[Scummvm-devel] 1.0 or not 1.0? (was: ScummVM 1.0.0 release schedule)

[Max Horn]

Hi folks,

this thread has become huge, and I see no point in trying to reply to  
every single point that was raised (I read them all, though, and if  
you feel that I should address a specific one of them, please let me  
know, and I can do that in a later email).

Here are my thoughts:

We should make 1.0.0 soon. I wouldn't care too much whether it's the  
next release or the one after; but since we already committed  
ourselves in public, I think we should just go with 1.0.0 for the  
upcoming release. However, I also agree with what various people have  
said here: We should try to make this a very stable release; make a  
public -rc version (kind of what our usual .0 would have been), so  
that 1.0.0 really runs fine "everywhere" (kind of like our usual .1  
releases ;).


Some people here have listed features that they believe should be in  
1.0.0, that we should wait for before going there. I strongly disagree  
with every single one! We can *always* find one more thing to add. In  
fact, this is why so many projects and commercial applications run  
over their schedule: There is always one more thing that would be so  
cool and so easy to add. Well, yes, but somewhere you have to make a  
cut. You shouldn't cut on usability, of course. I am talking about  
*features* here. And of those we have enough, and had enough for long.  
To me, the best possible user experience was always the only reason  
not to go to 1.0.0 yet. We will try to address that by working on  
docs, by improving our release process, by improving quality  
assurance. But adding features (or waiting for feature to mature  
enough to be ready for inclusion) is exactly what we should *not* do  
at all.

Support for more games, virtual keyboard and key remapper working  
everywhere, MI Amiga music support, 16bit game support -- all cool  
features. All worth working for. For version 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0,  
whatever. Not for 1.0.

Improving our README, making it easier for users to "start ScummVM,  
add a game and play", fixing papercuts (see <https://launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts 
 >) -- those are things we should work on for 1.0.0. Most of those are  
of course not as fun or shiny or impressive -- but those are what  
distinguish good software from great software, IMO.


So, let's go for a somewhat extended release cycle, with 1.0rc and  
then 1.0.0 (and maybe 1.0.1, why not). Let's try to get as many ports  
in good shape as possible. Let's try to fix as many bugs on the  
tracker as possible. Let's try to listen to what first time users  
suggest on how to make ScummVm easier to use. Let's try not fall in  
the "one more feature, never release" trap ;)



Bye,
Max