Hello Stuart, On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 15:56:08 +0000 GMT (07/01/2005, 22:56 +0700 GMT), Stuart Moore wrote:
TF>> I mean that I am not aware of any software company selling an email TF>> product that offers tech support better than the TB lists. SM> I have in the past, for major corporations, contracted SM> support from Microsoft (for Exchange/Outlook) and IBM (for Lotus SM> Notes) before (to name the two biggest corporate email systems). SM> There contracts had guaranteed escalation paths up to developer SM> (and development project management) involvement. These contracts SM> were found to be effective in providing corporate level resolution SM> of major problems. I know of such agreements in place for a number SM> of other email packages. Alright, so you have answered my question, and I am impressed. But you are referring to "major corporations" that you were working for. How many users does it take to make companies like MS and IBM respond so efficiently? Again, just asking, because I do not have this experience. SM> I think that you need to define better. I think we may be SM> driven by very different criteria. I think you are right. I am not sure how many email users we have in our 200-people company, I think about 50 or so. I am not the IT manager, but people listen to me and I am reorganising the way we deal with email. If you are on TBBETA, you might know about it, and I get all the help I need from there. SM> Certainly one can come to this mailing list and obtain SM> excellent detailed support on quiet singular aspects and SM> requirements of The Bat almost certainly in a manner that would SM> not be entertained for execution for within a major corporate I am sure we are not a major corporation, but I cannot fathom what would be different, apart from maybe special requirements that need to be implemented by the developers. Like in AbacusBat. What are you missing that cannot be solved by the TB lists? SM> (certainly not if they have outsourced their infrastructure to a SM> mainstream provider). I am not sure that I would call that better SM> rather than simply different and perhaps fit-for-purpose for a SM> different client base than the one I was referring to and the SM> customer segment that I, mistakenly it would seem, had assumed I SM> was buying into with the premium purchase of The Bat. I think I see what you mean. You buy a huge number of licences, you want support from the horse's mouth. True, this is a weak point of Ritlabs. But it's only psychological: Any support you need will be given here (albeit by volunteers, many of which are IT experts), so there is nothing you technically miss. Personally, I put that psychological issue down to a marketing problem. A software sells better if the support comes directly from the vendor. But that would increase the overheads (they'd need to employ tech support people) and make the product more expensive. -- Cheers, Thomas. Reiner Calmund: Im Fusball ist es wie im Eiskunstlauf - wer die meisten Tore schiesst, der gewinnt. Message reply created with The Bat! 3.0.2.10 under Windows XP 5.1 Build 2600Service Pack 2 ________________________________________________ Current version is 3.0.1.33 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
