Re: [rdesktop-devel] temporary code fix for "random" disconnects

[John Z. <jo...@ma...>]

Thanks for your reply, Peter. The point I'd like to emphasize to the
rdesktop team is that for the benefit of your users, you should try to ma=
ke
it easy to identify which version of rdesktop is the "stable, production"
version, and to clearly distinguish on your web-site that version from an=
y
other development versions that might be available.  Perhaps you've alrea=
dy
taken steps in this direction.

When I first began to look at rdesktop, I mistakenly downloaded a version
that did not work well (1.1.0 without patches), in the erroneous belief t=
hat
I was obtaining the best version for use in a production environment.  It
was only after many hours of effort that I learned that I was better off
applying the
available patches.  Worse, these patches were stored on your website with=
 an
earlier version of rdesktop (1.0.0) even though they applied equally well=
 to
the latest version, which I found misleading.

As is done by many other open-software projects, I encourage you to clear=
ly
identify and distinguish "production" from "development" versions of your
product.(in the case of rdesktop, as of earlier this year, the version wi=
th
the patches was the production version, since it was clearly much more
reliable.)

This is more of a marketing and advertising problem then a technical one.
It goes to how non-technical users will perceive and use your product, an=
d
this is based largely on how it is portrayed on your web-site.

Sincerely,

John Zuckerman
Texas A&M University



----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter =C5strand" <pe...@ce...>
To: "John Zuckerman" <jo...@ma...>; "rdesktop-devel"
<rde...@li...>
Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 5:16 AM
Subject: Re: [rdesktop-devel] temporary code fix for "random" disconnects


> John Zuckerman wrote:
>
> > The patches are critical to reliability of rdesktop.
> >
> > I was going to assist in updating the rdesktop website so that it was
> > clear that the "production" version of rdesktop is the one *with* the
> > patches, but I no longer have time to help (sorry).
>
> You are probably right, but the intention of the rdesktop team is to
> change this. We are currently working on version 1.2. Personally, I
> think the latest CVS version works quite good. I encourage you to try
> it, and report bugs. If anyone wants to help with integrating patches
> from the unified-patches version, this would also be appreciated.
>
> /Peter =C5strand,
> rdesktop team
>