Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club! >> That is *exactly* what I want when I upgrade - I want to activate new >> features myself, preferably one by one, so I can test them separately. > And so do I. But I also want to look at them working the way the > developer intended, not modified or replaced by any of my own > settings or additions. I am not talking about additions - I am talking about a working set of configuration options that I use in *every* version of Arachne. If you program your own additions, and use the same config files for these, then you have creatd your own version of hell - there is no reason to blame it on Arachne or make new users unsure. > So if you were a developer adding a new feature which the user > has added as an external to the old version, how would you merge > the files? Should a new feature take precedence over one that was > added to the old version, or should the added one take > precedence? > Or should this be a matter for the user to decide? The developer should always write his program with the standard behaviour of users in mind. If someone deliberately tries to break a program, that is a different story. >> You expect trouble, so you get it - that is your problem. > In my opinion it is better to avoid a problem than to try to fix > it later. > Do you fill your car's fuel tank BEFORE you run out of fuel? Do > you have the brakes checked BEFORE they fail? Do you steer your car in curves because you are afraid of ramming another one? That is what you do with Arachne; you try to avoid problems without knowing if they exist, and thus you *create* the problem in the first place. >> Also, always trying to avoid problems that *might* >> occur does not help to make Arachne a better piece of software. > Oh yes it does. No, it doesn't - if you think there is a problem, then you should confirm it and report it, so is can be fixed. Not reporting a problem means that it will stay until another one reports it, or the developer finds out himself. I know what I am talking about since I am a software developer myself. On the other hand, talking about problems that do *not* exist does no good at all; it only serves to make people unsure and keep them from using the program. Never heard about FUD? >> From my experience, this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. > Maybe you have been lucky. Or maybe it is just normal, and you are just paranoid. >> It seems to me that it is a much better way to simply upgrade Arachne >> and then see what (if anything) is missing than to deliberately lose all >> your settings because you are *afraid* of losing them. ;-) > LOSE ALL MY SETTINGS??????? What the %$#@ are you talking about? > Did I not make it clear to you that I install the new version > into a directory that is COMPLETELY SEPARATE from the working > copy of the old version? > That way I lose nothing! Oh yes, you lose every single setting in the new version, and have to go through the whole process of setting up Arachne again. That is entirely your problem, though, so do not make it appear to be one of Arachne, that is the only thing I ask you to do. > As I have already said, if anyone wants to jump straight into the > new version of Arachne and use it, they can do exactly that! > Arachne allows it! Don't make me laugh - this is not a special feature, it is what everyone would expect, since most programs "allow" this. The other way round, it would be a special "feature" - read: a bug. > That is the beauty of Arachne! It does NOT force you down one > path or the other. The user can decide for him/her-self. The users can always decide for themselves - so do not try to sway them to your side with your paranoid talk. Last but not least, I want to repeat something that cannot be said too often: If you suspect there is a problem with Arachne, do not rely on the developers' telepathic abilities, TELL THEM about it! That is the only way to make sure they get the message. Udo -- The DR-DOS/OpenDOS Enhancement Project - http://www.drdosprojects.de -- This mail was written by a user of The Arachne Browser - http://arachne.cz/ Arachne at FreeLists -- Arachne, The Premier GPL Web Browser/Suite for DOS --