Boy was I ever wrong!
I guess it was just coincidence that after a lengthy phone call with Scott** one day about Group Ordering, that I would come home to find a Visit Dallas tourism brochure.
To my amazement there is apparently much, much more to see in Dallas than just the Grassy Knoll, Book Depository and the Cheerleaders. There it was -- an entire page of the brochure devoted to the Powerflash Testing Campus! I just had to go there; I had to see it. I was booked and flying within 24 hours.
Incredibly the brochure's contention that the buildings of the Powerflash Testing Campus are laid out so that from the air it appears to be a GI-NORMOUS lightning bolt with the most recent build number next to it was absolutely correct. I could easily read the build number and was equally amazed to later find out that as new builds of powerflash are released, the buildings are actually MOVED into an arranged position of each released build number so that the skyward proclamation of the constant improvement of the software is always up to date.
When I arrived at the gates of the Powerflash Testing Campus (PTC) I could see that the largest building was being slid into place to form the bottom of the number 2 for build 5202. One of the front gate guards explained to me that all of the buildings were constructed on large slabs that were resting on immense rollers and bearings to facilitate the frequent building relocation needs that were required to keep up with the rapid Powerflash upgrades. (One time, I am told, on a day when three new Powerflash builds were released, the frequent moving of all the large buildings caused the ground to shake so much that Tony Romo actually fell and fumbled against the Giants in a home game on Monday Night Football!)
Once I passed through the gates and started toward the front doors of One Lightning Plaza, I began to feel an incredible excitement, not unlike the feeling I had visiting the Google Campus just months earlier. I was so excited that I was able to almost completely ignore the discomfort and restrictiveness of the white protective suit, helmet and booties I had been required to wear.
I can tell you a lot, but I can't tell you everything. This isn't because I won't tell you, but because there are certain areas of the PTC that are completely off limits. It is my understanding that some of the testing on the next Powerflash generation (the 6000 series) is so secret that even Scott is only allowed to look at one line of code at a time. The 6000 series, it is rumored, will integrate Powerflash, Google Maps and The State of Arizona's Illegal Immigrant Database, allowing RDS's to not only deliver food and charge by distance, but also to make random immigration arrests. This release may not be seen for a while by any of us, since apparently one of the early bugs looks like it may cause the restaurant kitchen staff to be arrested just after the fax is confirmed.
After touring One Lightning Plaza, we moved on to the MISS (Main Idea Super Structure) and then the Big Ubiquitous General Structure, which has no known acronym.
My tour group and I then walked into the Group Order testing room on the fourteenth floor of Two Lightning Plaza. This was the place! This was where the new feature to allow individuals to add a tip to an order was being tested! I was the luckiest Powerflash user in the world, I thought, to be right here, right now. There is no other place I'd rather be. Right here, right now, ...
So, now I had a visual. I had confirmation. Testing on this feature was actually happening! It was happening a lot. There was even a customer (actually an actor paid to act like a customer) standing right there in the middle of the Group Order testing room saying things to the dozens of developers and beta-testers like, "I'd like to add two dollars to that" and "Can I please add 15%, sir?" I knew, just knew, that the process was working. Each moment, and with every keystroke we were getting closer.
Testing happens.
It is thorough, it is expensive and it is gosh darn impressive. So, if you are waiting for a new feature or are waiting for a bug fix, even if it has been years of waiting, you know for sure that somewhere on 55 acres of techno heaven, there are talented debuggers, programmers and even PAID ACTORS testing every feature, report, modifier and "thsi" in our coveted software.
**Special Note: The mentioned return phone call is fictitious and is used here under artistic license only. I make no suggestion or false representation that such calls happen or are common.
