On Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:48:21 -0500, "D. Peter Maus"
wrote:

A lot of the thinking in manufacturing, today, is to release what
are effectively 'betas' and let the warranty program cover problems.

A well-known story in the microwave field is that in the mid-1980s a
major manufacturer (name withheld to protect the guilty) could not
produce bandpass filters in time to meet the deadline of a military
contract so they shipped identical cans filled with sand. Of course
the system did not work and the filters were sent back (from Saudi
Arabia, the story went) and exchanged for real filters which by that
time had been manufactured. The warranty exchange cost, eaten by the
manufacturer, was far less than the penalty payment would have been
for missing the deadline.
--
Phil Kane
Beaverton, OR