26APR14 - SP1/300ER Update "What Could Possibly Take So Long?!"

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains,

 

I want to start out tonight with an apology of sorts.

 

To be candid, this SP1 development process has taken nearly three times longer than we anticipated- and we know it has caused some frustration for some of you.

 

I am very sorry that this has been the case.

 

There are about fifty reasons why this update has taken this long- and I am not going to spend time laying out a discussion as to whether we approached this update in the correct manner, or whether we should have released it sooner with some of the major items stil not working to our satisfaction- because none of those points are really important.

 

We have not yet released SP1 because we have not reached the point where we are comfortable that we have it right- and that it is ready for your use.

 

The only people who have access to "all of the information" that we are using to make decisions are those of us right here at PMDG- so while some folks have taken to castigating us for sticking to our guns on this- I will continue to refuse to release something that is not ready for release.

 

That decision is mine, and mine alone- and while some may not like it- I stand by it.

 

I make this decision with seventeen years of providing simmers with products and services- and I make this decision with the help and input of a team that knows our software more intimately than any other group of people on the planet.  I also make this decision with the help of a group of beta testers and technical advisors who have a big say in our overall product quality- and they will not white-wash their opinions just to satisfy some angry folks in the forum.  (And this is why we have them on the team.)

 

So- just like I did during development of the NGX, just like I did during development of the 777- I will continue to keep my finger on the HOLD button until we know this thing is ready for you to use.

 

Now that being said- we have been having internal conversations within PMDG to identify ways that we can speed up the update process in the future, and de-link it from our primary development process.  We have taken a lead from many of the leading software vendors and titles out there in the gaming marketplace- and we are currently hard at work on a tool that will be embedded into the Operations Center to keep your PMDG titles continually up-to-date.

 

Beyond just maintaining your product currency- it will allow us to feed micro-updates to your PMDG products without having to use the somewhat antiquated delivery methods that have worked so well for us up until the 777.

 

With the ability to deliver micro updates, we could have pushed a number of fixes to you already without having them holding in a bit-build process waiting for the dev team and the testers to sign off on the last few major items that we are still tweaking.  Unfortunately our current installation technology simply doesn't let us de-link some of these things- and we just don't want to push an update that has a high risk of breaking something that is currently working properly for the vast majority of users.

 

To give credit where it is due- the concept to add this into the Operations Center came primarily from Ryan- who is obviously well known here- and is an avid gamer.  He has been partnering with Matt, who is the main developer behind the Operations Center in order to make this happen.  Matt has been taken off his product development duties with the sole purpose of making this thing a reality- so that will give you a measure of our committment to it.

 

I don't know when this process wil be ready to roll out- but I think we can all agree that it will dramatically improve our flexibility when it comes to giving you updates and adding functionality to our products- and this will make all of us quite a bit happier!

 

In the mean time- we are sorry for taking our time with this- but you can rest assured that we are "doing the right thing" by our customers and our product quality- because that is the most important goal we have in front of us.

 

So if you stuck with me this far- you probably wonder "well, when?"

 

We will be rolling a new beta SP1 out to the testing team on saturday.  I know that we need at least one more build after that- as we are waiting on some key functionality updates from a member of the team who has been sick for the past week.

 

If we get these last key pieces working as we want them- we have about 5 days of testing ahead of us- and then we are finished.

 

(RECAP FOR THOSE WHO DON'T READ FOR DETAIL:  We have some key pieces that are not finished, and they will need 5 days of testing once finished...  So...  if they take 3,820 days to finish- we will release in 3,825 days.  If they are finished in 1 day..we will release in 6.  Re-read this sentence ten times if you don't understand, please.)

 

Thanks again for your patience, everyone- I promise you that it is worth the wait!

[AirborneZed 168]

Thanks Rob, I really do appreciate the team and your dedication to quality control. I can't tell you how exited I am to use the revised FBW system, as well as dodging CBs with the wxr.

 

Now, about that new datalink feature.....

[pete_auau 1,159]

Thx  for the update  and in a week or  so it  will start all over  again  where is  the sp1 going to be released

[CaptainLychock 19]

Thanks Robert for the update. 

[jetsflier 87]

Thanks for the update. At first I thought this was a fake due to capitalization (or I suppose lack thereof!) Usually the month is in caps, the SP, the ER, the WHAT at the beginning of the sentence!

[Tabs 2,790]

Thanks for the update. At first I thought this was a fake due to capitalization (or I suppose lack thereof!) Usually the month is in caps, the SP, the ER, the WHAT at the beginning of the sentence!

 

I just tried to fix that and the forum's changing it all back to lower-case. No idea why.

[Avantime 81]

Any chance you can throw us a few screenshots (or videos) to keep us entertained?

[scandinavian13 5,192]

Thanks for the update. At first I thought this was a fake due to capitalization (or I suppose lack thereof!) Usually the month is in caps, the SP, the ER, the WHAT at the beginning of the sentence!

 

haha - me too.

[max2770 75]

Thanks for the update - and for implementing simple micro-updates. Sounds promising.

[SJS 0]

Thanks for the update! 

 

-Spencer S

[ActiveSky 47]

Thanks for the update Robert  :smile:

[makdrive 9]

Thanks for the update Rob. Keep up the good work and we will keep our fingers crossed.

[ZKOKQ 984]

Thanks Captain Rob. Onwards and Upwards.

[JohnsonPBX 8]

Thanks for the clarification, it's perfectly understandable, and why not, respectable.

 

Of the few preview images we've seen lately, most (if not all) are focused on the SP1 especially, and the new features / fixes, but I haven't seen any from the 777-300ER, other than those uploaded to Facebook a while ago. Could you main guys / developers / beta testers (team overall to summarize) please add at least one (or a few  ) preview pictures of the longer triple seven? I personally would be really happy with an All Blacks photo but I'm more certain several people would be grateful with some previews regardless of the livery.

 

Regards.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Jhon-

 

We will start showing some images.  Vin has been putting some of them up on facebook and we have copied most of them over to here.  We have all been a bit swamped of late with shifting development plans, a bunch of new project planning, hangups in SP1 and keeping the ball moving on the 400v2.0....   So we haven't been giving the 300ER as much preview time as she really deserves...

 

Let me see what I can do to change that.  She has some pretty cool features, after all!

Max-

 

Thanks for the update - and for implementing simple micro-updates. Sounds promising.

 

Oh no you don't. 

 

I didn't say it was simple!  Not even close!  It is actually a highly complex process when you get right down to the brass tacks- and we have to make sure it is done correctly....  

 

It can be described in many many ways... but NOT "simple!"  :ph34r:

 

(I know what you meant but I had to have some fun with it...  LOL)

 

:ph34r: