Soleramnus
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Posted - 2008.06.16 03:35:00 -
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Edited by: Soleramnus on 16/06/2008 03:38:02
Being a code-minded person myself and seeing the worst in a company workplace when it comes to delivering a product on time, I know firsthand that technology is fickle and may cause unforeseen delays. That's life, and there's no need to critique life.
However, again being a code-minded person who knows what it takes to develop a technological product (whether internet-born, platform-born, or both), I also know that technology works on ones and zeros. In the end, it either works or it doesn't; but it doesn't work in shades of gray. There's only one place in the development process where there's a shade of gray, and that's meatspacełthe human factor.
In short, there can be reasons for delays. There can be reasons for misadvertised products. There can even be reasons for things to be cancelled after they've been announcedłeven though none of this may be "good," it's sometimes the nature of business in technology, even though it may betray a lack of forethought and planning. All these things, even with the lack of forethought, I can stomach, believe it or not. But as the OP said, the major problem is not the technology: it's not keeping the community informed.
Whether CCP liked it or not, they committed to the Mac and Linux community for delivering their product when they announced it, made the client downloadable for Mac and Linux, and got the EVE logo on Apple's growing games homepage. Even if it was a handoff job to Transgaming, CCP's customers still look to CCP for product support and updates, especially if the product is half baked (which it was when it was released, and still is now to an extent, mostly due to the lack of Premium graphics). They want to know how it's baking, even if CCP can't say when it'll be done, whether or not it's due to their development process or Transgaming's.
Maybe our woes are the fault of Transgaming saying they could port the client, but not realizing the full extent of the project they faced. Maybe it was CCP being too willing to hand over their product while believing an outside job could do things to their standards. I'm just shooting in the darkłbut honestly, I have no way to know otherwise. I'm fully willing to blame Transgaming for the bugs in the client and the delays. I'm fully willing to wait a year for Premium graphics if I have to. But I have no way of knowing.
And in the end, that "not knowing" is not an issue of technology, or not being able to turns ones into zeros. That's the human factor not living up to its own declared standards, past promises, and apologies. It's a lack of devblogs and a lack of forum posts. It is not a "kink" in the development process. It is, strictly speaking, unprofessional. And it is unprofessional because it is unnecessary.
Agree with the OP 100%. Exclusive MacBook Pro user. Tell us the status of your product, and our purchase.
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