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ConnectedText - moribund?
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Posted by tightbeam
Feb 25, 2017 at 01:21 AM
If Eduardo is charging for his product - which he is - then he has a commitment to support the people who have paid for it, and at a minimum I believe such support entails replying to emails and monitoring his own forum.
Since Graham, a paying customer, could not get a reply any other way, he’s justified in coming here to post about it, and to inform prospective customers about his issue - which is relevant to their purchase decision.
It seems silly that Eduardo can reply (within minutes!) to a text on Facebook - presumably letting him know about this issue of Graham’s - and yet not reply to Graham himself. I hope by now he has.
Posted by Graham Rhind
Feb 25, 2017 at 08:04 AM
Dr Andus wrote:
So are you hoping that by calling it “moribund” on a public forum you
>will get Eduardo fix your specific bug more quickly?
No. I’m not devious in that way. As it happens, the bug is irritating but not major. Before trying this group I tried Eduardo (twice), waited a month, then tried the forum and monitored that for a month. Even a quick response, such as “thanks for this - I’ll check it out when I get a chance” would have sufficed, but there was nothing.
The point is, CT is such an important part of my workflow (I run a 20000 page website from it) that, if it is going to become unsupported, I need to know that sooner rather than later. It took two years to get the data into CT, so if one day there’s a chance that some changes in Windows stops CT from working, and that nobody will be there to solve that, I need to take action now.
At least Steve found out that Eduardo is alive and kicking, and that’s a relief.
Posted by Paul Korm
Feb 25, 2017 at 02:14 PM
If I were running a 20,000 page website I would be sure I would have more than a single to keep it going—well tested options, ready for cutover at any time.
Except for rare cases—such as Tinderbox’s subscription plan—when I purchased ConnectedText (or most software from “independent” one- or a few-person shops) I had no expectation of warranty or support or even someone reading Twitter direct messages. Luckily most independents are willing to interact with purchasers and do what they can to help. But the work is hard, innovative ideas become difficult to conjure, and the revenue always reaches a plateau where the return on incremental development hours becomes vanishingly small. I’ve worked with independent developers most of my professional life, and I would never fault a single one of them for backing away from the often-thankless job of pleasing customers. The CT site promises no support and no warranty. Whatever Eduardo has done in the past (and, perhaps, cannot do any longer) was a gift.
Posted by tightbeam
Feb 25, 2017 at 06:31 PM
I don’t often need support, but when I do, the developer of a commercial product gives it, without fail. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.
It’s amazing to think that a developer would take money (subscription or otherwise) for a product and then ignore his customers, and especially bug reports from his customers. I don’t care how “innovative” the product is; if it’s commercial, then support should be implicit in the deal.
I have a feeling that fans of ConnectedText are making excuses for this developer that they would not make for other developers.
If there’s no support for ConnectedText, then a disclaimer ought to be provided.
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Feb 25, 2017 at 08:08 PM
bobmclain wrote:
> If Eduardo is charging for his product - which he is - then he has a commitment to support the people who have paid for it
> It’s amazing to think that a developer would take money (subscription or otherwise) for a product and then ignore his customers
Hi Bob and others !
Well, from a software developer’s perspective, things aren’t that simple…
In the good old days, paying 200-400 $ for a software (combined with the lack of available social networks), implied that the company provided customer support, sometimes free for a limited time, sometimes paying.
Nowadays, people complain at paying less than the equivalent of half a tank-full of gas for a product that has taken years to develop (CT sells for 40$). The software product is what was paid for and obtained, not support. Free support should be seen as just that… something free, and no obligations attached. A good company should provide the infrastructure for building a community around the product, as it is easy and not very costly to do.
As a software developer myself, I do my best to provide free and fast support, but it’s a tough world out there and one must often do paying outside consulting work, just to keep the business running.
Have a great day !
Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer
http://www.infoqube.biz