<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<TITLE></TITLE>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19170"></HEAD>
<BODY><!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>RASMB,<BR><BR>Apparently my
inadvertent post last Friday of what was intended as private message to Tom Laue
and his team working on the new version of SEDNTERP has led some of you to
mistakenly believe I do not support and endorse this effort, and/or that I have
major concerns about the quality and functionality of the new version. Let
me assure you that <U>both are false</U> (and I will explain that more
fully below). I also again apologize to all for my stupid posting mistake and
especially to Tom, Tucker, and Allan for publically airing "inside the huddle"
comments and language.<BR><BR>I strongly believe it is important to have
this software tool modernized and updated, and I'm 100% behind that
effort, for multiple reasons:<BR><BR>(1) No new functionality has been added for
a decade. Very significantly, the approach used for the new version allows for
new functions and computations to be added <U>by any user</U> using scripts
(Javascript in this case), without needing to re-compile or even needing access
to the source code.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>(2) The old user
interface stinks (and yes I am mostly to blame for that). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>(3) The old code literally can
no longer be supported. Microsoft obsoleted that compiler more than 15 years
ago, and it won't even run and compile correctly on my own Windows Vista
computer. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>(4) The new version can run on
multiple platforms, and both as a web server and a stand-alone desktop
application.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Regarding functionality of the new
version, first let me clarify that I handed over the old code to Tom's team
so they could verify that the computations and other logic are done the
same way in the new version, and I am not aware of <U>any</U> bugs or issues in
that regard.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Some of the concerns I raised in my
Friday message were simply wrong, due to my getting lost in insider details and
a misunderstanding about whether the new version can directly work with the old
database format. (It can't, you have to import your old databases to switch them
to the new format.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Inevitably the transition to the new
version will turn up some bugs and other issues. I do think the
users need a straightforward way to communicate bug reports or
installation issues, but I see that has already been
fixed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>I also believe it is important
to try to make the new version fully documented and easy to install, and
that the installation ensures that you don't accidentally overwrite your own
database. The documentation currently on the wiki is mostly for the
old version, so in some cases it might be misleading rather than
helpful. In any event, my intent was to push for those things getting
a high priority.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>Overall, probably nobody knows better
than I what a big effort it took to re-write the whole thing from scratch. The
transition will of course take some time and might hit a few bumps in the
road, but we'll all be much better off with a sustainable, extensible,
multi-platform version. For sure when Tom, David Hayes and myself started all
this nearly 20 years ago none of us had any idea SEDNTERP would be so
widely used, nor did we give a moments thought to needing to support it over the
long haul. Many thanks to Tom and BITC for taking on this project, and I am more
than glad to step aside for the next generation.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial>John</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>