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I've mentioned my feelings on support to various Soft reps before. For
a while there, it was practically all we talked about, then we finally
sort of gave up. Basically, my main gripes with support are that a)
it's too slow to be useful for finding production solutions (even a 1
day turn-around is generally slower than how long it takes to find
answers yourself or on the list) b) since the conversation is between
you and a support tech, the onus is generally on you alone to make sure
the bug can be repro'ed. As a result, I go to the list or forums when I
need help, and only go through support when I have a nicely "canned"
reproducible bug that Soft needs to know about. I'm sure sometimes
things slip through the cracks, though, and don't always get reported...
Anyway, the solution I've been proposing is to have something more like
a bugzilla database, such that multiple XSI users can participate in bug
discussions, and can search for threads describing problems similar to
theirs, so that instead of duplicate reports, you'd have corroboration.
I think collaborative discussion among more than just a user and a
support tech would really improve the bug validation, priority
assessment and tracking process. Really, it's not that big of a
departure from what's in place now, if you ask me. Instead of
off-the-record forums and email lists, combined with on-the-record email
conversations, you'd get a single on-the-record forum for bug
discussions. And the XSI list would be free to talk about happier topics.
When we've complained about support, Soft reps usually just tried to
sell us escalation support. But we never buy it because we don't
generally care that much if bug X, Y or Z gets fixed right away anyway.
Instead, we just save our money and work around the bugs. What we want
is just a less difficult, faster process for getting information about
bugs we find to Soft, for our own peace of mind, so that the bugs can be
fixed at whatever pace Soft sees fit. This doesn't seem like something
we should have to pay for. If we get a big job and need more direct
access to developers, then we'll buy escalation. I just don't see the
logic in paying money for the privilege of testing and suggesting
improvements to a piece of software, when you don't require that the
bugs get fixed or suggestions get implemented in any particular time
frame, or ever at all. If anything, the payment should be the other way
around.
Anyway, that's my two cents. And please don't read this as a complaint
about Soft in general. I think Soft does a great job of responding to
its users, and can cite many examples. Most of them involve channels
outside the standard support forms, though, and I just think this sort
of strategy would make the process a lot more streamlined.
- Andy
Bernard Lebel wrote:
I mean active maintenance. When you're not on maintenance, you sure
can report problems, but there is no garantee Softimage will answer.
Bernard
On 3/31/07, Kris Rivel <krisrivel(at)gmail.com> wrote:
By that I assume you mean....not actually real "customers"? :-) If
that's what you mean then yes...thats probably why many don't get logged
officially.
Kris
Bernard Lebel wrote:
> I generally keep my bug numbers :-)
>
> Halfdan, I believe people that many people that report problems on
> forums and mailing lists are not on active maintenance..... ;-)
>
>
> Bernard
>
>
>
>
> On 3/31/07, Frank Lenhard <frank.lenhard(at)gmail.com> wrote:
>> ha! :) i am glad this one got fixed and i reported it through the bug
>> report
>> form;) . i just didnt had the number available here to make a search
>> on the
>> fixlist ;)
>>
>> congrats!!
>>
>>
>> On 3/31/07, Halfdan Ingvarsson <hingvars(at)softimage.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Yes, that was fixed as a part of something else. Not all of the
>> fixes we
>> made have bugs behind them since it seems that people are more
keen on
>> reporting them on forums or mailing lists rather than going
through the
>> official bug reporting tool. Is that maybe something we need to
fix? :-)
>> >
>> > - 1/2
>> >
>> > ________________________________
>> From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM on behalf of Frank Lenhard
>> > Sent: Sat 31-Mar-07 04:43
>> > To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM
>> > Subject: Re: Now Available: SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.01
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > yeah! tons of fixes.
>> > i wonder if they also fixed the bug where the framerate didnt got
>> saved in
>> a scene file and therefore rendered wrong in a renderfarm....
>> > couldnt find it in the massive list.
>> >
>> > but thanks for the hard work soft!
>> >
>> > ciao
>> > franky
>> >
>>
>>
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