3pmgev4i1lb7soujdimabs58m89p081prl@4ax.com...

> Yes, beta-test time of 3.5 is not comparable - probably many persons
considered
> 3.5 as same kind of 'replacement' for MegaPOV (port of MegaPOV features to
> official distribution).

In fact I agree with Thorsten here. While people who frequent these groups
are well aware of Megapov, I believe that the majority of users out there
only know the official version. For instance, there are many specialised
utilities (architecture, chemistry etc.) that export to POV-Ray and the
people who use them are strictly "passive" POV-Ray users (not meant to be
derogatory of course). As a TAG member, I often receive questions from these
users, particularly when the utilities were made for 3.0 or 3.1 and that 3.5
complains about the #version directive.

So yes, an official, 100% rock-stable, documented and supported version is
fundamental (and I've been having fun with patches since POV-Ray 2.0). In
fact, it's one of the things that puts POV-Ray well above the pack of a
gazillion of nifty but unstable, undocumented and unsupported freewares, or
even a few commercial apps...

G.

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http://www.oyonale.com
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- POV-Ray and Poser computer images
- Posters

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> So yes, an official, 100% rock-stable, documented and supported version is
> fundamental

yes this is a great thing and with MegaPOV we can have best of both worlds.
I just think that MegaPOV should have releases more often to really pleased
advanced users always looking for the latest neat features to test (and yes
ABX, I do know this is easier to say than to do :)

M

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In article <3ee87db7$1@news.povray.org> , "Mael" <mae### [at] hotmailcom> 
wrote:

>> So yes, an official, 100% rock-stable, documented and supported version is
>> fundamental
>
> yes this is a great thing and with MegaPOV we can have best of both worlds.

But as Gilles said, this is not what megaPOV provides, or what is the goal
of MegaPOV.  You can't have unfinished features and a 100% rock-stable
program.  Just does not work.  Actually, it cannot work.

    Thorsten

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany
e-mail: tho### [at] trfde

Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

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On Thu, 12 Jun 2003 15:18:48 +0200, "Mael" <mae### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> I just think that MegaPOV should have releases more often

It probably will in the future but unfortunetly 1.1 can't be released earlier
than its parent - 3.51. Not convenient but too late to change it :-(

ABX

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> >> So yes, an official, 100% rock-stable, documented and supported version
is
> >> fundamental
> >
> > yes this is a great thing and with MegaPOV we can have best of both
worlds.
>
> But as Gilles said, this is not what megaPOV provides, or what is the goal
> of MegaPOV.  You can't have unfinished features and a 100% rock-stable
> program.  Just does not work.  Actually, it cannot work.

Sorry I was totally not clear (It's really hot today and this doesn't help
me to think in english :) , I meant that it was great to have an official
Povray, stable, nicely documented AND at the same time to have MegaPOV to
provide more experimental stuff. So we have the two worlds each with its own
advantages

M

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Thorsten Froehlich wrote:

>
>I think you seriously lost track of reality by only reading these newsgroups
>frequented by several very advanced users.  While there are a few dozen
>users who play with some of the features a few unofficial versions provide,
>there are tens of thousands of users who use the official version of POV-Ray
>for their work because it provides a stable and reliable environment with
>finished features that have been well-tested.
>
>    Thorsten
>

Hear, hear!  There's plenty to play with!  I believe there's an expression
"A bad craftsman blames his tools."
--Library Man

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Thorsten Froehlich wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
> Rewrite. No offense to those who work on MegaPOV or the other patches, but
> they indeed all suffer from exactly the same problems the patches that the
> POV-Team had to integrate into 3.5.  The current patches hardly get finished
> or bugfixed very well.  Don't expected anybody in the POV-Team is willing to
> repeat the same mistake again by reusing code from patches that don't work
> and then take years to get fixed.

I understand your point and it is probably correct for most patches,
mostly because the main goal while writing them is an actual need for a
feature, not a well tested and structured extension.  None the less it is
surely wrong to regard all patches equally - quite a few bugfix patches
from MegaPOV 1.0 were already added to official POV and there are various
feature enhancements in MegaPOV with a similar simplicity.

Of course this has nothing to do with the origianl topic of this thread -
it is definitely not a good idea to start adding new features to the
official POV-Ray 3.5 for a new release, this way there would probably
never be a new version - those who need new features should go for an
unofficial version.

Christoph    

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