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Re: phasing out support for older versions

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg18285] Re: phasing out support for older versions
  • From: colin at tri.org.au (Colin Rose)
  • Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 15:05:28 -0400
  • Organization: Theoretical Research Institute
  • References: <7khp5s$qug@smc.vnet.net> <7kmt0t$1v2@smc.vnet.net> <7ktsip$8v5@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

"Atul Sharma" <mdsa at musica.mcgill.ca> wrote:

> Though I have had nothing but good things to say about
> Mathematica technical support and software, the notion of abandoning support
> for older versions strikes me as unfair to legitimate users who are getting
> along fine with older hardware and software, with no pressing need to
> upgrade either. 


This does not seem logical to me. A number of points come to mind:

1. If Wolfram stop support for v2, it does not stop one from
   actually using v2.
   What people often mean by 'support' is that either the program
   no longer works with their operating system / computer (in which
   case they should be upgrading to the new version) or that
   there is some known bug in the old version which they want fixed
   (in which case they should be upgrading to the new version) or
   that the problem they want to solve (but can't because the
   current version doesn't offer it) is actually solved easily
   by the new version. 

2. v2 is now ancient software: about 7 years old.

3. Mathematica, much like an operating system, is a platform. 
   In order for the platform to advance, it is important to 
   take the user base with it. It is very difficult for authors
   of packages etc to design exciting software that takes 
   advantage of the latest features of the platform, when
   x % of the user base are straggling along on v2 or v3.
 
4. Finally, it is extremely expensive to maintain a program
   like Mathematica, that runs on so many different operating systems,
   in different versions. I would suggest that Wolfram should have
   dropped v2 support long ago, and I would suggest they should
   drop v3 support now too. 


"Four" is the future ... for now. :)

Cheers

Colin



> P.J. Hinton wrote in message <7kmt0t$1v2 at smc.vnet.net>...

> >You may want to consider upgrading to Version 4 as support for version
> >2.2 is being phased out.

-- 
Colin Rose 
tr(I)    -  Theoretical Research Institute
__________________________________________
colin at tri.org.au    http://www.tri.org.au/


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