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ADM -- Just What Is Going On?
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Posted by Daly de Gagne
Mar 4, 2007 at 01:17 PM
The following post in reply to one I had originally written on the GTD Group, is even more suggestive that all is not well in the ADM camp:
After Daly’s mail I was expecting some reply from Eric Sommer, who is the ADM CEO and who usually reacted promptly to such messages, but no reply came.
After Daly’s mail I was expecting some reply from Eric Sommer, who is the ADM CEO and who usually reacted promptly to such messages, but no reply came.
Then I went through the last announcements of the ADM’s beta versions and I realized that instead of the Eric’s usual quotations,
“True development puts first those that society puts last.”
-Mahatma Gandhi
“Dare to be naive.”
- Buckminster Fuller
“Work for the world.”
- Karl Marx
“A loving heart: In all the world this state of mind is best.”
- ADM CEO
the closing sentence was:
“This email communication was sent on behalf of:
Eric Sommer
Suite 21 @1091 Broughton St.
Vancouver, B.C. V6G 2A9
“You are receiving this email communication because you or someone using your address either submitted an online form or autoresponder to either us or one of our associates.
If you feel that your receipt of this mailing has been in error…
please go to the following url:
http://rm.inetcomm.us/r.asp?i=8386022-0-563-0-gia-6”
To better understand what is going on I went to that link and immediately I got the following message:
“Your remove request has been processed.”
Indeed, I reckon this time Eric Sommer avoids to be naïve.
From my part, a part from crying for the 100 dollars I paid for the beta, I can only reiterate and stress Daly’s message, at least to warn everybody of the danger.
Gianni
*************************
Gianni’s post causes me concern.
First, there is either a problem with ADM’s email system, or Eric may be back in Vancouver, which begs a question about what is happening in the Chinese operation, or both, because the request to remove makes no sense.
Meanwhile, the future of what is one of the most creative, potentially most useful pieces of software remains unknown, and unaccounted for. Unaccounted in both the sense of “who knows?”, but also in the sense that the covenant of accountability that businesses have to keep in touch with their markets has been neglected—yet again.
As Peter, Paul, and Mary sang in Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, “when will they ever learn?”
If anyone has any more recent news on the progress ADM is making in being recoded, and made market ready, whether in English or Chinese, please post with that information.
Daly
Posted by Jan Rifkinson
Mar 4, 2007 at 11:24 PM
Daly, I cannot offer any substantive information but I can say that I posted Arne (Eric Sommer’s partner & financier @ one time) but didn’t receive an answer. I have a feeling that the ADM.net site lives on one of Arne’s servers in Vancouver & he doesn’t want to be connected to ADM for whatever reason. Perhaps he has severed ties with Eric or visa versa. This is speculation on my part. If someone had a phone # they could call to see what they could find out. Whatever the situation, it is certainly shameful, if not more than that. If I lived in the old West (of the U.S.) I’d feel like I had met a snake oil salesman.
—
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield, CT USA
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Mar 5, 2007 at 02:48 AM
Jan, I don’t know why Arne didn’t reply to you, but I wish he had. God knows you did more than your fair share checking for, trying to replicate, and reporting bugs.
After seeing Gianni’s post today I wrote to Arne, and implored him to find out from Eric how many other people had paid for beta ADM4.
In my original correspondence with Arne earlier this year, he said he was of the belief no one had paid for betas; giving him the benefit of the doubt, I suspect he is not aware of the day-to-day life of ADM. Even if the ADM.net site lives on one of Arne’s servers, Eric may well be the one who most regularly accesses the data.
I also had the sense that Arne was still very much part of ADM, and concerned about its well being.
While I do not like the delays, and I like the lack of communication even less, I think that the background on the development and programming of ADM, including the need for a more robust data base and recoding (the two factors said to be responsible for the current delay) make for a good business story. Back in the 80s I received $1,000 per deims for helping companies to tell such stories, and to win friends along the way.
Although Stephen Diamond (where the heck are you?, and hope you’re well) would likely be the first to say I’m naive (grin), I’m not prepared to make the snake oil judgment yet. Unfortunately, I have seen too many companies with intelligent, good leadership act in completely incomprehensible and stupid ways when it comes to managing problems and communicating with their publics. The wonderful luxury of crisis communication/management is that one can get paid a premium, and have it understood that its your way or the highway.
Incidentally, my corporate communication stuff never resorted to spins that deflected the truth, or softened it to comfort executives. If they wanted to pay me it had to be honest and straight up and, as a result, most of my clients always came out on top. My goal was that they should have a sense of being better off at the end of the day than if they had never had the problems in the first place.
Daly
Jan Rifkinson wrote:
>Daly, I cannot offer any substantive information but I can say that I posted Arne (Eric
>Sommer’s partner & financier @ one time) but didn’t receive an answer. I have a feeling
>that the ADM.net site lives on one of Arne’s servers in Vancouver & he doesn’t want to be
>connected to ADM for whatever reason. Perhaps he has severed ties with Eric or visa
>versa. This is speculation on my part. If someone had a phone # they could call to see
>what they could find out. Whatever the situation, it is certainly shameful, if not
>more than that. If I lived in the old West (of the U.S.) I’d feel like I had met a snake oil
>salesman.
>
>—
>Jan Rifkinson
>Ridgefield, CT USA
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Mar 5, 2007 at 05:48 AM
FWIW, I checked when I downloaded the last available version of ADM beta 4—it was in September of last year, almost six months ago.
Nothing since then. If I had realized fully how long it had been I might not have been as generous in my previous post.
How long does it take to recode an existing program, and give it a new data engine, especially if there are large numbers of relatively low paid Chinese programmers to do the work?
Of course, if the Chinese have been treated as well as the American and Canadian supporters of ADM, that could explain a few things.
Interestingly, there is relatively little information through the search engines about the availability of ADM’s Chinese version.
Daly
Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Mar 5, 2007 at 07:58 AM
Daly,
Jan,
As a fromer supporter of ADM I have to state this:
- I supported the integration of Skype. Still a great idea but too early
- I did not put enough pressure on removing the bugs and implementing some basic features
- I did not express my concerns enough regarding the fact that only one developer is writing code
- I did not listen to Stephen and his rather hard but in the end true posts here
- I still like ADM very much but I don’t use it anymore
- I am disappointed about the communication breakdown between ADM and its users
My key learnings:
- I support and use well supported software only. Criterias: E-Mails are answered, a support forum or group is available and moderated, there is at least one stable release per year, the website is updated regularly, minor releases including bug fixes are distributed for free during the year, users are warmly invited to provide feedback, if there are delays these delays are communicated openly, or: the developers don’t publish a final or clear release date until they are 100% sure they can match the date (like Kinnook or IdeaMason did), beta testing is available but on a limited time only
- I don’t over-support software anymore. Even with tools like Ultra Recall or IdeaMason I am very careful in expressing my support too much because you never know how long they are in business. Even Bill Gates from Microsoft said once: ‘Microsoft is always two years away from getting bancrupt.’ What that means: You are much faster out of the business than you think.
I have written an e-mail to Eric including some questions regarding the further develoment of ADM.
Keep finger’s crossed!
Dominik