UltraRecall v4 update worth it?

Posted by Gorski
Aug 24, 2009 at 01:30 PM

Daly de Gagne wrote:

> Until I read your last line - the gratuitous, snide comment that your nickel isn?t wooden, unlike Jan?s 2 cents.

> Then I wondered what your motive was.

It was gratuitous. It was a play on the phrase “Don’t take a wooden nickel,” meaning I didn’t think some of Jan’s statements were factual, as I explained. He ended his post by referring to it as his two cents, thus the wordplay. My motive was that I didn’t want to leave Jan’s statements about UR floating out there on the intertubes unchallenged.

> Because it seems to me there?s a lot of merit to Jan?s criticisms of UR, in addition to the fact that the UR folk treated him very shoddily.

> In the process you manage to find fault with Zoot?s founder for not being forthcoming on progress unless you ask him.

Jan’s experience with UR was his experience and he’s entitled to it. I’ve had good experiences with UR.

Jan called UR “sleazy” compared to Tom (and Pierre). My point was that there are plenty of things about the way Tom does business that could be viewed in a different light if you choose to do so. I have no experience with Pierre so didn’t mention him, but I have been a long-time registered user of Zoot.

I think it’s interesting that you will go to great lengths to excuse Tom’s faults but seem less willing to cut UR any slack. The help file is a good example. Longtime users of Zoot know that for years it never even HAD a help file, and many complained about it and it took Tom a long time to create one. UR has a help file, but many find it not very helpful to non-technical users. I don’t think it’s written very well either, although I appreciate it’s detail. UR’s current roadmap promises to revamp it, apparently in response to the criticism (http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?s=bc9fd9f5d361f41d3f5010219ee6ef6b&threadid=3204). Yet you still fault them for it. That’s your right, but I think it’s unfair.

I understand why people say UR’s communication style is “cold.” It comes off that way to me too. I agree with you they’d be better off if they adopted a friendlier tone and were more forthright about who they are. But I think Tom’s communication style is less than perfect, too. Tom isn’t a paragon of openess and transparency. I’ve followed the twists and turns of the Zoot saga for more than a decade and don’t think I have any better understanding of what’s going on with Zoot than I do with UR. In fact, I think I have less.

You compare the process of improving Zoot to refurbishing and upgrading the interstate highway system, but I think UR is equally complex while also being the more technically accomplished and professional piece of software. You can see UR’s commitment to quality in everything from the design of their Web site to their choice of icons. If you feel their treatment of Jan makes you not want to do business with them, that’s your right and their loss. My sense is that people have more affection for Zoot because Tom is very generous with his upgrade policy, because they know he’s a one-man band and because his style of information management is especially appealing to them, whatever the flaws of his software and his development process.

I like Jan’s posts and certainly hope they continue. I don’t feel I was taking “shots” at him, the gratuitous nickel reference aside. I just thought his point of view was too one-sided for my taste.