I haven't seen any unraid development for a long time and neither have i any Tom activity here. What's the reason? Does Tom work on a new beta? The last version comes from 1st October what's  quite disappointing. I'm afraid that the project has been given up, what would be a disaster.

 

New stable kernel (2.6.27) is out and i can't wait for NFS shares as promised.

Really that hasn't been that long. Sometimes it is hard to get things right. I would rather Tom take his time & get things right than rush & have a buggy release. JMO

 

Phil

Really that hasn't been that long.

 

Ditto

 

I would rather Tom take his time & get things right than rush & have a buggy release.

 

Double ditto.

 

i can't wait for NFS shares as promised.

 

Whoooo there cowboy... I don't recall any such promise.

Don't understand my post bad, i know Tom has got his privat life, family, etc. but 4.3 version was developed within 3 months, and new betas were getting relased regularly. Now it's been two months since last beta-2 and i guees the road to final is still faraway.

Rapid release of incremental betas was a symptom of BUGS, not development.... look back at them, most were released to fix bugs, not to add features.

 

4.4Beta2 has had fewer issues than the equivalent beta of 4.3.... this is good... it points to 4.4 official release without having to go through 6 betas.

I have found Tom's track record of functionality improvements to be more substantial and more frequent than most other applications on the market.  Bug fix releases are even better - with betas rolled out every few days as the first wave of feedback rolls in.

 

 

Bill

I am going to try and capture some of the more relevant points as impartially as possible. I may be a bit long winded so appologies in advance.

 

I haven't seen any unraid development for a long time and neither have i any Tom activity here. What's the reason? Does Tom work on a new beta? The last version comes from 1st October what's  quite disappointing. I'm afraid that the project has been given up, what would be a disaster.

 

Is unRAID development "dead". Well no its not. Theres no case to be made that it is dead.

Developer feedback aka "neither have i any Tom activity here" is low. This is a valid point. Limetech as a company have changed policy of lots of feedback and user discussions in the early days to virtually none today.

 

Now that is an important point to realise. unRAID is a commercial product. Yes all the forum members have lots of discussion, suggestions and hacks but that could equally be conducted on another site (imagine if Joe, BubbaQ and the rest of us done all the stuff on another site). Put that way it is fair to say the commercial product would look a bit abandoned.

 

And that leads us naturally to "who are the clients"? This is a very important point. Most of unRAID clients are quiet, upgrade rarely type users. Confusing the activity of a few of us here with the core product is a mistake.

 

On the internet Googles policy of "Release early, release often" has IMO created a mindset of "this is how things are done". Yes that is how some things are done but not all. unRAID "releases seldom but stays stable".

 

Now there are some known pretty serious bugs in unRAID (the restore button, the Unformatted when telneted to name just 2). These bugs have been known about for a long time. Commercial users have a right to expect these bugs to be squashed. They do not however have a right to expect them to be squashed immediately... but with virtually no Limetech feedback on development or a roadmap its hard to make a case for not moaning about stuff.

 

How I personally would fix this if I owned Limetech.

 

I would follow the XBMC development model. There would be regular cutting edge beta builds. On a much less regular period a stable would be released after a period of nothing but public bug request/squashing.

I would make sure that someone followed the forum and replied on behalf of the company at least once a week.

I would have a roadmap and a public bug list. This would not ad hoc forum type list it would be a semi-formal web/wiki page that is core to how the product is developed.

I would react specifically to, and put in place the framework to allow the hardcore unRAID hackers a means to help develop the product.

 

Anyway thats some food for though.

How I personally would fix this if I owned Limetech.

 

I would follow the XBMC development model. There would be regular cutting edge beta builds. On a much less regular period a stable would be released after a period of nothing but public bug request/squashing.

I would make sure that someone followed the forum and replied on behalf of the company at least once a week.

I would have a roadmap and a public bug list. This would not ad hoc forum type list it would be a semi-formal web/wiki page that is core to how the product is developed.

I would react specifically to, and put in place the framework to allow the hardcore unRAID hackers a means to help develop the product.

I strongly agree with you, and that's what i really miss here...

That is the biggest crock of crap I have ever seen posted.... and I've seen a lot.

 

You have no idea of capital expenditures, cash flow, user base, or the liabilities on Limetech's balance sheet.  You have no idea of staffing levels, or resources.  Yest you have the audacity to declare how you would "fix" this if you owned Limetech? 

 

Expenses need to generate profits .... if they don't, then you need to spend it elsewhere where it does (or keep it in your pocket).

 

unRAID ain't broken... a handful of complainers will never be satisfied.... and trying to satisfy them is usually a very bad business move.  Trying to please the fringe (and 99% of the people in this forum are the fringe, as the non-fringe are the ones that buy a product and you never hear a peep from) is a VERY bad business tactic.

Eh hold on before you go off on one.

 

Which one of my four suggestion relate to "staffing levels, or resources" exactly?. If you are saying that Limetech cant follow their own forum then that should be clear to users who come here for support on a product they paid for.

 

Also which one of my suggestions impact on expenses.?

 

Where did i say unRAID is broken exactly?. I made fair suggestions that could fix this unRAID issue (clearly marked as my opinion) so keep your flame reposes a bit more temperate in keeping with the tone of how people post here.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for seeming like no development - FAR from it.

Release 4.4 final is ready to be posted, just more important things to get finished:

- new products

- new website

More info coming...

Sounds cool! Looking forward to see it :P

Sorry for seeming like no development - FAR from it.

Release 4.4 final is ready to be posted, just more important things to get finished:

- new products

- new website

More info coming...

 

Tom thats excellent news. Small snippets like that are all that is needed to change the perception of some from a negative to a positive.

 

I don't get the impression that a lot of people work for Limetech.  I think they are all doing a fantastic job. 

 

And the little I understand about programming, I empathize with them greatly.  Trying to create stable products with whiz bang features that support a wide array of hardware.  Can't be easy. 

 

And we can't forget that Limetech doesn't charge for upgrades.  Can you imagine if Microsoft followed that model?  You paid for Windows 98 10 years ago, you would have been able to get ME(LOL), 2000, XP, and Vista all free of charge. 

I don't even remember how many years ago I paid for Windows 1.0 

 

Windows 1.0 was the bomb.  Just listen to brother Steve preach. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvHNNOLnCk

 

 

unRAID was one of the best investments I have ever made in almost 20 years of playing around with computers. After buying two pro keys, I have been taken care of at each level of my learning curve. I realize that lots of the help i have received has come from lurking here daily and that the help has come from the community as much as from Lime Tech. Still, Lime Tech attracted these folks to this product and forum. I sat back, helplessly, as xlobby crashed and burned as a viable product for hobbyists. unRAID is so different. Tom, thank you. Keep up the great work.