#AmiBack upgrade
18 messages in this thread
Press Release
For Immediate Release
May 18, 1994 — Orlando, Florida — Intelligent Designs, Inc., is pleased to
announce the Ami- Back Upgrade Offer to owners of any Quarterback product. For
a limited time, owners of any version of Quarterback or any version of
Quarterback Tools may purchase Ami-Back, Ami-Back Tools, or Ami-Back Plus Tools
at a special discounted price.
With the current shake-up in the Amiga marketplace, we at Intelligent Designs
realize that Amiga owners desire and deserve the stability of top-rated
software with support that won't disappear. With New Horizon's unfortunate
departure from the Amiga scene, owners of their Quarterback products need not
worry that they will have no support. Intelligent Designs is extending an
offer to all owners of Quarterback products to crossover to our Ami-Back line
of Amiga utilities.
Ami-Back and Ami-Back Tools have proven themselves in the Amiga market for the
past four years, and as a result, they are the best-selling and most respected
programs of their class for the Amiga. The offer for Quarterback product
owners to upgrade is a limited one, so be sure to make the switch to the Amiga
products and compant that will be here as long as you have your Amiga! The
upgrade to Ami-Back or to Ami-Back Tools is $24.95, while the upgrade to
Ami-Back Plus Tools (the combo pack of both programs) is $44.95. For orders in
the U.S., please add $5.00 shipping and handling per product. Overseas orders
please add $15.00 shipping and handling per product. All orders must be in
U.S. funds: check, money order, or credit card. Checks must be drawn on U.S.
banks. Overseas orders please use credit card or money orders, only.
For more information, or if you wish to order, contact:
Intelligent Designs, Inc. 2925 East Colonial Drive Orlando, Florida 32803 USA
Phone: (407) 894-1031 Fax: (407) 894-2384
You forgot to mention that you also charge $125 for a year's worth of
support on these products. (I thought it was a bit much, asking nearly
twice what I paid for the products to provide tech support for them).
You also forgot to mention that you refuse to provide support to those who
had outstanding bug reports with Moonlighter (won't even answer letter
regarding those bugs, in fact) and that, the same people who did such a
poor job of tech support at moonlighter are still the ones who answer the
phone at your tech support number – and still act like the problem I
reported for the fifth time, they never heard of before – in spite of
three letters, four phone calls and tow sets of disks with debuyg output
and problem reconstruction steps.
You may be selling Amiga software, but I think your claim of supporting it
is seriously exaggerated.
wmc – via Autopilot!
What was that a little while ago about a type-by shooting? <g>
It was not a flame or anything of the sort. It was an invitation to
honesty in marketting (an oxymoron, I know…). And actuallyt, I
have to admit to an error. I said $125 for a year's support and it
actually is $109.
The rest is factually accurate, and is information that should be part
of the advertisement. A part of many buy decisions is whether the
poroduct ius supported. If technical support is considered an
"option", you should be told up front. Jut like you expect the car
dealer to tell you up front that right side mirrors or mag wheels are
an option, or that there is no warranty, but you can buy one for $x.
They also claim that they are supporting former Mmoonligher products
which is false. Problems that were "ongoing" issues with Moonlighter
when the takeover occurred have been dropped, even when follow-up
calls and letters were written (with copies) informing IDI of those
open issues. They shoulkd make it perfectly clear that willnot
support any on-going issues (or non-ongoing issues) with product
produced by Moonlighter unless and until the techs support fees are
paid.
The fact that those fees are higher than the prices of the products is
a business decision that IDI alone can justify, but they should tell
you. It is almost as important as telling you any ADOs rev level
compatibility issues or the like.
As it stands, some might feel you are better off finding a solid PD
backup program and paying the shareware or using HDToolBox and
HDBackup that come free with ADos for the value that is offered once
they know all the gotchas.
Wayne,
it would help, when you are flaming a company, if you partook of
a spellchecker. The typo's really detract from the message.
I know I'm guilty of typo's, but your messages really take the
cake.
Brian –
As long as we're picking nits 8^) there are no apostrophes in plurals.
I cringe every time I see it … I read your last sentence and before I
consciously translate I instinctively think, "What action or object
belonging to typo are you guilty of?" 8^)
It's late and I'm venting …
Harry
Wen Sxteve pits won een OttoPeelote Isle shtart yousing eet four see eye
ess messaging (ahh – a little to the left….)
wmc – via Autopilot!
I wasn't disputing your claims! I've had the same problem with TapewormFS.
Paul
Email me with your system config, product revision number, problem and
serial number. I'll check into it.
IDI *is* supporting Moonlighter's products: AmiBack, AmiBack Tools &
Tapeworm. "Ongoing" items are being looked in to. Items that have
ben reported and confirmed as bugs will be addressed in both minor
and major upgrades of all three packages.
Since I officially work for the retail part of the company, I am
unfamiliar with specific problems. If you wish, please email me a
description of your problem including what program, systm
configuration and product version number and I will see what I can do
to help you.
IDI's decision on product support was purely economic. They are a
small company with the programmers also doing tech support. Many of
the "tech support calls" were easily answerable by reading the
manual. We also had a number of people who attempted to get tech
support for non-registered products, "friend's copies" and the like.
IDI wanted to take more direct control over who received extensive
tech support.
I will check, but I do not remember *all* tech support being charged
for. I thought that there was a period of 30 days or so that tech
support was free. I might be wrong…I was not in on the decision.
Finally, I want to emphasize that I am not accusing anyone of
"frivolous" tech calls, piracy or anything. I am just reporting what
I was hearing by listening to the phones.
Again, please email me with a description of the problem and I will
see what I can do. (Also, please include the product serial number
in private mail.)
Charles,
RE: frivolous tech support calls: If you use a voice mail/return call
system you can actually had off the RTFMM responses to a receptionist tyep
to return on a time availble basis. The "real" ones can then be
researched and a return call/fax/email made by the investigating engineer.
Also, if they can't produce a registration number that is tied to thier
name in you data bank, you do not owe any return call. (Or if they get a
live person, just say without the proper name/num, no service. (Equivalent
of no shirt, no shoes…).
The problems are the common knowledge ones with TapeWorm:
1) each revision (1.0 to 1.1 t0 1.2 to 1.3) rendered tapes written on the
previous revision unreadable. Attempted recoveries rendered onnly partial
directories. I've sent debug mode outptu files from recovery sessions to
Moonlighter with accompanying letters for the 1.0 to 1.1 and 1.1 to 1.2.
The set for the 1.2 to 1.3 went to your tech support as have two phone
calls which havve generated nothing more than an "oh really?" and "what
letter? What disks?" Same response I got from Moonlighter and it sounded
like the same guy I talked to at moonlighter.
2) The keep directory on tape had never worked.
3) listing, let alone recovering earlier revs of the files on the tape
had also never worked.
4) TWctrl Kill command doesn't kill the FS enough to allow access of the
tape as a backup by other than Moonlighter software.
5) reformatting the tape with the same volume name does not delete the
directory from the directory dtorage drawer.
6) If you attempt a reformat aftet "kill" the "No Tape in Device TAPE:"
message comes up with abort retry choices. As with all TapeWorm alerts
this one is a never ending loop from which the only recoveryis to reboot.
7) You also run into #6 if you have a dir util monitoring the TAPE:
directory when you eject the tape using TWCtrl.
That is the short list. I've got two other pages of bugs around here
somewhere. Basically, Moonlighter did not test the product before they
sold it. They left it to paying users to locate bugs for them. In my
opinion, especially considering this is a file system product and device
driver of sorts, it should be much more stable and relieable than even
backup software. In my opinion, 1.3 is about where you would expect an
early beta peice of software to be.
ABTools Plus I have but have not registered as I tried in and RELLY hated
it. (Opinion only, it worked o.k for the five minutes I played with it).
The dumb names on things – G.P, Antiseptic, Lab Test….cute names, but
they tell me nothing. I have to get the manual out to figure out what
they mean.
AB I will not use becuase you do not keep the ddirectory of backed up
files on the tape/backup disks with the backed up files. And there is no
way to get one short of "recovering it" from the tape unless you'dlike to
clutter up your HD or keep track of a ton of floppies with seperate backup
directories. Some people may like that – I hate it. You should provide
an option to do it either way (or both).
I have GVP GForce '040, ADos 2.1, ane a Maynstream DAT I got with TapeWorm
from Moonlighter at the WOCA Pasedena, 9/93. TapeWorm is so useless and
unreliuable I just gave up on it and it, likewise has been de-installed.
As for the support contract, you gotta do what the economics warrant.
But, for this type of software (simple, low-level tool/utility software)
the operation should be so simple and reliable that a support contract
makes no sense. You also have to place it in context with what we are
used to in that regard. Like th BlackBelt upgrade program. Tech support
is free, upgrades cost. But the Auto upgrades are frequent and to pro
users of such complex and rich tools, it makes sense. Back-up and disk
managment tools should never be that complex.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne,
> Also, if they can't produce a registration number that is tied to thier
name in you data bank, you do not owe any return call.
That's not good business policy. Maybe there was a mistake, especially
when a new company takes over the support of a product, and a registered
user's name won't be in the database. If I, as a registered user, called
and didn't even receive the courtesy of a return call because of a
database error on their part, I wouldn't think too highly of them. I think
the proper response would be to return the call and explain the situation.
😎
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
I think $125 is a tad steep for support of a backup program too.
Support for such a program should be minimal and if you have a lot of
questions or problems I'd say there is a something wrong with the design
of the software.
Leslie-
I lied. Its $109 for the backup, tools and Tapeworm. $90 for just the
backup and tools. But I still that is steep for a basic tool like backup
and disk managment tools.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne,
> $90 for just the backup and tools.
Hi. Is that so? I own both AB and ABTools. I had a lot of trouble with
Moonlighter tech support before they were taken over. I wasn't aware,
until you mentioned it, that you have to pay for tech support with the new
company. That's absolutely preposterous! That's more than the cost of
either program! Are you saying that the new policy is that if you don't
pay the new company $90, they will not provide any tech support
whatsoever? If so, then I agree with your position.
I know paying for extended tech support is common with some PC/Mac
products, but that software usually costs $500 and up. However, it is not
common in the Amiga market, especially when I think I paid less than $100
for both programs at a NY WOCA Show.
I wonder if they really expect people to pay that outrageous price. They
say they are providing tech support, but it appears as if they are
charging such an exorbitant price, figuring most people won't pay it, so
that, in reality, they don't have to provide tech support at all.
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
Expect paying for tech support to become more common everywhere.
Admitedly, for a backup program, basic support should be free. Trying to
recover data from a damaged tape should cost (and maybe $100 isn't too
much) as should talking someone through how to use Workbench or add a tape
drive to a system.
As a loyal user of AmiBack who has recomended it widely, I'm a little
annoyed with the new support policy, but haven't looked into it enough to
know whether it covers ALL support, bug fixes and updates.
Some software is just plain support intensive, and some people expect that
technical support is the same as having a phone buddy to call once a week
and B.S. for an hour.
Look at what Cygnus Support does — they just sell commercial support for
free software. They charge a lot more than $100/year, and you "buy" the
software for a lot less.
—
Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing