(ASCEND) Ascend Software [Was: Ticket #793610]

[Jim Howard <jhoward@lyceum.com>]

Seems that I'm not alone.  Most people do think that
the software release process is still severly broken.

Even for all the talk about how you are changing the
software release process, and how everything is supposed to be better,
to all of us out here who actually rely on the software
to run our businesses, and thus to feed ourselves,
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!!!

Code that is released still has many severe bugs,
some of which WERE KNOWN beforehand, and the software
was released ANYWAY! [7.0.0]

Maybe I should have listened to what everyone was saying years ago 
and just gone with Cisco and/or Livingston but I didn't,
I stuck with Ascend, I bought many tens of thousands of dollars MORE
equipment from Ascend because they promised that they had 
seen the light, and that they were going to overhaul the 
entire software release process to give us the code that we needed,
that would not crash randomly, or suddenly just stop routing packets.

This is not just a hobby, I run a business on this equipment,
and thousands of people rely on my business to do theirs.

I should not have to run BETA code because it is better quality than 
the final release, but yet that is exactly what has happened for at least
the last six months, while Ascend feigned improvement but delivered nothing.

What will it take to satisfy me??
My core Cisco that has been up and running for 280 DAYS since 
the last time I had to upgrade its software.
That is what I want from my Ascend equipment...
Indefinite uptimes without a crash, without modems locking up 
and failing to answer, without routes being lost.

If you can't do it, tell me now, before I throw more money down the toilet.
Make sure that this letter makes it into the hands of someone who
has either to power to do something to inspire change,
or to tell me to go screw myself, at this point I don't care which.

-Jim H

>>From owner-ascend-users@max.bungi.com Wed Dec 02 22:22:57 1998
>X-Authentication-Warning: max.bungi.com: majordom set sender to
owner-ascend-users using -f
>Date: Wed, 02 Dec 1998 20:21:40 -0600
>From: Robert Fournerat <robert@netin.com>
>Organization: http://www.netin.com
>To: ascend-users@bungi.com
>Subject: Re: (ASCEND) [Fwd: Ticket #793610]
>References: <2.2.32.19981202223456.018dd23c@pop.lyceum.com>
>Sender: owner-ascend-users@max.bungi.com
>
>Jim Howard wrote:
>> 
>> >From: support@ascend.com
>> >This is a known issue which was clearly stated in the 7.0.0 release notes
>> >(page 2).  The problem here is that the Base Ch Count is incoreectly read as
>> 
>> At 20:47 1998/11/30 -0600, Steven T. Pierce wrote:
>> >Hmmm.... So it wasn't broke in 7.0b6, it broke in 7.0b7 and they didn't
>> >fix it for the 7.0.0 release... seems as though they should have FIXED
>> >it before they RELEASED IT....
>> 
>> Agreed, there should _NEVER_ have been a known issue like this
>> in the software when it was released.
>> (or the other "Known Issues" listed in release notes)
>> 
>> An issue that comes up after the release is one thing,
>> but this one was apparantly known before hand and _SHOULD_ have
>> caused the code to go to another beta release first.
>> 
>> I don't care how FAST the code gets built,
>> I care how WELL it gets built, and I'd like to think I'm not alone.
>
>Well Jim, I don't think you're alone from the customers
>side of this problem.  But getting Ascend to write bug
>free, stable, secure code is about like asking Matt to 
>be polite - it just isn't in his nature.  I believe that
>Ascend has adopted a Microsoft like approach to developing
>software - and they think this is a good thing.  I
>believe that there will have to be fundamental changes
>made to that process in order to produce what most other
>software professionals consider to be GA grade code.
>
>Jim, as you know, this is not a new topic.  I expect
>that many will not reply to your email because we get
>tired of saying the same thing, over and over again,
>to Ascend and ultimately being ignored.  I know I'm
>rather jaded, but have we missed suggesting or trying
>something to properly motivate Ascend?
>
>Robert
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----
Jim Howard             Sr Network Engineer        Lyceum Internet
jhoward@lyceum.com     http://www.lyceum.com/     404.248.1733     

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