Lightwave Core Beta....err Alpha

1st let me get this out of the way - There is no enforced NDA on Core discussion. I don’t know the reason why there was no NDA enforced, but I imagine things were supposed to be going more swimmingly than they have for the past year.

With that said, I’m not going to delve so much into Core itself as there is not much of note to talk about. It’s in an Alpha state. You can see what features are planned and more about Core here http://is.gd/5NCcC

Core should never have been released for testing as early as it was for two reasons. One, because there was nothing to test. And Two because anytime anyone cared to offer feedback, they were hammered home with “Did we say it was done yet?”. (It still happens today). That really confounded some people. Why did they join the Hardcore program if it wasn’t to offer feedback. On it’s first release it was effectively a UI with little stability and little function. The forums from the first Alpha release up till October of 2009 were volatile. To be frank, any form of participation in the program was one of listening and waiting.

It wasn’t until November that a feature list PDF was released which appeared to placate a number of forum members. The features listed more than pacified many anxious and restless people in the forums. With that said, I’ll have to say history hasn’t favored NT in its projections so I skipped the love in but held my tongue.

I’ve learned to dislike the term “Forward Looking” being part of Hardcore. It’s a convenient “bases covered” & “Wait and See” excuse to keep participants from pointing out feature directions that appear complicated or headed into a non intuitive direction. It gives the Devs the opportunity to launch “Did we say it was done yet?” That’s Bullshit! Answer the goddamn questions or put this bloody mess back in the egg and let it gestate some more. Bring out it when it’s complete enough so we can PARTICIPATE in a proper Beta program.

Now it’s 2010 and it’s bit more calm since November. There is still division and unless things speed up, I expect those that were placated will start to twist out of their straight jackets. Jay and Chuck really need to qualify every build with something for users to really test. Up until that happens - this thing is Alpha and the same vitriol that burned in the forums in 2009 will renew themselves in 2010.