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Connected Text may not be dead yet!
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Posted by tightbeam
Nov 25, 2018 at 07:31 PM
That’s wonderful that you feel the same way as Dr. Andus, and I wish Eduardo the best, but the proof is in the follow-through. “Labor of love” or not, his paying customers have complained on the forum about his “disappearances” and lack of replies to tech support questions, and past behavior is an important consideration for whether or not to invest one’s time and money in software. I guess we’ll see how much follow-through is behind his very good intentions.
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
I feel the same way as Dr Andus.
>
>
>
>Dr Andus wrote:
>tightbeam wrote:
>>>After his long silence, he has a ways to go (and a lot of code to
>>write)
>>>before he earns back the trust of his customers, potential or
>>otherwise.
>>
>>I have a different perspective on this. In my various interactions with
>>Eduardo I found him to be a very generous person, and when he had the
>>time to be developing CT, he was incredibly receptive to customers’
>>suggestions, and it shows in the quality of the product.
>>
>>His generosity also extends to the pricing of his product, which is an
>>amazing value considering what ConnectedText can deliver.
>>
>>He certainly hasn’t lost my trust. I can fully appreciate how hard it
>is
>>to run one’s own business, and if it’s a labour of love, as CT seems to
>>be, I also understand that sometimes a developer’s work can be
>disrupted
>>by all kinds of personal and professional reasons.
>>
>>On my part I consider Eduardo a genius, as it is reflected in the
>unique
>>and innovative nature of CT, and I consider myself lucky that I came
>>across his software and it has made a huge contribution to my work in
>>many respects.
>>
>>So I couldn’t be more delighted that Eduardo is back and ready to
>>dedicate some of his time to CT again.
>>
Posted by Dr Andus
Nov 25, 2018 at 09:47 PM
tightbeam wrote:
>his paying customers have complained on the forum about
>his “disappearances” and lack of replies to tech support questions, and
>past behavior is an important consideration for whether or not to invest
>one’s time and money in software.
Sure. But to keep things in perspective, for a single payment of USD 39.95 you get a perpetual licence for possibly the most sophisticated personal wiki software on the planet that has ever existed.
Then there is a huge forum where you can very likely find an answer to almost any question or technical problem, and normally there are users there who are happy to help.
I’m not saying it’s OK for a developer not to reply to tech support questions, but you get a lot of value for the $39.95, even if you never hear from the developer.
CT wouldn’t be the only software that’s sold without further development or technical support. See e.g. Outline 4D, which is more expensive and less sophisticated, yet it’s been sold for over a decade without any development.
Posted by 22111
Nov 26, 2018 at 01:35 AM
“I’m not saying it’s OK for a developer not to reply to tech support questions, but you get a lot of value for the $39.95, even if you never hear from the developer.”
I think he has a point there.
But I’d like to draw you attention to some other element in the communication policy in question: When I tried to follow the link in the first post, in order to read what the developer would say about the situation, I encountered sort of an error message, telling I had no right to access the forum.
I don’t know which of two possibilities applies:
- registered users only
- paying users only allowed for registration.
But whatever, even paying users would like to just have a look if there’s something new, without entering data in 2 separate fields, and then, prospects would like to inform themselves about software they’re thinking of buying, and for somewhat elaborate software, they tend to want quite extensive information, and even if it’s then possible to get into the forum before buying, after a lengthy procedure, be assured that perhaps 1 or 1.5 out of 10 will go into such depths of fuss, just in order to read a little bit about a thing (how’s it going, possible problem, possible hints/ideas…), the others will very probably lose interest, judging that the developer does not want them to read there, making it that difficult for them.
Please note I don’t speak of writing access here, which is another question indeed.
(And prospects would ask questions by mailing, rather than register to another forum… of course, they would expect their questions answered within 2-3 days max, I suppose. But without reading access, which could probably answer some of such questions already, they’re not that much motivated to contact the developer with questions either.)
Posted by Stephen Diamond
Nov 26, 2018 at 04:41 AM
It doesn’t sound to me like a question of whether the developer is providing sufficient bang for the buck. It’s a question of whether (at the risk of sounding legalistic, which isn’t my intent), he breached an implied contract with his customers. If technical support appeared to be part of the package, and the developer suddenly disappeared without notice or excuse, I wouldn’t trust him. (Which doesn’t mean necessarily I wouldn’t buy his software.)
Dr Andus wrote:
tightbeam wrote:
>>his paying customers have complained on the forum about
>>his “disappearances” and lack of replies to tech support questions, and
>>past behavior is an important consideration for whether or not to
>invest
>>one’s time and money in software.
>
>Sure. But to keep things in perspective, for a single payment of USD
>39.95 you get a perpetual licence for possibly the most sophisticated
>personal wiki software on the planet that has ever existed.
>
>Then there is a huge forum where you can very likely find an answer to
>almost any question or technical problem, and normally there are users
>there who are happy to help.
>
>I’m not saying it’s OK for a developer not to reply to tech support
>questions, but you get a lot of value for the $39.95, even if you never
>hear from the developer.
>
>CT wouldn’t be the only software that’s sold without further development
>or technical support. See e.g. Outline 4D, which is more expensive and
>less sophisticated, yet it’s been sold for over a decade without any
>development.
Posted by Paul Korm
Nov 26, 2018 at 12:58 PM
I’m with Dr. Andus and Steve Z on this. It is extremely difficult for a sole-practitioner developer to create and maintain a robust application over the long term. When we buy apps made by a single person, we cannot apply the expectations for presence and support that we apply to firms like OmniGroup etc. Additionally, Eduardo has had personal misfortunes, reported here, his forum, and elsewhere, that in my view earn him a lot of slack and patience.
(BTW, if I recall correctly, the CT forum doesn’t require a license, just registration. Like all other forums.)