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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>The main reason we highly recommend the export/import
method when upgrading is the possible incompatibility between the MGA file
formats</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And how often does this actually happen relative to
the number of GME releases? Is a change in the MGA file format something
that is not known to the development team for a particular release? If it
is, would it not make more sense to provide this guidance relative to a
particular release, perhaps in the release notes? And speaking
of this, I highly recommend that GME make the release notes
for new versions available from the download/distribution site prior to
installation so that GME users can decide if upgrading is important to
them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now, none of this changes the recommendation that I
made in the earlier message. Clearly exporting to XME <EM>is</EM>
used as a solution for not distributing multiple paradigm versions for
the paradigms that GME distributes, including the vital MetaGME. You
are correct that this is the problem that CAPE distributions address, and I
continue to argue that it is both good practice and relatively easily
effected. Further, I believe that support for paradigm migration is
something that the MetaGME paradigm should view as a requirement, regardless of
whether it can be handled by GME's normal upgrading machinery.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Developers must view decisions from the
perspective of their users. When there will be 100s of GME users, who
potentially have 10s of projects (as I do), certain decisions begin to look like
Microsoft's early decisions regarding registry changes and rebooting.
Shall we not be more proactive?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>--<BR>Larry
Howard<BR>Sr. Research Scientist<BR>Institute for Software Integrated Systems,
Vanderbilt University<BR></FONT><A
href="mailto:howardlp@isis.vanderbilt.edu"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>howardlp@isis.vanderbilt.edu</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> voice: (615) 343-7447 fax: (615)
343-7440</FONT><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=peter.volgyesi@vanderbilt.edu
href="mailto:peter.volgyesi@vanderbilt.edu">Peter Volgyesi</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=gme-users@list.isis.vanderbilt.edu
href="mailto:gme-users@list.isis.vanderbilt.edu">'A list for GME users to
share thoughts and discuss bugs and fixes.'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:35
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [gme-users] Why doesn't
MetaGME address paradigm version changesautomatically?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Larry,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>The main reason we highly recommend the export/import
method when upgrading is the possible incompatibility between the MGA file
formats (note: not because of some paradigm change but the change of
the file format itself). This kind of problem has not be handled by CAPE,
and it is far from straightforward to provide such a migrating tool (this
tool would have to access different MGA versions on the very same
computer).</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>--</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>peter</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=610513112-13042004><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B>
gme-users-bounces@list.isis.vanderbilt.edu
[mailto:gme-users-bounces@list.isis.vanderbilt.edu] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Larry Howard<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, April 09, 2004 4:51
PM<BR><B>To:</B> gme-users@list.isis.vanderbilt.edu<BR><B>Subject:</B>
[gme-users] Why doesn't MetaGME address paradigm version changes
automatically?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>GME's release notes state:</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>"As your first step in the upgrade
process, please export all your<BR>important projects (to XML format).
Binary compatibility between<BR>different GME versions is not
guaranteed."</EM></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We have recognized and addressed this issue for
our GME-based product CAPE. During installation, we distribute and
register all paradigm versions that we currently support, and updaters are
provided to address any discontinuities not handled by GME's native
upgrading features. We do this because it is an unreasonable
expectation of our users to export all of their GME projects to XME
prior to upgrading GME versions, especially when exporting to XME
is used to address simply the unavailability of earlier versions of a
paradigm.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>GME distributes several paradigms as part of
its installation. Most important among these is the MetaGME paradigm
that is an essential part of using GME for anything other than
projects that use the other distributed paradigms. It would
be relatively straightforward for the MetaGME paradigm to follow the lead of
CAPE in supporting migration between paradigm versions, since it is
unlikely for this paradigm to incorporate such discontinuties as could not
be handled by GME's native upgrading features or simple
updaters.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Why not?!!</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>lph</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>--<BR>Larry
Howard<BR>Sr. Research Scientist<BR>Institute for Software Integrated
Systems, Vanderbilt University<BR></FONT><A
href="mailto:howardlp@isis.vanderbilt.edu"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>howardlp@isis.vanderbilt.edu</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> voice: (615) 343-7447 fax: (615)
343-7440</FONT><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
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