david, at 00:50 on Feb 07 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> Yes I can; no you can't; yes I can; no you can't...  BTW, is this just
BG> the 5-minute argument, or the full half hour ?

db> You only have that option with Bob or Rod - with Paul, you're marked for 
db> life.

I doubt I'll lose too much sleep though.

BG> This is certainly peculiar behaviour, I'll agree, although it's not
BG> really the end of civilisation as we know it.

db> FWIW, I agree that something like this is not life/death kinda stuff - but 
db> Paul's right in that it's still a bug all the same.

Nope, it's not a bug at all.  It's simply the way USR modems work, and
they've always been like that.  Even the old HST Couriers (such as the one
I use as a backup modem) function in that manner.  Just because they work
differently from a Rockwell doesn't make them buggy.  It could even be said
that the Rockwells are buggy because they don't work the same way as
USRs...

db> Just like the NetComm's refusal to accept any other command in the same AT 
db> string after "Z" - it's documented as working that way,
but it's still a 
db> bug "by design" (as they say, "broken by
design").  Even the ol' M5 worked 
db> "properly".

Who's to say what "properly" means anyway ?

BG> Especially as I was able to fix the problem almost immediately.

db> That's called a "work-around", not a "bug-fix".

Given that the USR is not buggy, I doubt you could call it either.  :)

db> Computers are here to serve us, not the reverse - if the modem can handle a 
db> simple task like auto-detecting DCE/DTE rates dynamically so the user 
db> doesn't need to worry about 'em, then it should do so.  Step 1 towards 
db> *true* "Plug 'n' Play" capability.

Perhaps, but by the same token, how many people need to change their DTE
settings once their mailer or term has been configured anyway ?  I've had
USRs almost exclusively for a few years now, and it's never been a problem
for me.  Frankly, I think that Paul is simply being oblique, as usual.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20