#SB 4 Documents & Graphic
4 messages in this thread
I have recently upgraded to SB Pro 4 ver 1.03 and ordered new manuals. So
far, I have found what I would consider a major bug if I used graphics (I
don't, so it is not a problem with me). I load the sample data file
pictures. When I display the pictures in the records, the colors are all
wrong (Mariel has green skin and bright red hair). It looks as though the
color maps are really screwed up. This happens with all the pictures.
When I display the pictures using the viewer in Directory Opus, they look
fine. Mariel is in living black and white.
When I load a file I saved back with SB personal (no number at all), the
pictures are fine. What are you doing with the colors? I am running an
Amiga 500 with 512K chip, 2.5 meg ram, Trumpcard 500 with a Quantum 105
meg disk, and an additional floppy.
My real gripe, however is with the new documentation. Did you guys ever
hear of proof reading? There are loads of misspellings. There are many
cases where the font changes in the middle of a page. Headings are not
consistantly spaced. I really liked the touch where you left out all the
DML instructions from about SET FORMS to the end, then had to include an
additional addenda. Several of the figures overlap the text. Simply put,
it is not a very professional job. The old documentation was much better.
I really hope you plan to replace this documentation, and provide updates
to those who paid for it. I know that Oxxi may be having financial
problems. This quality documentation gives the impression of a company
that is about to fold.
Bill Roberts — Autopilot from Ellettsville, Indiana
Dear Bill,
I'm sorry you are having problems with your SBase4. But I think your outburst
here is really childish. Have you called Tech Support? The problems you are
having can be solved, but you are making it hard to want to spend the time to
try and help you. I understand that there was a mess-up concerning the manual,
but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it at this point. We are
working on printing new manuals. We didn't do the printing, and by the time we
realized it we already had shipped hundreds of them.
Please call me @ (310) 427-1227.. We'll see what your problem is…
Mike
I don't think my original message could be considered a childish outburst.
My main complaint is not the graphic display. It only seems to
affect the graphics that you supplied with your demo. It seems to
work with other graphics that I have with my system. I was curious
if others had had the same or a similar problem. And if so, what was
done. I have received more "tech support" on these forums than I
have ever received from tech support from any company. I hesatate to
call because 1) the only times you are open, I am at work and have to
pay for a long distance call, 2) I won't have my machine available to
answer any more questions than I can post here, while working with my
machine (the wonders of multitasking), 3) I usually get a better
answer here, because most companies realize that the conversation is
being monitored by potential customers, and they can look good, 4) in
many cases I have found that interested users know as much as more
than the companies representatives, especally about odd cases.
I realized at once that you must have had problems with the printer of the
manuals. And I can understand the schedualing problems that can occur
when a printer screws up. If I were OXXI, I would be talking to my lawyer
about paying the printer for this batch of manuals.
As a customer who has dealt with OXXI for years (I was one of the original
buyers of Benchmark Modula II — remember that nightmare?), I am
disappointed when you do not live up the standards I have come to expect
from you. SBase Pro 4 is (IMHO) the best database system I have used on a
personal computer. It is the system that the PC's wish they had (well,
they do, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be as popular there). But
a set of bad manuals (and if I may say, your defensive attitude) does not
help OXXI's image.
Bill Roberts — Autopilot from Ellettsville, Indiana
The manual explains that to get color mapping to map to the form you
need to append a ,C to the name of the external file. Please call
Tech Support between 9AM-12PM and we can solve this problem. But
concerning the manuals, I apologize.. We can only move on and work
at the problems we have now. I am certain that we will overcome any
problems given the support and the interest of the users. I just got
off the phone with a user is Arizona. He told me he thought SBase4
was THE BEST database program he had ever used. He is doing wonderful
things with it and he wishes that other programs on the Amiga worked
as well. I have letters from hundreds of users who think SBase is the
best thing since buttered bread, and yet there are those people who
think it is garbage. I am sorry if you are one of those people, but
we are not MicroSoft here, {Thank the good lord!} We are working with
a limited amount of resources and are doing a damn good job… Please
stand by and we will make this piece of software even better, faster,
and stronger….