This has been an interesting string. What Glenn Ballard (probably a cousin to my Ballard ancestors) didn't say is that all the stuff he mentioned as things to test ARE tested. Legacy has a very large beta testing team both in the US and internationally. We test everything in every way imaginable, including the Help files and manuals. You cannot believe the problems created trying to use a piece of software on multiple platforms with various degrees of integrity. I find that Legacy problems fall in 4 categories, at least as this list reflects.
The first, and by far the largest, is that some folks are either not far up the learning curve on using their computer and just do not know how to do what they want to do. The second is that people question something without taking time to review the Help files or read the Option screens carefully. The third is problems caused by differences in how computers are set up - graphic card issues, ISM issues, etc. And finally, program bugs do occur. My experience is that many of these are the result of one fix breaking something else. Unfiortunately, as strong as the Beta team is, we don't have the bandwidth to test stuff that was completed earlier so, again unfortunately, it is left for folks on this list to find this stuff and report. But overall it works very well. After things are reported, they are typically fixed quickly. The other frustration I see is improved charting and reporting capabilities and other features we wish Legacy had. My pet peeve is the lack of linked events (witnessed events in other programs). Ken and Dave do have a business plan for Legacy. In the past couple of years they have taken it internationally and have created retail versions to increase the span of their sales. I suspect these steps are needed to insure a growing cash flow which, in turn, will give them the resources to look at feature enhancement. Legacy probably started as a labor of love but it is a full fledged business now and has to run like a business. Thanks for the active discussion. Jim On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 08:34:44 -0500, Ken Leavitt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rich Heimlich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 6:08 AM > Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] New Legacy Update - 23 March 2005, Version 5.0.0.217 > > The point I was trying to make is that in a free market we have choices. If > the product does not perform to our satisfaction, we can make our > dissatisfaction known to provider; we can ask for our money back; we can > learn enough to write our own program; or we can engage in a rant to anyone > who will listen. Whatever makes you feel better. > > > > > > This is very much like the argument that movie reviewers don't know movies > > and that sports writers don't know sports because they didn't play pro > > ball, etc. These points hold no water. Consumers SPEND MONEY and when > > money is spent the entire relationship changes. If the free version is > > buggy, frankly, that's really bad news for the coder as it freely shouts > > out that they're not very good at what they do. If the paid version is > > buggy, they deserve all the heat they get as the coder wouldn't accept > > such a result from other avenues in his own life so to make excuses for it > > is just unacceptable and in bad form. > > > > > This from a development manager (with a HEAVY quality assurance > > background) in the computer and console games industry going back to 1983. > > Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: > > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > > > > To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ > > > > To unsubscribe please visit: > > http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp > > > > > > Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > > To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ > > To unsubscribe please visit: > http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp > Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
