Release notes for DRCS 1.8.6 demonstration version of July 7th, 1994

Special limited time offer:
Until July 31st, 1994, Software Services and Solutions, Inc., is offering a special bundle of our award winning SS&S CASE Tools products, CodeReviewer and DRCS, for half off our usual price.

CodeReviewer, the software project analysis tool (normal price $495), and DRCS, the graphical revision control system (normal price $245), are both being offered in single developer floating license triple fat binary versions for $370 total until July 31st, 1994.  There is a limit of one bundle per organization at this price.

SS&S made this offer at the NEXTSTEP Expo, where we demonstrated these SS&S CASE Tools under NEXTSTEP on HP PA-RISC, Intel, and NeXT hardware at our booth, and received the Object Honors Award for consulting work employing these tools.  We are repeating the offer on the net to allow developers who were not able to attend the conference to take advantage of this special offer.

The software in this special bundle includes full free upgrades to both products through the next major releases (CodeReviewer 3.0 and DRCS 2.0).  CodeReviewer is currently at version 2.7.4, and DRCS is at version 1.8.6.

Your savings on this special bundle will be preserved as you upgrade the number of users at your site using the tools.  If you wish to upgrade the number of users in your licenses for these special bundled versions of the SS&S CASE Tools in the future, you will need only pay the difference in cost between our normal single user license and the multi-user license of your choice. 

To purchase this special bundle, email, fax, call, or mail in your order before the end of July 31st, 1994, to us at any of the following addresses or phone numbers:

Software Services and Solutions, Inc.
94 Murray Street
Meriden, CT  06450
email: CASE_Tools@sss.com
phone: (203) 630-2000
fax: (203) 630-2020

Demonstration versions of both products are available from Software Services and Solutions, Inc..  Contact us by email, fax, or phone to obtain a demo or the location of an ftpable demo.

A short introduction to CodeReviewer and DRCS:

CodeReviewerTM

CodeReviewer is a software analysis tool designed to increase the productivity of developers, get new developers up to speed on a project quickly, and provide information to guide project managers in preventing trouble spots and reducing maintenance costs by producing higher quality code.  CodeReviewer allows project managers and developers to analyze versions of code visually and formally, according to industry-standard software metrics.  Formal analysis across the objects in a project can guide a drill-down to the actual code of methods that needs to be revised.  Visual analysis is supported for any type of code, while software metrics can be computed, compared, and graphed for Objective-C, C++, C, and YACC code.

With CodeReviewer, a programmer can quickly see where to best spend limited resources in order to create the most bug-free, maintainable code possible.  Project Managers use CodeReviewer to keep track of and manage changes to objects and other code in multi-person development efforts and to target effort at improving code that would otherwise have a high maintenance cost in the future.  

CodeReviewer integrates well with ProjectBuilder and the standard NEXTSTEP development tools, as well as with source code management systems, if they are in use on a project.  CodeReviewer creates and reads .CodeReviewer documents, which can also be read by spreadsheets and a variety of other tools.  CodeReviewer also exports the results of its analyses in a variety of other formats.

DRCSTM

DRCS fills the gap in the NEXTSTEP development environment by providing graphical access to project version management functions that are tightly integrated with ProjectBuilder, Interface Builder, and the standard development environment.  With DRCS, developers need never break the flow of their graphical development cycle by going to a shell window to check in or check out components of a project.  DRCS handles all of the resources used in NEXTSTEP development, including nib files, binary files, and directories.

DRCS allows NEXTSTEP and Unix users, whether they're developers or not, to enjoy full version management and revision control of everything from wordprocessor documents to directories of NEXTSTEP projects to entire filesystems. Anyone who can use NEXTSTEP can learn how to use the DRCS Graphical User Interface in a matter of minutes.

DRCS provides project lifetime tracking and revision control for entire directories as well as files.  DRCS directory archives maintain a history of their previous contents, even if component files have been renamed, or deleted.  Users can call DRCS shell commands directly from a terminal window or access the full power of the system through the DRCS Graphical User Interface, which resembles the NEXTSTEP Workspace Manager.

All SS&S CASE Tools are sold under a floating license for maximum convenience to the user.  SS&S has an aggressive multi-license discount program.

About this demonstration version of DRCS 1.8.6:

This demonstration version of DRCS 1.8.6 is exactly like the production version, except that it is node locked to a particular machine (the production version of DRCS works on any machines on a network), and it needs to be enabled with an enabling key you must get from Software Services and Solutions, Inc..  When you first launch this demonstration version of DRCS, it will display a DRCS Demo Authorization Panel with instructions for contacting Software Services and Solutions, Inc., by email, fax, or telephone; and information that you must provide us so that we can give you an authorization code.

Once you have enabled your DRCS demo for a limited evaluation period, you will be able to use the full power of the DRCS Graphical User Interface on the sample project archives provided with DRCS.  See the guide, Quick_Tour_of_DRCS, included with the demo, for a walkthrough of DRCS that demonstrates some key features of DRCS using the sample project archives.

If you wish to use the DRCS demo on your own projects, you may, but we recommend that you make a copy of your projects first, so that you will not have to spend any time without access to your code between the time your demo expires and the time you order the production version of DRCS.

Note that the demo version does not include the command line interface to DRCS, which is a standard part of the production version.

The complete on-line version of the DRCS Manual is included with this package.  The manual includes chapters on Getting Started with DRCS, Revision Control Concepts, and Project Management with DRCS, as well as complete references to the DRCS GUI and Command Line Interface.

The production version of DRCS includes the command line interface, runs under a floating license server anywhere on a network, and integrates extremely well into the standard NEXTSTEP development environment.  DRCS can be purchased directly from Software Services and Solutions, Inc..  See the bottom of this message for ordering information.

The demo will run under NEXTSTEP 3.1 and 3.2 on NeXT and Intel hardware.  Contact SS&S via email to CASE_Tools@sss.com if you require a demo that will run under NEXTSTEP 3.0 or under NEXTSTEP on HP/PA-RISC.  The production version of DRCS is triple fat, and runs on any machine running NEXTSTEP 3.0, 3.1, or 3.2 anywhere on a network.

Key features of DRCS:

·	Increases the productivity of developers
·	Prevents problems with contention in multi-user development efforts
·	Prevents problems with lost versions of files or multiple versions of objects or unknown origin
·	Maintains development histories of all the resources used in NEXTSTEP development
·	Fully graphical drag-and-drop user interface is instantly familiar to NEXTSTEP Workspace Manager users
·	Allows access to any component of a project from any date or with any version number or name
·	Allows easy conversion of existing RCS archives without losing their development history
·	Supports nib files, dbmodel files, bundles, and all other directories
·	Supports archived objects and all other binary files
·	Command line interface allows Makefiles and scripts to manipulate DRCS archives
·	Allows rapid determination of who is working on a component, and who modified it in the past
·	Launches source code, nib files, and other components directly into Edit, Interface Builder, and other development applications directly from the DRCS GUI
·	Supports drag-and-drop integration with Project Builder and other NEXTSTEP development tools

Pricing:

Until July 31st, 1994, Software Services and Solutions, Inc., is offering a special bundle of CodeReviewer and DRCS, for $370, which is half off our usual price.  There is a limit of one bundle per organization at this price.

CodeReviewer and DRCS bundle:	$370

SS&S CASE Tools are not node-locked.  They are provided under a floating license server for maximum convenience to the developer.  All SS&S CASE Tools will run on NEXTSTEP on HP/PA-RISC, Pentium, 486, and NeXT hardware.

Normal pricing for single developer licenses for SS&S CASE Tools are the following:

CodeReviewer:	$495
DRCS:			$245

Multiple license discount schedule:

All SS&S CASE Tools are sold under the following multiple license discount schedule, which gives an immediate 10% discount for a second license purchase, and reaches a discount of 30% for orders of over 40 licenses.

		licenses at a site	discount off single license price
		2 to 5	 10.0% off
		6 to 10	 16.0% off
		11 to 15	 21.0% off
		16 to 20	 25.0% off
		21 to 30	 28.5% off
		31 to 40	 29.5% off
		41 and up	 30.0% off

Upgrade policy and future releases:

All licensees of SS&S CASE Tools are entitled to free upgrades to their licenses through the next major releases (CodeReviewer 3.0 and DRCS 2.0).  CodeReviewer is currently at version 2.7.4, and DRCS is at version 1.8.6.  Upgrades are provided at no license cost, only a nominal media and shipping fee.

Future versions of DRCS before DRCS 2.0 will include tighter integration with CodeReviewer, a wider range of interapplication communication and interoperability, further performance enhancements, and enhanced process management, and on-the-fly command customization.

Suggesting DRCS enhancements or reporting problems:

DRCS is a constantly evolving product, and we at SS&S are committed to making it better in each release.  Please help us to do so by sending us any suggestions you have for the product and reporting any bugs with DRCS or shortcomings you find in it to us.

Please send this information to us via email to CASE_Tools@sss.com or via FAX to (203) 630-2020.

Include as much information as possible, especially, if you are reporting a bug, information that will allow us to reproduce it.  Use the following form if possible:

DRCS Report

DRCS Version #:	version
Platform:			platform
# of DRCS Users:	users

Short description:
A short description of your suggestion, problem, or bug.

Detailed Report:  If you are reporting a bug, please include as much information as possible regarding the nature of the bug, the circumstances under which you discovered it, and the frequency with which it occurs.  If possible, include steps that can be used to reproduce it.

Ordering:

Licenses for SS&S CASE Tools can be purchased directly from Software Services and Solutions, Inc..  We accept payment by check, money order, or interbank wire transfer.  Send your order to the following address:

Software Services and Solutions, Inc.
94 Murray Street
Meriden, CT  06450

Please also include the following shipping charges per order:

Domestic customers:	$  7
Canadian customers:	$12
Other international:	$25

Orders for delivery within Connecticut should include 6% sales tax, as well.

For information on payment by interbank wire transfer, contact us by email, fax, or phone:

email: CASE_Tools@sss.com
phone: (203) 630-2000
fax: (203) 630-2020

About Software Services and Solutions, Inc.:

Software Services and Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Meriden, Connecticut, is an information technology consulting firm specializing in open systems technology, object-oriented software design and development, and networking.  Software Services and Solutions, Inc., provides technology consulting, training, reengineering, and custom development services to businesses worldwide, and also produces high quality off-the-shelf development tools and ObjectWare for developers of custom applications.  SS&S can be reached via email to sss@sss.com, phone to (203) 630-2000, or fax to (203) 630-2020.

Software Services and Solutions, Inc., received the 1994 Object Honors Award for NEXTSTEP software development and project consulting work employing SS&S CASE Tools.