RE: question on survey question

[Buck Calabro <Buck.Calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom said:

>Although I can think of a few exceptions,
>most customers who will shell out the
>money for the source are going to do
>their PTFs and stay fairly current
>on OS releases.

Will you call on my customers and let them know they're exceptional?

>As a developer I think it would be great
>to be able to target multiple OS
>releases (not necessarily OS versions)
>with a single source and use the
>latest language enhancements.

I can't wait for the actual survey!  You see, my take on this is that it is
a Good Thing to ask the question and see the responses tallied.  Let's say
that 1000 developers say 'Yes!  We want V5R9 binaries to run on V5R1!!!'
Even if it's completely impractical to do _today_ we will have set an idea
in motion that may have dividends in the future.

I personally believe that a question of the form 'Do you want V5Rx binaries
to run on all V5 releases?' will wildly be answered in the affirmative.
What would you gain by answering 'no?'  Once demand has been established,
the _next_ question can be "What's it worth to you?"

  --buck

"Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered --
 either by themselves or by others." -Mark Twain