kovar@eclectic.com (David C. Kovar) (04/24/91)
This is just an idea that's been floating around in my head for awhile. I'm trying to flesh it out a bit, but not necessarily do anything with it. Back when we first started creating our product, we were short on development machines. Then, when we finished writing it, we were very short on machines to test it on. I'd go around to all my friends and borrow their Mac for an hour or so to make sure the product work. Not a very complete test, but the best we could do. I noticed that Apple just created a testing lab out in CA. It's got about 30 Macs, all with different configurations, and it's free - you just have to share your test results with Apple. What would people think about a commercial development/testing lab? One area would be solely for development and would contain things like: * Several straight development machines - 8MB memory, 120MB disks, fast hardware, large screens, and some sort of high capacity removable media. * LightSpeed C, MPW, MacApp, etc. * TMON, Macsbugs * Fileserver, printer, CD ROM on network. Additionally, there would be a library with all the common, and not so common, reference books. A second area for testing. It would contain as many different configurations as possible, along with various file servers, printers, and the like. As large a collection of INITs, applications, and other software products as possible. It would be available by appointment only and would be reserved solely for the use of the customer to keep things confidential. Assuming that it was incorporated, or was at least operating as a company, the lab could get Associate status with Apple. All information requests would probably be funneled through an assistant to keep things sane. So, does this sort of thing make sense? More importantly, if you were an individual programmer could you afford to pay to use such a lab? If you work for a company, could they afford to pay for using such a lab, or the testing area? I suspect the answer to the above questions is: No. The capital investment, along with insurance, operating costs, and the like, is much too high. You'd have to charge some pretty steep rates and students who can barely afford LightSpeed C and a hard disk aren't going to shell out a lot of money for something they can't hold on to. I'd be happy to have someone convince me otherwise. -David