This is the first time I have registered, but I've been coming here since v2.11.
The sole reason that I registered is because I have to say that I find the public "outcry" against the delay of Daemon Tools V4 offensive. I work as a programmer, and have had to put up with the non-programmer attitude of "is it done yet?" for years. The sheer gall of some people is attrocious, considering that many of the users of Daemon Tools have yet to donate a single solitary dime for it's use, and judging by the number of comments, it's a fairly large community, with very little return for the time, dedication and raw talent of the Daemon Tools team. Reading the news section on the front page of the this site is degrading and disappointing. Since when do programmers who make very little if any return on their time have to defend themselves against impatient and ungrateful users of whom very little have contributed to the product, if at all? Insulting in the least.
People must understand that software doesn't just appear overnight, and those pieces of software that do are usually QND code and don't necessarily work right, if at all. It takes a tremendous amount of time to design, write, and debug code, and on a system level utility such as Daemon Tools, this can lead to endless crashing and rebooting and memory dump searching to find a particular bug - a very time consuming process. And to top it off, that particular bug may be something as arcane as a decimal point being off, or a misspelled variable name, or a misplaced object in place of another object by mistake. It happens, and often. I easily spend three to five times as much time debugging and testing the code than I did writing it in the first place.
I would like to see V4 come out as soon as possible too, but I don't want it to be riddled with bugs just for the sake of pushing the product out the door. The "possible" portion of ASAP means just that, a working, viable product that can be used relatively worry free, until then, a release is just not "possible". The amount and quality of work of the Daemon Tools team rivals that of products that publishing houses charge an arm and a leg for, for little or no money whatsoever. This hails as the Daemon Tools team's dedication to their craft, and looking a gift horse in the mouth doesn't help to alleviate their stress of code that may not be up to release quality yet. The team isn't just protecting themselves here, they are protecting you, the user, from unnecessary reboots and system failures.
Am I excited about V4? You bet! Am I willing to risk losing one of the greatest utilities to come along without a huge price tag simply because I have little or no patience? No way.
Non-programmers have lack of vision, and vision is what makes a programmer a programmer. The vision to see a need for a product, the vision to design it and code it and see it through to completion. This reminds me of most of the Microsoft bashers, the ones who complain about the security and the quality of the code, but couldn't tell you difference between Quantas, Semaphores, SHAs, etc. and a hole in the ground. Simply put, unless you can and do prove otherwise with a better product in a shorter time frame (not just think about it, but do it) you probably shouldn't complain about those who are talented enough to do it in the first place. I wouldn't dare critique a brain surgeon's performance if I thought the surgery ran a little long, as I have no basis in that field, and the same applies here. Non-programmers should check their coats at the door.
That being said, thank you to the Daemon Tools team for creating one of my all time favorite utilities, one that I have suggested to others hundreds, maybe even thousands of times over. Hats off to you guys, you guys are the greatest. I look forward to the launch of V4, but if it's not ready, don't let the narrow mindedness of the complaining users push you to release a product that is not quite ready. Quality over quantity. And for that, I for one can wait.
The sole reason that I registered is because I have to say that I find the public "outcry" against the delay of Daemon Tools V4 offensive. I work as a programmer, and have had to put up with the non-programmer attitude of "is it done yet?" for years. The sheer gall of some people is attrocious, considering that many of the users of Daemon Tools have yet to donate a single solitary dime for it's use, and judging by the number of comments, it's a fairly large community, with very little return for the time, dedication and raw talent of the Daemon Tools team. Reading the news section on the front page of the this site is degrading and disappointing. Since when do programmers who make very little if any return on their time have to defend themselves against impatient and ungrateful users of whom very little have contributed to the product, if at all? Insulting in the least.
People must understand that software doesn't just appear overnight, and those pieces of software that do are usually QND code and don't necessarily work right, if at all. It takes a tremendous amount of time to design, write, and debug code, and on a system level utility such as Daemon Tools, this can lead to endless crashing and rebooting and memory dump searching to find a particular bug - a very time consuming process. And to top it off, that particular bug may be something as arcane as a decimal point being off, or a misspelled variable name, or a misplaced object in place of another object by mistake. It happens, and often. I easily spend three to five times as much time debugging and testing the code than I did writing it in the first place.
I would like to see V4 come out as soon as possible too, but I don't want it to be riddled with bugs just for the sake of pushing the product out the door. The "possible" portion of ASAP means just that, a working, viable product that can be used relatively worry free, until then, a release is just not "possible". The amount and quality of work of the Daemon Tools team rivals that of products that publishing houses charge an arm and a leg for, for little or no money whatsoever. This hails as the Daemon Tools team's dedication to their craft, and looking a gift horse in the mouth doesn't help to alleviate their stress of code that may not be up to release quality yet. The team isn't just protecting themselves here, they are protecting you, the user, from unnecessary reboots and system failures.
Am I excited about V4? You bet! Am I willing to risk losing one of the greatest utilities to come along without a huge price tag simply because I have little or no patience? No way.
Non-programmers have lack of vision, and vision is what makes a programmer a programmer. The vision to see a need for a product, the vision to design it and code it and see it through to completion. This reminds me of most of the Microsoft bashers, the ones who complain about the security and the quality of the code, but couldn't tell you difference between Quantas, Semaphores, SHAs, etc. and a hole in the ground. Simply put, unless you can and do prove otherwise with a better product in a shorter time frame (not just think about it, but do it) you probably shouldn't complain about those who are talented enough to do it in the first place. I wouldn't dare critique a brain surgeon's performance if I thought the surgery ran a little long, as I have no basis in that field, and the same applies here. Non-programmers should check their coats at the door.
That being said, thank you to the Daemon Tools team for creating one of my all time favorite utilities, one that I have suggested to others hundreds, maybe even thousands of times over. Hats off to you guys, you guys are the greatest. I look forward to the launch of V4, but if it's not ready, don't let the narrow mindedness of the complaining users push you to release a product that is not quite ready. Quality over quantity. And for that, I for one can wait.
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