----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 3:39
PM
Subject: Nearterm AVTS 4.x
roadmap
The California
declared/nondeclared
bug reported by Knecht is going to require a major version number change
to fix. Unfortunately the ballot station currently has no concept of
Voter Group 2. This will require a change in the database format (to
store vg2) and a change in the protocol (to transfer vg2). We were
about to release AVTS 4.2 with mp3 compressed audio. This release will
have to be pushed back to make room for the California
changes.
Strictly
adhering to our release policies, the California change should
also require a major version number bump to GEMS (because of the protocol
change). We can't reasonably expect all of California to upgrade to
1.18 this late in the game though, so we'll slip the change into GEMS
1.17.21 and declare this a bug rather than a new feature. What
good are rules unless you can bend them now and again.
In
summary:
AVTS 4.1 will
continue with the minor enhancements requested by Florida. Once we
have the Florida certification paper, we can declare the 4.1 branch pretty
much dead.
AVTS 4.2 will be
released soon (hopefully tomorrow). It will address the California VG2
issue. CA will need to run this version in the March primary, along
with GEMS 1.17.21.
AVTS 4.3 will be
released later this week. It will have support for MP3 compressed
audio and Windows CE version 3.0.
As always, all
features will be merged forward. So, 4.3 will (eventually) contain the
4.1 changes made for Florida. Keep a close eye on the readme
files.
Ken