(Excerpts from a message dated 10-07-99, Bob Wright to Murray Lesser)

Hi Bob--

 ML>     According to Object Toolkit/2,

BW>                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  3rd-party 
  >utility???  If so, where can one find it?

    No, it's an IBM OS/2 utility that came with both the Warp 3 and Warp
4 Developer's Toolkits.  AFAIK, the only way to get a current toolkit is
to buy a relatively recent IBM OS/2 compiler, or to have an "Advanced"
category DevCon subscription.

 BW>> I guess newer isn't necessarily always better..

 ML>     That "guess" has long been known in professional computing
 ML> circles. 

BW>Given that that's where I work, as well... In fact, I've gotten in a
  >few discussions at work about why we don't want to be on the
  >"bleeding edge"..

    See tagline :-).

 ML> The standard adage is "Don't be the first kid on the block with a
 ML> new system (or application program)."  I am running Warp 4, FP 5.

BW>cf Warp Connect, FP 40... I wound up there because of Y2K, plus I
  >messed something up that the fixpak seemed to resolve...

    By the time Warp Connect came out, the Warp 3 FixPak 5 code was
already integrated into the OS.  All the Warp 4 Y2K fixes that I thought
I needed were taken care of by Warp 4 FixPak 5.  In fact, the original
REXX file-date year bug was easier to work around (to get the four-digit
year) than was the "fix" for it; the workaround for the "fix" would work
only with file dates earlier than 2080 :-(.  I see from the FP 10 README
that a later "4-digit" file-date year option has been added to the
STREAM function, but I don't need it since (in 1995) I wrote a small
"extended function" DLL (in C) for REXX that returns both the full file
date (month, day, and four-digit year) and the number of bytes devoted
to EAs, for use in my "extended directory" REXX program.

 ML>  Later FixPaks are mostly to accommodate new hardware (which I
 ML> don't have), to correct bugs introduced in previous FixPaks, and to
 ML> make new bugs.  One has to evaluate carefully whether one wishes to
 ML> be cursed with the side effects of the few "new function" additions
 ML> in FixPaks.

BW>After my first one, I did learn to wait  until there seemed to be a
  >reason to put one on... I seem to recall something about FP26 being
  >required for one of the versions of Star Office...so it was the
  >first one that stayed.  40 will also stay..

    BTW, the doomsayers in our audience will be unhappy to note that the
Warp 4 entry in the most recent IBM "Software" catalog (Fall 1999) again
promises that "defect support is available through January 1, 2001."  (I
interpret "defect support" as "FixPaks.")  The same statement appears in
the listing for PC DOS 2000.  This gives those who like to preach "doom
and gloom" another year in which to proclaim that the falling sky is
immanent.

    Regards,

        --Murray

___
 * MR/2 2.25 #120 * If it ain't broke, don't FixPak it.

--- Maximus/2 2.02