The other day, in response to GemX's sale and a response to a post I had written, I started a thread called "Is GemX another ADM?"

I sent a copy of what I wrote in that thread as part of a note to GemX.

Within hours I received the following post from Jon at GemX. I then wrote to him for permission to present his post to the group, because I was struck positively by his straightforward manner, and what I appreciated as willingness to note limitations. He gave me permission to use the post as long as I used the whole post, and made no changes. Here is Jon's post to me:

Jon's Post to Daly

Hi Daly,

Thank you for the detailed email.

There have been no shortage of people complaining about just because
we have not answered simple questions such as how to use doO email
client or were not able to fix bugs like in yesterday. Well, I can't
blame them. It's our fault. We were too ambitious on providing just
too good of a customer service. When we were coming to the gates of
burn out stage we decided to stand back and take it easy. Please
remember we are a small company with a limited resources.

Now days we do not answer email questions are already answered in help
documentations.

In respect of your inquiry, all I can say is that don't take anybodies
word for it. Test it yourself to see if it provides the solutions you
are looking for satisfactorily for your needs. If it doesn't or in
doubt then right thing to do is not to purchase it. Special offers
finish date is July 20, 2008. I hope this gives you enough time to
evaluate.

We don't and won't sell future possibilities. We sell all GemX
applications as is. No sale talk with promises or re-assurances. You
should base your purchase decision on what you can see and use at
present.

There are no guarantee we can provide that GemX will continue
developing it's applications years to come. Something drastic may
happen and we may have to stop the business. However, In such event,
we wouldn't just dump everything, we would try to find a new owner who
can carry on developing and selling GemX applications.

We run special offers on certain times of the year. Only difference is
that we offer bigger discount at this time than previous ones; taking
into account soaring energy prices and shrinking buying power of
prospective customers. Of course we need to get in cash and new users.
Can any business survive without customers and reasonable cash flow?

I hope the above goes some way to answer your questions.

Best regards,
Jon.
GemX Software

Daly's Reflection on Jon's Post

I appreciate Jon's honesty, and I think he notes the realities facing a small developer who becomes quite successful.

His comment about selling future possibilities was in response to a question I had posed about whether GemX might disappear, such as ADM. Jon is absolutely correct -- there are no guarantees about what might happen tomorrow. I appreciate that he stipulates that if something did happen to impact the business negatively, they would try to find new owners.

Having been in corporate public relations, and having worked with companies facing challenges, I find myself more confident about GemX because of Jon's frankness, and willingness to avoid the temptation of making promises.

With re to DO, I am testing it, and finding that so far it seems to have been improved very much from the first time I tried the product. The mail downloads are blazingly fast, and I am getting the knack of using the links.

The feature that appeals is the fact that a browser is built-in. That means selecting a url in a post opens the browser tab. I can then tab back to the email and read other emails, if I wish. The material in the browser tab does not change. I can also open new tabs.

There is also a button that toggles from email in pane view to full view of the email. Very fast and convenient.

So far I am fairly pleased with what I have seen.

Other features need to be checked out, such as the finance module, the mind map, and the yearly planning calendar.

It appears to me that DO has become GemX's flagship product -- it incorporates features of other products, plus adding PIM capabilities. In ways it reminds me of either Ariadne or InfoSelect. Of course, Ariadne did not have a mail capability. DO's mail and browser capabilities work far better than IS's ever has.

I can also copy web page clips or whole articles to Surfulater from DO.

I do not think I would use DO as my main reference container -- but as a workshop for day to day activities, it may be just right. More later.

And thanks again to Jon for a fast, no nonsense response. The delay in posting it here is solely my fault.

Daly

Now days we do not answer email questions are already answered in
help
documentations.

Actually, regardless of the rest of the response, this would ensure that I don't touch their software. Annoying though it is that users ask questions that might be gleaned from (deep in) the documentation (and I have the same issue with my users), it should be normal that each request gets a response, even only that the answer is in the documentation in chapter ..... It's basic customer service and developers should do well to consider it as such.

Graham

"There have been no shortage of people complaining about just because
we have not answered simple questions such as how to use doO email
client or were not able to fix bugs like in yesterday."

Well how it IMHO all started was that suddenly there was a number of complaints on the forum about people not getting license codes they purchased.
There was at least one case I remember that went for many many days if not weeks.

Once the ball started rolling with license codes complaints, and shutdown of the forum shortly after that, THEN those complainers with simple questions started adding their experiences, but they were by far just a side-effect.

As for the support...definitely I agree they should at least send a reply "please check the help file".
Maybe it just wasn't a very well though out response from them.
On the other hand, with a significant helpdesk experience, I can understand what they might have been going through. ("I don't have time to read help", "How do you check for mail", ....), hard to judge without seeing what's really going on.

That said I was happy with their support.

Graham Rhind wrote:

>Now days we do not answer email questions are already answered in

>help
>documentations.

Actually, regardless of the rest of the response, this
would ensure that I don't touch their software. Annoying though it is that users ask
questions that might be gleaned from (deep in) the documentation (and I have the same
issue with my users), it should be normal that each request gets a response, even only
that the answer is in the documentation in chapter ..... It's basic customer service
and developers should do well to consider it as such.

I'd go farther than that. I think that well-designed, usable software should not need a help file. If someone needs to look at the help file then they are experiencing a flaw in your design. (I know this is an impossibly high standard - but it's an ideal that developers should shoot for.)
It sounds like GemX has been hearing the same questions over and over about how to use their software. When that happens, the last thing they should say is "look at the help file." The fact that lots of people can't figure out how to use the software should make them say:
"we know this is an issue with the software, and we are redesigning that feature to make it more obvious how to use it. Can you tell us exactly how you thought the feature would work?"

dan7000 wrote:

I’d go farther than that. I think that well-designed, usable software should not need a help file. If someone needs to look at the help file then they are experiencing a flaw in your design.

---------------------

For software which implement a known concept, I think this is possible.

But when something is really innovative, when it does not resemble some other well-known app, or when it is a cross between 2 or more apps, then, some form of documentation, start-up guide, etc. is essential.

So many of my users were baffled at first, and after talking, reading, thinking, one day they say: Aha! now I see the light. Everything becomes simple, clear, predictable... and powerful. But until that light gets turned on, because it is an unusual concept, users need help.

A worker requires training to use a new tool unless (1) the tool is very simple, or (2) he's been trained on something very similar.

I'd go farther than that. I think that well-designed, usable
software should not need a help file. If someone needs to look at the help file then they
are experiencing a flaw in your design. (I know this is an impossibly high standard -
but it's an ideal that developers should shoot for.)

simply impossible

Maybe, we, users, could just admit that we don't know everything, and have a look at the help file what developer meant by something, and then if some doubt remain, ask in forum or contact developer.

I am sure that most of the answers to user questions that developers get from users can be found in the help files, but users are lazy ... it's much easier to ask in forum or email developer and get the answer instead of wading though the help file.

The moral of this thread is, RTFM!!!

Hey Pierre,

I'm not intending to criticize your software - I'm just voicing a philosophy I've had in my own software development efforts. Disclaimer: I was engineering manager for Quicken for 5 years. I also designed and developed some other fairly popular commercial software. I never met my own standard for intuitive usability but I always pushed my team to think of it this way: if you need to point to the help file, it's a usability flaw.

Sure, it's easier to achieve this goal with established software paradigms than with new or innovative ideas. But new ideas can also be intuitive for users. TiVo is of course the best example. The oldest, least-tech-savvy visitor to my house can operate our TiVo immediately, even if they've never seen a DVR before. Another brilliant example is the world wide web. I remember in 1994 or so - if you used Prodigy you were always looking at the help file. If you used compuserve you were always trying to get help in the forums. But anybody who lauched a web browser instantly knew what to do - there was no instruction needed, for the newest, most innovative technology idea in the history of computing.

The key to intuitive usability for new software paradigms is to adopt a metaphor to an established paradigm. For instance, when Quicken was a brand-new idea, it adopted the checkbook metaphor. The entire program looked and operated like a checkbook, and that was the key to its success. At the same time, other programs tried to force a database or spreadsheet approach to personal finance management, and they all failed miserably. Today, other software can provide the metaphor: if something has columns, we expect it to sort when we click on the column header; if something has an "OK" button, we expect our data to be saved; if it looks like excel, we expect to be able to edit cells in-place. Software designers can look at every aspect of our programs and ask: what is the metaphor for this? How can I make it intuitive and obvious?

Hi Daly,
I know this is kind of an old thread, but the response you received from Jon at GemX still sits in the back of my mind.
I'm quietly hoping (OK, praying) it's still being worked on. This software helped me stay focused like nothing else.
To me, it was a priceless productivity tool with a concept / layout that was unmatched by any other application.

So...did you end up buying Do-Organizer?
Or, at least, get a chance to test it further?

Just curious!

:)

Sarah wrote:

Hi Daly,
I know this is kind of an old thread, but the response you received from Jon at
GemX still sits in the back of my mind.
I'm quietly hoping (OK, praying) it's still
being worked on. This software helped me stay focused like nothing else.
To me, it was
a priceless productivity tool with a concept / layout that was unmatched by any other
application.

So...did you end up buying Do-Organizer?
Or, at least, get a chance
to test it further?

Just curious!

:)

I totally agree with Sarah's comments about Do.Organizer. She's so right ! ;)

Personally, I have to disagree with the above claims in this thread. And that was: "if you need to go to the help file... then there is a flaw...". I think that in the case of do-Organizer, this is not true - and perhaps in many other applications as well. The quick assumption is erroneous to me. Just by experience on forums and emails, most people ask for things that are so obvious and the reason is they "prefer" to talk it over with someone and let that someone "walk them through" instead of doing it on their own. And by far, that's in the majority of cases. The core concept of doO is so simple and very intuitive and that's fine. But when you have many features and the application is well developed, eventually, you would need help files - and that is perfectly normal. There simply is NO application out there that matches doO's intuitiveness and capacity - none! In many cases, on the developr's side, so much time is taken up for developments and regular office duties, they simply do not have the time to "walk people through". And they don't have the time to answer obvious questions that are so easy to find answers for... and users "should" do their homework before requesting support - but many don't do that and they quickly jump at the developers who basically have no time for such things - and yes, that's perfectly normal as well. I also think that generally, people have become too hard on developers and are so ultra-demanding - it just doesn't make any sense - business wise. Some people are simply never satisfied. Support demands in many cases are so unrealistic. I think we have gone on an extreme on this issue. I have learned to cool down with that. I was just like everybody else - so demanding and so intolerant - but - I eventually understood, I was doing more harm to myself than anyone else. And I missed out on great opportunities because of my "hard" attitude. Well, I learned to be a little bit more "supple" and "flexible" - more understanding instead of demanding... and more supportive towards developers - afterall, it's a two-way street - (or at least it should be) - they need support too. I find myself more in a position to enjoy developer's products today. I`m not trying to preach to others - don`t get me wrong - but that`s just what I think about the situation with software developers. I think we've gone overboard with this "client support" thing - in general. And with that, I`m not trying to cover for support failures either but I'm basically aiming at a well defined balance from BOTH ends of the story - that`s my personal target. To make a simple illustration about GemX, and doO, well, they've helped me so much in getting organized like no other has and in return, well, I think they deserve some support from me. Why should I say: they didn`t answer my email and so that`s it! - I have had enough and that`s it! I delete the app never to come back - c'mon, people, is that the way to go? You just look at the flaw and all the good accomplished is wiped out of your memory banks. Good grief, where is your balance, kindness, and understanding?

A simple learning curve is "normal". What's up with people who do not appreciate a little challenge in learning anything in using softwares...? It doesn't make sense to me. I like a software that brings a challenge in learning. I think that there is a balance in all things. The idea that: "when you need a help file signals a flaw" is a perfect example of an "extreme" and not a balance. Help files are essential and must be there for the benefit of users. And yes, in general, users are lazy and would rather someone "do it" for them.

It's good when developers can be "honest" and tell it like it is - that helps. But we all know it's a struggle out there to survive as an online business in the software industry. So why demand perfection...?!!! Is that realistic or sensible? If people would stop using the "net" as a battleground and a cut-throat arena, and instead, use it as an opportunity to help one another then the internet world experience would become better for all...