Question for Mark

[kmcnamara]

Mark,

Are you prohibited by your NDA from indicating when you get beta releases to test? I realize you can't indicate what is being fixed. Just wondering if you can even indicate when you've got new software. It might give us some rough indication about a new release. Thanks.

[Mark Lamutt]

So far, the Dish people that I talk to haven't had any problem with me saying if I've got a beta version or not. Whether that will always be the case, I can't say. And I specifically get the go ahead each time.

Their concern is that it's impossible to guarantee a timetable when software comes out of beta. A lot of times we'll find something that is a real killer in the beta process that has to be fixed before the software can be released. Something that makes all of the so far reported bugs seem like a walk in the park. We found one of those in L144 which is why you never saw it...

I can tell you that right now, I'm running exactly the same software that you are.

[kmcnamara]

Cool. I understand that guessing on software releases is not an exact science (I work in QA at a major software company). Just curious more than anything. Thanks.