OTOY Forums

We are aiming for a first release in April.

That's what I said (see viewtopic.php?p=176480#p176480). I didn't say we are releasing in April, but that we aiming for a first release in April. So we have some timeline to work with.

Usually I don't like giving dates, but in the past we got massive complaints that we never give any information about the current development and no dates, no nothing. So I tried to give an indication what we are aiming for. As usual, it's very hard to give firm release dates, if development isn't finished and it wasn't at that time. Now, we have all planned 2.0 features finished and integrated, but we are still bug fixing and polishing things. The whole development took longer than planned, but it almost always does.

In a nutshell: What do you want? Some rough estimate when things are planned to be released or total silence until the release?

I think everyone with an ounce of savvy here understands software dev runs over deadline ETAs the vast majority of the time, its just the kids here being totally unreasonable. And anyone who is planning their work around the release of 2.0 like the guy in the other thread and then QQing about it is just the epitomy of idiot.

Maybe from now on just give even rougher dates like 'Quarter 2 2014' or something, with possibly some regular progress info on whats been implemented or fixed etc. You'll still get whinged at whatever you do, there is no right for some of these unless the update is there ready when its announced and its a free upgrades for life...lol

Personally I am looking forward to 2.0 very much but I can also grasp the fact this stuff takes time to implement bug free. So please Abstrax and the other devs, most of us appreciate the hard work you are putting in, try not to let the children here distract you to much

ten

abstrax wrote:

We are aiming for a first release in April.

That's what I said (see viewtopic.php?p=176480#p176480). I didn't say we are releasing in April, but that we aiming for a first release in April. So we have some timeline to work with.

Usually I don't like giving dates, but in the past we got massive complaints that we never give any information about the current development and no dates, no nothing. So I tried to give an indication what we are aiming for. As usual, it's very hard to give firm release dates, if development isn't finished and it wasn't at that time. Now, we have all planned 2.0 features finished and integrated, but we are still bug fixing and polishing things. The whole development took longer than planned, but it almost always does.

In a nutshell: What do you want? Some rough estimate when things are planned to be released or total silence until the release?

abstrax wrote:In a nutshell: What do you want? Some rough estimate when things are planned to be released or total silence until the release?

I think no matter what you do you won't be able to please everybody. I totally get that you're between a rock and a hard place because if you give a firm date and miss it, people will really whine and bitch but if you give nothing people will whine and bitch as well.

Without giving dates could you guys explain what will happen in terms of getting access to the release candidates or betas?

I guess everyone has been assuming that things will be the same way they were with version 1.xx.

That doesn't appear to be the case if, as goldorak says, some people already have beta versions and are testing right now. So....

Will there be a public beta for paying customers in a similar format to with v1.x? And if so, what approximate timeframe (month or 2 month period) will it be available? OR.... do the rest of us customers have to wait for official release candidates?

Honestly, no matter what you do, people will complain.

I like more info and don't care if you don't reach your goals. Other people see that as you not honoring your promises, etc etc...

I think people saw the "aiming" and thought you were saying it will be (myself included). But it doesn't really matter, it's a release candidate, not a release. For that reason, I think there is a lot of leeway on your part.

Honestly, the biggest problem is that the new features for 2.0 are too awesome and people can't wait, haha.
So, I think you should see all the complaining as a good thing
They wouldn't complain if it wasn't something they really wanted.

ten wrote:And anyone who is planning their work around the release of 2.0 like the guy in the other thread and then QQing about it is just the epitomy of idiot.

This.

kavorka wrote:Honestly, the biggest problem is that the new features for 2.0 are too awesome and people can't wait, haha.

This is exactly why for me. I'm checking the forum at work every hour for news because the new features are deep fried awesomeness.

abstrax wrote:In a nutshell: What do you want? Some rough estimate when things are planned to be released or total silence until the release?

I think it's good to give some info on development, so that customers see what's going on and that things are going on, like "feature X is now done and will be introduced in version Y". Of course the more cool features you show, the more people will get impatient to have them, so it's a vicious cycle. Not telling anything is definitely the worst option.

For some lols: this 2 years old video is still somewhat relevant, just replace Max plugin with Octane 2.0

http://youtu.be/zlWhfficXFo

ah, good old Refractive Software days

matej wrote:

abstrax wrote:In a nutshell: What do you want? Some rough estimate when things are planned to be released or total silence until the release?

I think it's good to give some info on development, so that customers see what's going on and that things are going on, like "feature X is now done and will be introduced in version Y".

Like a dev blog?

Users that chomp at the bit but feel aware of progress are far far less negative about delays than ppl that feel they've been let down Orr lied to (however erroneously they feel that way)

More info, IMO.... Leads to less flack. - anecdotal opinion based purely on personal experiences ymmv.

Wish some ppl wouldn't get so angry at otoy, but also I wish the trolls who blindly cut those angry ppl down would close up shop and leave. Neither of those types of comments contribute positively to the conversation. - just my two cents.

To add my vote @abstrax - please information not silence. That is my vote. Provide it or don't it's up to you. But I function better with info than a void.

Yeah that sounds much better - giving details of what's been completed and what's still outstanding.

...I'd even be happy with broad strokes approx % done since announcing.
something to keep people's interest piqued, appetite whetted, without growing weary of checking again and again only to find nothing.

Something is better than silence. To avoid the negativity, minimum progress update frequency would be whatever you promise to do as a progress update.
If you give a progress update as of 5/1 that says "we are 65% completed since we announced in march. Next report will be on 5/16." Follow through on that next update with a new % on time, even if the % isn't what would have been extrapolated from the previous... I still can almost GUARANTEE there will be fewer of the caustic folks.

when people complain, point them to that thread and don't discuss it in other topics that it gets burried in. You know how sugar makes the medicine go down easier and all...

but... all this, maybe, adds some extra work... personally I think it'd be worth the effort. It's not my effort, so who am I to say but I really do think it'd reduce the poop-flinging around here by being more open.