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I seem to remember a note posted here recently to the effect that Day Trader
Pro (with EL language compatibility) is scheduled for release 3Q98. Omega
has indicated their next round of product upgrades will be out 2Q98, however
there are indications that the beta schedule is slipping. It may well be 6
to 12 months before one or both products will be available. If there are
products which are stable and reliable the day they are released to the
public, I haven't found them - certainly not from Omega. So allow another 3
months (conservative) for shakedown before you want to bet your trading
income on TS5/SC5 or DTP.
Bottom line: it's going to be another year or so (1Q-2Q of 99) before there
are _proven_ alternatives (Omega or competitor) to the products we are
using now! Omega has indicated that they'll do the Y2K fix for the current
releases after the new release is out. Allowing another 3 months for these
"patches" (which I suspect will be rather invasive of the old code base),
it would not be unreasonable to expect that the Y2K fixes won't be
available and reliable until early (optimistic) to mid 1999.
In the meantime, Omega appears to have virtually ceased maintenance efforts
on the products which we are now using, and will continue to use, for the
next year - plus or minus. I don't know about the rest of you, but I see a
big hole in this picture! I'm not concerned with the next round of product
releases by Omega or its competitors, I want the bugs fixed in the product
I'm using now and I sure as hell don't want to wait until sometime in 1999
to be assured that my trading platform isn't going to die on 12/31/99.
Janette Perez called the other day to let me know that she'd read my post
regarding the SwingHigh/SwingLow bug and that Omega is listening. During our
conversation, there was no indication that Omega intends to actually fix the
problems which concern many of us about the product releases with which
we are currently earning our collective living. If there was one message I
communicated to Janette, it was it that I am not focused on future
products, I am focused on the present. I'm not inclined to "trust Omega"
(a phrase Janette used frequently) until Omega gets back to work fixing the
problems, including Y2K, in the current product. I'm running the latest
build of SC4 and I can't find an EXE file which has been updated in nearly a
year, yet I keep tripping over significant bugs!
I believe Omega's concerns are focused on holding the user base at bay until
they can get the next release out and begin another round of hoopla and
refresh the upgrade revenue stream. It's time for the collective user base
to stop focusing on the ever-present "next release" and focus on the current
release. If Omega isn't fixing the bugs and the Y2K problem in the current
release, why believe that Omega will fix them in the next release?
Earl
PS I submit that in any user community there is a minority of users who
truly excercise the product features and who actually perform the
exceedingly tedious work required to verify the calculations provided by
the software. If you are happily using the current release, that's great,
but do not assume that those of us who are calling for fixes are merely
bashing Omega. The bugs we keep hounding Omega to fix, affect
your trading systems, as well as ours.
PPS Perhaps it's time for those list members in the trade press to
begin covering the warts on these products. Some products and
services, while providing worthwhile trading tools, have a history of
bugs and/or poor support. Readers are not served by product
coverage which treads lightly on the warts, encouraging vendors to
continue hyping features at the expense of quality control and
customer service. Ultimately, it is the readers who pay dearly!
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