On Sun, 23 May 2004 08:19:52 +0900,
Hal Fulton <hal9000 / hypermetrics.com> wrote:
> A few people in recent weeks have been bemoaning the fact that software
> projects (in the RAA and elsewhere) often consist of "mostly leading
> zeroes."

Ooooh, I was one of them :-)

FWIW, here is part of a release plan for a software project I'm working
on: Release number are assigned only unwillingly and for PR-reasons,
because things get shuffled around alot. 

     The Wheel - look ma, it moves
         14 items, 9 done, 5 to go
     The Beetle - a stable workhorse
         currently 5 items, 0 done
     The Mercedes - a really comfortable environment
         currently 4 items, 0 done
     The Bond Car - gizmos galore
         currently 1 item, 0 done

If you want to translate it to conventional numbering:
        Wheel    = 0.x
        Beetle   = 1.x
        Mercedes = 2.x
        Bond     = 3.x

Just in case you're wondering, I'm talking about the classic Volkswagen
Beetle built in the 50's and 60's and not the modernized second edition
where you actually had fancy stuff like working heating system etc :-)

The advantage of this approach is that discussions about which features
go in what release become quite rare. Everybody knows what to expect
of buttons in a Bond car ... 

s.