As a mildly vocal critic of the first shipping version of GIB, I
thought I should add a couple comments.  The first shipping product
contained a few bugs, some more annoying than others.  This is not
terribly surprising, but in a perfect universe all software would
function perfectly out of the box.

What has been terribly surprising is Alan and Matt's responsiveness
to these bugs.  When you e-mail them with a problem, you should expect
a substantiative response in minutes to hours.  They attempt to
replicate your bug, and describe their success (or failure) virtually
instantly.  Moreover, for every bug I have noticed (2 or 3) they
have provided a patch/fix in a matter of days (very few days, like 3).
I have never received this kind of service on anything I have
ever purchased (computer software or not).  I can't even imagine
getting a patch to program 3 days after I report a bug for any
commercial software I have purchased.  This is even more true for
computer "games."

I think it is clear that GIB was written by mere mortals, who
were unaware of some of the bugs in GIB, but it is also certain
that it was written by people who deeply care about their product
and who try harder than anyone I have ever seen fix what few
problems there were.

Thanks,
dave cutler