I've got to make a comment on the newsgroup about this new car analogy
I've seen floating around. Basically it's saying that no one would buy
new cars if they had as many buga as most new software does.
I've got news for you guys, they do.
I'm a service technician at a dealership for an american make. Evvery
day we do at least one recall. That's when there is a problem so serious
that the automaker has to send letters to every owner of that model
informing them of the defect (read bug) and requesting that they bring
their vehicle in to get the defect corrected, free of charge.
Those are the ones you here about.
However, automakers also frequently get recurring complaints of more
minor problems, especially with new models. These problems aren't
serious enough to get the NHTSA involved, so there's no recall. Instead
the engineers come up with a fix and send out a Tecnical Service
Bulletin. To give you an idea of how common this is, TSB's are published
weekly. Frequently they will come out with an updated part that replaces
the problem. Note however that the company does not inform customers
about this. They only get the fix or the update if they A)notice the
problem, and B) bring their car in to get it fixed. In most cases the
caar wil still be under warranty, but if it's not the customer will have
to pay for the parts and labor.
So to all of you who have been saying, "If a car company released a car
with as many bugs as N2, no one would buy it," you've got the wrong
analogy. People buy 'em every day.
--
Ed
"A friend of mine suggested I try America Online, I said 'But I already
have
a computer...'"
