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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
Being consistent in what one says can also be a symptom of someone sticking to the truth.
Another way to stick to the truth would be to avoid equivocation on a word like 'shipped'. In a retail context it means shipping product to its new owners, not sending to testers review units which are explicitly declared not to be their property.
The facts of the Textblade development could have been an epic and heroic story of a great vision supported by people willing to give the benefit of the doubt, if only the nature of the process had been openly admitted all along; if only there had been the courage to play it straight, rather than the apparent belief that being disingenuous to persuade people to give and let you keep money is a means justified by an end, which no matter how innovative and perfected the final product turns out, will never be true.
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
Yes 'promises' is a red herring. Had I spent more time editing I would have taken it out, as it was not my intention to get into a discussion of the various senses of 'promise', ranging from the formal declaration demanded by children, to the informal "promised delivery" with which in normal circumstances one might describe the quote of Mr. Knighton in the MacRumors article of February, 2016, regarding a general release after TRG testing in "up to several weeks." Of course, the present conversation is clearly not 'normal circumstances', so my mistake.dabigkahuna said:
It is a fact that they made multiple estimates over a four year period, as I have acknowledged many times. It is a false statement to claim that they were all actually promises. Which I've also pointed out many times. Which means people are fine when they complain about delays. Not so fine when they claim they were broken "promises".
This leaves an interesting question: Granting for the sake of discussion that a statement which includes no qualifiers should be considered an estimate, when does the lack of firm commitment implied by 'estimate' stop excusing someone? Is it after two instances? Three? Ten? How many years? At what point would you, who seem to pride yourself on your objectivity, say that the behavior has become more serious than a wrong estimate? What word would you use for something implied by a series of early estimates given to paying customers? Assurance? Agreement?
Your implicit premise is that the standard for correct behavior is how many people like what one said. I don't think that's right. I think in this context the standard for correct behavior is the truth as objectively as one knows how to grasp it. If one's track record of six months, let alone four years, is of failing to correctly estimate the end of R & D, then for sure one should not give out estimates! Even more so if the goal is to 'please' people despite one's proven inability to make accurate projections--what will you then please them with but some kind of fiction?.Well, if that is your argument, you would have to say they should never make an estimate again. If that is your position, fine. But I suspect few people would say to not give out estimates any more. So to please you, assuming you would favor no more estimates, they would displease others. Interestingly, I suspect for many things a critic has said WT should do, there was probably another critic who said the opposite, but both attacking WT over the same thing!
Better to displease people with the truth and just give factual updates on the current project, and accept the fact that the money one claims one does not need will have to be refunded to more people. One wouldn't, after all, want to seem as though one were making one's bad estimates for the purpose of motivating people to leave their orders in place, and their money in one's hands.
