Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!tronsbox!bleys
From: bleys@tronsbox.xei.com (Bill Cavanaugh)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: HAM-E
Message-ID: <2762ef31-36f4.5comp.sys.amiga-1@tronsbox.xei.com>
Date: 10 Dec 90 03:06:08 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.201207.22116@ims.alaska.edu> <1990Dec9.144547.4006@ncsuvx
Lines: 62

The more I hear about (and from) this company, the less I want their
product.  When it was first announced, it sounded great, and several people
I know sent them mail asking about developer status.  They didn't hear
anything, but we assumed that there'd been a missed communication somewhere.
 The unit then took the better part of a year before it came close to being
marketed.  I thought, "They're a small company.  They probably had a cash-
flow problem."  Now, the unit's on the market, and I hear that not only are
they shipping to Europe without a power supply (not a problem), but that
they're giving the customers the impression that a power supply is included
right up until they open the box! (PROBLEM!)  They've made no provision for
distribution of software upgrades.  (It's Public Domain!  It'll distribute
itself!)  When asked about these policys, Ben Williams says:

>unit. Rather than increase the price to the European customers, 
>we elected not to try to handle the power supply issue here. 
>The cost to you would be severe, in additional shipping costs 
>and the extra cost to us of the more sophisticated power supply.

In other words, they punted.  Nothing wrong with that, if you tell the other
team that you're doing it.  They didn't.  And Mr. Williams didn't address
the question of why they didn't.

>The software policy has been changed; we've been convinced that 
>it's going to have to be that way, even though the software is 
>PD and can be found in many places besides our BBS... the fact 
>is that many people don't have modems (believe it or not :^) 
>So, you can get the software upgrades, for a $10 handling charge 
>and whatever the shipping is to Europe for it.

Are they actually suggesting that putting the upgrades on a disk, putting
the disk in an envelope, and sealing the envelope costs them $10??  I can
get disks at the local Software Etc. for $1 each.  Mailers are less than a
quarter.  It takes less than two minutes to duplicate a disk.  Yeesh! 
Sorry, guys, too little, too late, for too much.

>was tested in, never realized that it required ARP. As a result, 
>several hundred units went out with that idiot mistake (and idiot 
>program) on them. Black Belt does not support the use of ARP 
>in any way, shape or form, and we apologize for the mistake. 
>Mostra is just a file viewer, though, so the images can still 
>be shown by just about anything you can find.

Here, I think Mr. Williams goes way over the edge.  A small company can get
by with a lower level of professionalism than a larger one, but there's no
excuse for the kind of attack made on an excellent shareware product.  I
think Mr. Williams owes Sebastiano Vigna an appology for the "idiot program"
remark.  By the way, Mr. Vigna is in Italy, so the ARP library is apparently
available in Europe, for those reading this who have the Black Belt package,
and who would like to use an excellent file viewer, but don't have the
library.

The impression I get, more and more as time goes by, is that Black Belt
Systems is trying to get away with everything they can.  That might be a
cynical interpretation of the facts;  they might just be unprofessional
enough not to consider customer service important enough to consider. 
Either way, they've got a long way to go.

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 *         Bill Cavanaugh       uunet!tronsbox!bleys            *
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