Show Posts
1
Ultra Hal 7.0 / A Note for the Admin
« on: September 08, 2001, 02:05:30 am »
Note to the Admin:
Your software is not a matter of national security. Please stop treating it and us like we're shuffling top secret files to and from the Pentagon before we're intercepted by a man in a dark coat and hat......
I don't work in military intelligence and I have no great desire to act like I do. Please cut the drama from this process. All it's doing is upsetting ordinary people.
Your upgrade policy is not as simple as most software companies try to make it.
Nobody knows when you will give an email reply, so we have no way of knowing when we might get a new download passcode so that we can then hurredly attempt a massive download in a small 24 hour window before it vanishes from the server and we're forced to send another email to get a new passcode and url. Then we wait for an unknown period until we get a reply with a passcode so that we can try again to download the massive......etc....etc....etc.....
Many of us out here in no-man's-land can't get fast connections. 24kbs is about as fast as I can connect. No DSL or Cable out here. No options. Nuff said?
Allow me to describe how this might work a bit better for all of us.
Set up a page called "UltraHal Upgrades".
Place a "login" box on the page to allow only KNOWN customers to enter. Giving each paid customer their own password would be a real plus. It would be convenient for us and it would give you simple tracking capability to see who's doing what.
The login allows only KNOWN purchasers to enter the download area.
The single 110MB download is available for those with fast connections.
BUT, there should also be a split-file version (20MB chunks) placed there as a friendly convenience for those with slower connections. You would seem so friendly and caring for doing this for us.
I spent about 9 hours online last night and got about 74 MB of the EXE file. The "auto download resume" function in my browser was unable to resume the download after your server timed out. It was forced to restart the download because the server wouldn't resume.
Microsoft.com has SDK5.1 right on their website for free download to anyone that wants it. There was no need to clutter your big 'ol EXE file with their software.
The PKware website has multi-OS versions of file compression and splitting sofware available for about $30. It's not really rocket science.
How about it Mr. Admin? Are you up for making these few simple changes to your system?
Forgive me for being extremely frustated. Dealing with Zabaware up to the point of purchase was pretty simple. Once I spent the money, every single item has seemed like getting a wisdom tooth extracted.
Obviously, nobody wants to deal with irate customers. I know I don't.
As a sales manager I've dealt with some of the worst. I've learned a few simple things over the years.
1. If you treat an ass like an ass, that ass will ruin your business to the best of their ability while you look childish and petty for not supporting your product properly.
2. If you treat an ass like a king, you look like a prince and he looks even more like an ass to everyone else while your business generally improves.
I'm more than happy to play the part of the ass if you'd like to play the part of the hero by making these simple changes in your customer support policies.
The more convenient your policies are for your customers, the more good PR you'll get. Simple enough.
Thanks much for your time. I know you don't have much available.
Your software is not a matter of national security. Please stop treating it and us like we're shuffling top secret files to and from the Pentagon before we're intercepted by a man in a dark coat and hat......
I don't work in military intelligence and I have no great desire to act like I do. Please cut the drama from this process. All it's doing is upsetting ordinary people.
Your upgrade policy is not as simple as most software companies try to make it.
Nobody knows when you will give an email reply, so we have no way of knowing when we might get a new download passcode so that we can then hurredly attempt a massive download in a small 24 hour window before it vanishes from the server and we're forced to send another email to get a new passcode and url. Then we wait for an unknown period until we get a reply with a passcode so that we can try again to download the massive......etc....etc....etc.....
Many of us out here in no-man's-land can't get fast connections. 24kbs is about as fast as I can connect. No DSL or Cable out here. No options. Nuff said?
Allow me to describe how this might work a bit better for all of us.
Set up a page called "UltraHal Upgrades".
Place a "login" box on the page to allow only KNOWN customers to enter. Giving each paid customer their own password would be a real plus. It would be convenient for us and it would give you simple tracking capability to see who's doing what.
The login allows only KNOWN purchasers to enter the download area.
The single 110MB download is available for those with fast connections.
BUT, there should also be a split-file version (20MB chunks) placed there as a friendly convenience for those with slower connections. You would seem so friendly and caring for doing this for us.
I spent about 9 hours online last night and got about 74 MB of the EXE file. The "auto download resume" function in my browser was unable to resume the download after your server timed out. It was forced to restart the download because the server wouldn't resume.
Microsoft.com has SDK5.1 right on their website for free download to anyone that wants it. There was no need to clutter your big 'ol EXE file with their software.
The PKware website has multi-OS versions of file compression and splitting sofware available for about $30. It's not really rocket science.
How about it Mr. Admin? Are you up for making these few simple changes to your system?
Forgive me for being extremely frustated. Dealing with Zabaware up to the point of purchase was pretty simple. Once I spent the money, every single item has seemed like getting a wisdom tooth extracted.
Obviously, nobody wants to deal with irate customers. I know I don't.
As a sales manager I've dealt with some of the worst. I've learned a few simple things over the years.
1. If you treat an ass like an ass, that ass will ruin your business to the best of their ability while you look childish and petty for not supporting your product properly.
2. If you treat an ass like a king, you look like a prince and he looks even more like an ass to everyone else while your business generally improves.
I'm more than happy to play the part of the ass if you'd like to play the part of the hero by making these simple changes in your customer support policies.
The more convenient your policies are for your customers, the more good PR you'll get. Simple enough.
Thanks much for your time. I know you don't have much available.