From:	Duncan McNeill-Burton dmcneill@************.edu
Subject:	The Negative Programming Time Problem
Date:	Mon, 2 Aug 1999 16:19:48 -0400

First of all, let's get this out of the way. I'm back.

Second, I was puttering around with some stuff in VR2 and stumbled onto a
problem. The rules for upgrading programs are well written, and clear,
unfortunately they totally break down in a few cases. The one that comes to
mind, which was what brought on this observation is the removal of options.

For example, turning a program from a One Shot to a regular utility cuts the
program design size in half, which means a negative programming time.
Another would be the mess involved with doing something like removing a
Reality Filter, which requires a new MPCP, and a whole pile of new Software
and Hardware tasks. Both cases, if you stick to the program modification
rules, require software tasks with negative times. As amusing as it would
be to see a decker work on a program to give him more time for other stuff,
it ain't happening. My hunch is to take maybe half of the absolute value of
the coding time.

So what I'm looking for is what all of y'all have to say about this. I'm
not looking for references to the rules, since I've already read them a few
times. I want opinions.

-Duncan