Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!hoptoad!wet!seth From: seth@wet.UUCP (Seth Olitzky) Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal Subject: Re: There is now a bugs@borland.com address Message-ID: <2290@wet.UUCP> Date: 8 Apr 91 21:28:46 GMT References: <1991Apr6.061138.28974@uwasa.fi> Organization: Wetware Diversions, San Francisco Lines: 75 In article <1991Apr6.061138.28974@uwasa.fi> ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) writes: >In article cschmidt@lynx.northeastern.edu writes: >: >>Borland definitely has a public relations problem. Note that Borland >>does not include comprehensive revision notes with new versions. How >: > >This is unfortunately very typical of firms with a strong product >growth trend. As long as the revenues come easily from product >development, the firms often do not care of this kind of PR. >Another prime example of this trend is Toshiba. Their sales of >laptops has been so hot, that they don't even bother to send >brochures on request. The time of reckoning comes when the products >no longer sell themselves, and customer support steps in as a >factor. Well about four weeks ago I found two bugs in Turbo Vision that had to do with SizeLimits methods on Windows. Apparently while the method SizeLimits can be overwritten, the Borland developers never expected anybody to use it. One of the problems is that Zooming in and out didn't take into account that someone might not let a window grow to be as big as its owner(The Desktop). The result was that the Zoom icon didn't change and the window could not be zoomed back in. Now I've been programming for about 16 years and finally really believe that I can determine what is my bug and what is a bug in the tool I use. I called Borland since its somewhat of a local call and my company pays the phone bill. I submitted the bug and actually got the Support Tech to replicate it. He then submitted it to Development. My problem was that I was going to a major conference in Las Vegas and my program didn't work correctly. These bugs caused the Windows not to zoom correctly, and if someone noticed it they would think my product didn't work right, they would not know it was a bug in the development tools. Well a week later I sent a fax off to the Tech who helped me. No response. A week later I called and demanded to talk to the head of Tech Support. I told him that i needed the bug fixed, that if people say my funny window, not only would I look bad but Borland would look bad. He then explained the bug fix cycle. It was a nice explanation but I told him waiting six months or a year to get a fix was unacceptable. I basically said that I would go higher and higher up the ladder until someone responed at Borland and would fix the bug. Luckily I had just purchased the runtime for Turbo Vision (everyone who uses Turbo Vision should buy it, for $99 bucks its educational). I then fixed the bugs and learned a lot in the process. I then sent the fixes to Borland to show them it was doable. Two days later I got a call from the supervisor to say that there was a patch for my bug and that it would be in the next revision, but that he would send it to me. Now I don't know if they where embarressed because I fixed the bug or they realized I was serious about demanding it be fixed, but I got some action out of them. Of course I found a bug that showed up on the display, they don't have workarounds. Bugs should be fixed and they should be fixed in a timely manner. Revisions should be sent frequently, and I'd be willing to pay some fee to cover update costs. Microsoft is the worst at this and I no longer buy Microsoft products. To summarize, support is important, I think Borland is doing a good job, it could be more thorough. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seth Olitzky seth@wet ...!sun!hoptoad!wet!seth ----------------------------------------------------------------------------