[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
[Date Index] [Thread Index]
[Monthly Archives] [List Home]

Re: [Virtools] Token System

For the first time we have someone from Virtools answering (and not the
least).
All that follows is directed to you as a member of Virtools staff (not to
the father
of Simpson-Casta).

About support
Don't you think that to relieve your support staff from many "easy
questions" it would be better
to suppress the access privileges. I mean for your customers they bought
Dev2 SE.
Or do you think it's better if as little as possible of the users know about
the KNOWN BUGS!

About documentation
Do you think a documentation  with an average of one typo per page (the best
one being
in the Filter Min/Mag of material setup::"...the jagging on disant
textures..." is relevant to a
§4000 package.. I don't blame the people who made the mistake (I imagine 2
guys, late at
night, one sit beside the other and is reading "these", the other is
typing...) but I do blame
the company that let this be published and burnt on CD.
By QA I don't mean a 20 people department. I mean 1 chap reading the manual
from beginning
to the end as I did..

 Last but not least:
The same low level of quality is reflected on the BB's. The bugs are not
hidden ones. The same chap
as above could have tested each of them (1/4 of an hour in average, times
400 gives us less than
one man*month). Most of the bugs appear in the 5 first lines of the source
code. At the end, what do
we get: a user not confident in the product asking himself where is the bug
and not what did I do wrong.

And because I believed into Virtools for 2 years, helping you as I could
(bug reports, beta1 and beta2),
because I feel Virtools never took into consideration these reports, because
Virtools is a great idea,
because you are taking every marketing turns as if you were fed up with your
customers, because
of all this I do not appreciate (especially from you) that your least
argument is : if you are not pleased
just go and buy our competitors product.

I hope this is your least argument(again) and not the last.

Christian Garnier.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Francois Dujardin" <dujardin@virtools.com>
To: <virtools-user-group@lists.theswapmeet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 5:47 PM
Subject: RE: [Virtools] Token System


> Hi,
>
> As a Virtools employee responsible for all things related to services and
> support, I'd like to explain our view on that issue a little bit.
>
> Support:
> =========
> Our goal is to provide the best possible support to our users. As we have
> limited resource, we can only sustain a quality support by controlling how
> we help users. That is, we must ensure that we sort questions before
> answering (otherwise we just don't have enough time to answer them all).
To
> do that, we have several possibilities. First, try to redirect all the
'read
> the manual' questions to FAQ. Then answer questions coming from customers
> (before answering those coming from 'spectators', if you like). Then, find
> ways to answer questions from people evaluating the technology (for that
we
> have forums).
>
> I think you get the idea: it's a matter of efficiency. We are forced to
sort
> filter/sort the questions in order to provide appropriate answers. The
token
> idea is not really about generating revenue, it's about encouraging our
> users to make a good use of e-mail support. Consider the tech support guys
> here: if they have to browse through 200 questions like 'how do I know
which
> graphics card I have on my PC' to find your very technical question,
there's
> no chance that you'll have the right answer in a decent delay. I hope you
> understand this perspective.
>
> However, as this token system is newly installed, it might happen that a
> token is withdrawn from your account for a question you feel should be
part
> of free support (for instance, an installation problem). In that case, we
> recommend that you let us know, so that we can find a solution. Please
trust
> that we are trying our best, and when we fail, just let us know so we can
> improve.
>
> So, the token idea is not about the money, it's about ensuring quality.
> Please not that we have support solutions for all users: from free support
> through forums, faq and this mailing list, to dedicated training,
> professional services, consulting and follow-up including in the GOLD
> package.
>
>
> Documentation:
> ==============
> Virtools comes with 200-or-so pages user guide to help you get started. On
> top of that, for more advanced users, there is a 700 pages online
reference
> guide, a set of sample compositions, tutorials with videos, media
libraries,
> SDK 'chm' files, source code for most behaviors, source code for a sample
> executable, etc...
>
> So, it might not be the ultimate documentation, but we can't let people
say
> that there is no documentation coming with Dev2. Again, this mailing list
is
> also a way to get feedback from you, and get a better idea of what we need
> to improve (and "there's no doc" won't help much, whereas constructive
> criticism will).
>
> Last but not least:
> ===================
> It seems that some of you have found better solutions than Dev 2, cheaper
> and easier to use. Then why don't you just buy them?  :)
>
> Ok, I just thought I had to write this to give our position on these
topics.
> I just felt I couldn't let comments I consider unfair unanswered. Consider
> it an invitation to constructive discussion.
>
> On behalf of the Virtools team members
> (who are hard at work on making the best possible software, and I think
some
> readers could testify on it;-).
>
> Best,
>
> Francois Dujardin
>
> ...............................................................
> Distributed via the virtools-user-group list:
http://www.theswapmeet.com/numl.html
> To reply to the list instead of its author, use "Reply to All"
> To unsubscribe: send "unsubscribe virtools-user-group" to
Majordomo@lists.theswapmeet.com
> To subscribe: send "subscribe virtools-user-group" to
Majordomo@lists.theswapmeet.com
> To post a message: send it to virtools-user-group@lists.theswapmeet.com
> ...............................................................

...............................................................
Distributed via the virtools-user-group list: http://www.theswapmeet.com/numl.html
To reply to the list instead of its author, use "Reply to All"
To unsubscribe: send "unsubscribe virtools-user-group" to Majordomo@lists.theswapmeet.com
To subscribe: send "subscribe virtools-user-group" to Majordomo@lists.theswapmeet.com
To post a message: send it to virtools-user-group@lists.theswapmeet.com
...............................................................
Follow-Ups: References: