Hello,
just wanted to thank you for your valuable and constructive post.
We're basically thinking along the very same lines, and have taken actions
accordingly. We have been working with a few people on them setting up both standalone
support companies and also along with the "pool" idea - things take time though as
people in this business are generally busy, but for instance Cadrion
(http://support.cadrion.com) has just gotten going now. Another thing in the works is
a providers application that will be a part of the orionserver.com site where support
/ development providers can register themselves and specify specifics about their
knowledge areas etc. It'll also be possible to post applications for help/hires needed
in the end.
So, bottom line: We encourage anyone interested in this to go for it and set up a
structure, pooled or standalone. Of course some of you might benefit from cooperating
but two's better than none in the end. There is a lot that can be done, even with
simple means - for instance, when it comes to bug reports there is a lot that can be
done just in form of supplying small, to the point reproducing test cases where
missing etc which greatly increases the chance of getting it fixed rapidly.
As for the other point; regarding the site we agree that it looks "bad" with too few
updates, and this is something we're trying to remedy. We're hiring two more people
right now and that should leave some improved room for actions in that category. But
by all means - if you have prewritten "success stories" dont hesitate to send them in!
;)
As a side note, to kill off some myths;
a) We're working fulltime (and then some) on the product, development is also doing
well I might add. Some of the next "visible" steps is entering the process of J2EE
certification, and also support for some of the new tech out there like the Connector
API and such.
b) There is no risk of "going bankrupt", Orion as a product is thriving (and it's a
positive trend), and Ironflare is a profitable company more than able to support our
current development efforts, and then some.
Have a nice day!
/Magnus Stenman, the Orion team
----- Original Message -----
From: "elephantwalker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Orion-Interest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 5:28 AM
Subject: RE: productive comment.
> List,
>
> We have an organic community here, but the list has been our only output.
> The support from the company is lacking. Orionsupport seems to have been a
> good outlet for some, but appears to be down for a spell.
>
> Many here have used the other commercial packages (I have used weblogic and
> iplanet), but had to suffer through their "seminars" which are just
> over-blown sales meetings. If you are a small company, these are just not
> the products for you.
>
> It would be nice if we could post "success stories" and "hints" directly on
> the OrionServer web site. If they want to commercialize the product, and
> don't have the bucks or people to provide support...let *us* provide this
> service through a "community" process.
>
> About 18 months ago I started using the netbeans ide. At the time, its was
> the only jave 2 ide out there. The netbeans news server was well maintained
> by a support engineer for netbeans. Later they sold out to Sun, and a lot of
> that "organic" feeling went away. But the attention that one guy gave to the
> news service was great, and made using the product a good experience.
>
> If we could move the energy prevalent on the orion-interest news service
> into a "community" web page, maybe this could help all of us out? We could
> award *points* to the best answers to questions. We could have an ignore
> button. And yes, we could have a *paid* consultancy service for email
> questions, phone coaching, and even site visits. Many of the users of orion
> are independent consultants, so it is not out of the question that a
> community web service for orion wouldn't fill the gap for orion support.
>
> I think one thing missing from the OrionSupport web site was this last
> bit....some paid service for support. Its also missing from the Ironflare.
> If you notice, you can buy the product...but even if you wanted to pay for
> extra support, they don't sell it.
>
> If you are reading this at Orion, please consider the McDonald's model. They
> had a good idea for a hamburger, but how do you put a restaurant on every
> corner? You franchise the hamburger restaurant idea. Why does'nt Ironflare
> "franchise" the support for Orion? This way they could continue to write
> great software, but others would pay them to give great support service for
> Orion.
>
> I have been trying to call these guys for a month now, with no success.
>
> So my question is...
>
> How do we take the next step?
>
>
> Regards,
>
> The elephantwalker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 5:44 PM
> To: Orion-Interest
> Subject: productive comment.
>
>
> > David, nothing personal, I'm just hanging my reply off yours as
> >it's the latest one in this thread...BUT some of us are very bored of this
> thread popping up every few weeks. Sure, Orion hasn't released a new version
> in a couple of months now (I think), and I'm as desperately eager for 1.4.8
> as anyone here. Why does
> this always translate to 'Orion is tanking'?
>
> I know where you are coming from. I love orion. The problem I have is when
> I have to rationalize its use to others. Here's the most basic
> recommendation that I think would go a long way (believe it or not)
>
> UPDATE THE WEB SITE ONCE A WEEK
> include simple news...even just a paragraph or to. perhaps explaining
> latest updates (in betas). If you have no news....add link to new
> clients/web sites...I'm sure ...this would take about 10 minutes a week and
> would go a long way in helping me convince people to buy it...believe it or
> not. I know it has no relevance on the quality of the product, but it would
> make a huge difference in giving the people I work with confidence in
> Orion's future. This is necessary because orion is not open source and we
> can not update the orionserver.com site as a community. I know this is what
> orionsupport is for, however, when I have to get people to commit money to a
> product simple things go a long way. I hope this was a more productive
> comment.
>
>
