies. All the way from company software to individual general agents. If, for example , we write an app for a company they will send the app to all of their agents for use in the field. This may be an office in PoDunk running a pent II and wind95 to a TOTL Sony laptop running a pent IV and XP Pro. They don't care about my personal preference in OS's. They DO NOT WANT to wsate any time helping agent X install and run the app on his particular setup. It's gotta go and run with as little trouble as possible or the customer will go elsewhere. Im not in this business to be the latest and greatest with the glitter and the flash. Just tell me what the app is supposed to do, any constraints and limits, give me a prioritized wish list, time frame and we will give a quote on writing the application, documentation, support, and distrtibution. And finish on time with a product that works. And thats all the customer really wants - not the latest EX style menus, colors, etc.. Functionality uber alles. Richard Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions....there was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions. Mark Twain - The Mysterious Stranger
My work is principally in R&D, and programming is just one of the skills I normally use to get the job done. I have moved away from quoting now, and am using upfront payments, with an end bonus for success. Typical jobs are developing a new product for an industrial chemical plant, creating an algorithm for medical research analysis at a new facility, giving an opinion on the location of a light electronics factory base, designing several options for recording archaeological artifacts for group sharing, some software components, etc... So most of my clients are in need of a solution, and often consider that I am a more affordable and faster solution than other avenues. A month ago for the first time in 4 yrs I actually met a potential client face to face, most of my work has been done across the wwww as I live in a remote location. I did actually early on do some work for a national Insurance Company, and have decided to never do it again. The product was a simple calculator for Personal loss of income insurance or (Income protection), I delivered the product early and functioning, but the company kept trying to bleed me with feature creep, before settling the payment. Also the work I do, I find interesting which principally motivates me. Sometimes I go way over my budgeted time learning about a specific field, however I enjoy learning. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.