#2.01a Availability
4 messages in this thread
Gary,
As I mentioned to Kevin, trying to rely on the dealer network for competent
support is becoming increasingly a more frustrating situation. How can you
try to get support from someone who has never even used what you need
support for? It appears they kept shoveling 2.01 out the door (wouldn't
want to waste existing stock) and telling the naive dealers, "don't worry
about it. Nobody'll notice the difference. Only power users use any of
that stuff anyway." Gary, I get Autocad files defined by color on a
regular basis. Why can't I get what I'm supposed to get? Moreover, why
can't I get someone whose responsibility it is to get it right to answer
that question? Gary, I very much enjoy this product. I've invested 10s of
thousands of dollars in it and equipment to operate it. And my motivation
is not to throw some poor programmer into a fit of depression, and cause
him or her to not write any more software because their feelings are hurt.
I sometimes wish you had just written this program for someone else who
could distribute it. Well, Gary, I've got a project that I could have
possibly justified some IPAS routines for. But obviously, it's going to
take at least another 2 weeks to get what I should have gotten 2 weeks ago.
So I guess I don't need any IPAS routines for this project, huh? This is a
heck of a way to run a railroad.
Roger D.
P.S. Do you or anyone else know of an address where I can write Carol
Bartz?
Sorry Roger, but I don't make the support policies around here. They were
in place long before I started at Adesk five years ago, and hopefully
they'll get better. I've been lobbying heavily for more direct support for
years, and that's why I spend over 10 hours a week answering questions on
this forum when I could be spending time with my family after working the
other 70+ hours on 3DS. I do what I can, and that's all I can do. And
since I'm not perfect, things like the 2.01 mistakes happen. I take full
responsibility for it, and we fixed the problems as soon as we found them.
Regarding your import by color problem… for now, you can use your 3DS
2.00 version for DXF import, or the DXF3DS.EXE program. Those will both
work fine. And if you email me your address and phone number, perhaps I
can have someone call you directly about this.
Getting back to dealers, they're all REQUIRED to send someone to Adesk for
a week of training, so there's at least an effort made to see that there is
a 3DS user on staff at each dealership.
Finally, if you want to write _anyone_ at Autodesk, you should send the
letter to their 2320 Marinship Way, Sausalito, CA 94965 address.
– G
Roger and Gary:
This conversation sounds alot like the comments I used to make on the
Autodesk forum about 5 years ago… I had dealers that went bankrupt,
dealers that lied to me, dealers that had no business selling calculator
much less computers who were also selling AutoCAD to help them sell
computers…
In the 3DS world, not only do they get to sell computers but they get to
sell video stuff! A situation frought with portent…
What happened was that I spent more time on the forum, learned more about
how to get to the bottom of something, and talked alot about people who
don't know anything about automobiles that get their car serviced by an
incompetent mechanic… it basically boils down to the fact that you are
best off to become the resource you need to make your life in the computer
world better… I tell my dealers what to do these days and I have found a
few good ones that understand why I'm asking them to do something in a
particular way but the search has been ongoing for many years.
In my opinion, there is nothing that Autodesk can do about this that makes
any sense whatsoever… and the issues are complex to say the least. At
least on this forum you get to talk to real people instead of just leaving
a message under a slot that already has a topic like the MicroSoft forum…
sigh.
C#
Craig,
The major problem I see is that customers are simply too used to buying
software at 45% of list and getting a 24-hour 800# for tech support from the
mfg. The situation they are faced with in an AutoCAD or 3DS sale is
completely foreign to thier experience and thus sometimes look "un-trustful"
when the technical support issue is brought up with its associated costs.
When a descent support offering (training, phone technical, etc..) runs 50%
and more than the software costs … well … its something the average
customer is just not used to.
Ang
PS … Looks like we'll have more than 40 people for the 1st USG meeting!!!