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Posted by Chris Thompson
Aug 5, 2006 at 05:42 AM
For what it’s worth, I emailed the ADM sales team (sales@adm21.net) a month and a half ago asking about the software’s current status, and received no reply. My guess is as good as any, but I’d imagine that they’re winding the company down.
If they do disappear, it would be nice if they released version 4 to the general public to be downloaded, even in its unfinished state. I’d still like to try ADM4.
—Chris
cnewtonne wrote:
>There is something that is missing here…
>Officially the adm site is up, they are
>taking new orders, the SW is still downloadable. However, Jan decides to shutdown the
>support site, while the official adm site still points prospective buyers to this
>group for support.
>
>I do not uderstand why and how did Jan just decide to shut it down.
>It does not look like he coordinated it with the ADM team.
>
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 5, 2006 at 02:05 PM
For months and months we have been waiting for ADM to begin the coding process again to get the bugs out of ADM 4. There has been no regular communication from ADM. When pressed by the group, Eric Somer, the developer, assures us that coding will resume soon. So far no resumption of coding of which we have been advised.
I cannot speak for Jan, but can speak for myself.
As a long-time supporter of ADM I have urged people to try ADM, and assured them that it is a serious player. I found that in the last year the work with ADM 4 has been sidelined periodically by such things as Skype, which in time has been shown to be a diversion to the ongoing development of ADM 4.
Part of the problem may be the fact that Eric Somer lives and works in China, and his partner, Arne, the last time I heard lives in North America. I do not know how that has impacted their ability to work together, but I would be willing to bet that that sure didn’t help.
I feel that ADM and its developers are living with a growing credability gap in the market place. My difficulty at writing this is that having supportive of ADM for a long time, and genuinely being impressed by its innovations (if not its ability to clear out bugs in betas or to communicate regularly wiith users), I fear I am adding to the credability gap.
Personally, I like Eric and have enjoyed from time to time non-ADM related correspondence with him. He is an idealist, a visionary.
However, all of the above notwithstanding, I feel I cannot stay silent.
I will also add that had I a hundred thousand dollars or more to invest speculatively, I would be on the horn to Eric to see if that might help get things straightened out for ADM. My fervent hope is that, if capital is a problem, that a worthy investor will step forward, and work with Eric and Arne
There’s no doubt in my mind that if the bugs were dealt with, ADM 4 brought to final release readiness, and forward planning and coding conducted, that ADM would prove itself superior to much of its competition. After being a victim of CRIMP, and after having used ADM for a lot of my work, I for one have realized I must for time reasons settle down with one or two programs that let me work qucikly and easily. I am sad that does not include ADM.
I have no doubt whatsoever as to the personal integrity of Eric, and his desire to bring a state-of-the art program to the market. As I say, if I was able to, I would put my money where my mouth is.
Daly
Chris Thompson wrote:
>For what it’s worth, I emailed the ADM sales team (sales@adm21.net) a month and a
>half ago asking about the software’s current status, and received no reply. My guess
>is as good as any, but I’d imagine that they’re winding the company down.
>
>If they do
>disappear, it would be nice if they released version 4 to the general public to be
>downloaded, even in its unfinished state. I’d still like to try ADM4.
>
>—
>Chris
>
>cnewtonne wrote:
>>There is something that is missing
>here…
>>Officially the adm site is up, they are
>>taking new orders, the SW is
>still downloadable. However, Jan decides to shutdown the
>>support site, while the
>official adm site still points prospective buyers to this
>>group for support.
>
>>
>>I do not uderstand why and how did Jan just decide to shut it down.
>>It does not
>look like he coordinated it with the ADM team.
>>
Posted by Chris Murtland
Aug 5, 2006 at 05:28 PM
I think it’s worth noting the difference in levels of support between a product like Ultra Recall and ADM. There were many bugs in ADM that just kept being pushed aside for years even when development was in progress. It’s one thing to keep putting off adding a feature, but it doesn’t make sense to add new features while ignoring bugs.
In contrast, the Ultra Recall team squash bugs as fast as possible. I had one display glitch based on certain rare types of imported email messages, and they fixed the bug the SAME DAY. This far exceeded my expectation; I assumed at the very least they would need a few days to get around to it even if it was a simple bug to fix. Also, the rate in which they add new features and improvements to new features is really high, and the number of bugs is very low.
Finally, the UR guys are in constant communication with their user base via their forum, and it’s real communication based on user needs. Kinook obviously had a strong vision for their product as well, but I can’t see them ever doing something like basically saying “Skype integration is more important than getting errors when you manipulate your outline.” A focus on customers is crucial to any business, and I’m not too surprised that most of the folks who sang ADM’s praises at some point have now moved on to using other software. I personally don’t expect a high level of support or communication from all software providers - only ones who are in business. I use software that’s made by individuals or is just posted “as is,” and I can’t really complain in those cases; it’s just up to me whether the benefits outweigh any risks. Maybe ADM should just post their software as freeware or open source it if they can’t support customers as a business.
Chris
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 5, 2006 at 06:00 PM
Chris, I think you make good points.
In ADM’s case, I do not think there was an intent to provide poor service, or to ignore glitches, but rather a case of not tempering the vision with a hard-nosed sense of the here and now, and the need to to be taking care of business.
Ultra Recall has, on the other hand, always been responsive with actions as well as words to its customers. I think, from what has been posted here, recently, IdeaMason is another such program. Zoot and InfoHandler, the two programs I most use now, also have very good customer support.
Daly
Chris Murtland wrote:
>I think it’s worth noting the difference in levels of support between a product like
>Ultra Recall and ADM. There were many bugs in ADM that just kept being pushed aside for
>years even when development was in progress. It’s one thing to keep putting off adding
>a feature, but it doesn’t make sense to add new features while ignoring bugs.
>
>In
>contrast, the Ultra Recall team squash bugs as fast as possible. I had one display
>glitch based on certain rare types of imported email messages, and they fixed the bug
>the SAME DAY. This far exceeded my expectation; I assumed at the very least they would
>need a few days to get around to it even if it was a simple bug to fix. Also, the rate in
>which they add new features and improvements to new features is really high, and the
>number of bugs is very low.
>
>Finally, the UR guys are in constant communication with
>their user base via their forum, and it’s real communication based on user needs.
>Kinook obviously had a strong vision for their product as well, but I can’t see them
>ever doing something like basically saying “Skype integration is more important
>than getting errors when you manipulate your outline.” A focus on customers is
>crucial to any business, and I’m not too surprised that most of the folks who sang ADM’s
>praises at some point have now moved on to using other software. I personally don’t
>expect a high level of support or communication from all software providers - only
>ones who are in business. I use software that’s made by individuals or is just posted
>“as is,” and I can’t really complain in those cases; it’s just up to me whether the
>benefits outweigh any risks. Maybe ADM should just post their software as freeware or
>open source it if they can’t support customers as a business.
>
>Chris
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 5, 2006 at 10:39 PM
Daly,
I am not so sure I can believe that Eric is all that ethical. If you go to the ADM web site, you can still pay for an upgrade to the beta of version 4.0. If there is any chance that version 4.0 will never be done, then they should stop selling upgrade immediately. Additionally, you can still purchase version 3.0 for $129. This too is a misrepresentation, as I understand there are a lot of bugs still in version 3.0. Also, people migh purchase 3.0 expecting a new version soon.
All in all, I think the software industry is better off without companies like ADM, which make all shareware developers look bad.
Steve Z.