RE: Software Vendors -- MIDRANGE-L

Patrick,
Very humbly, may I suggest that the model you use would break down if the
customer insists that every thing that they don't like is a bug.  Anybody
who's ever replaced a competitor's package has heard "But we always did it
THIS way when we used ZZZSoft."  Sadly, "bug" or "software problem" is
rarely spelt out in the contract, and the vendor has an unpleasant handful
of choices: Make the mods and eat the cost, make the mods and charge for
them, don't make the mods and explain that "this is the way it works".  When
the customer thinks "their" package shouldn't need mods in the first place,
which of these options will please the customer the most?

What a bug is should be reasonably clear in the contract language: any
deviation from proper operation.  How many packages have good enough specs
to be able to make out what that means?  In reality, "bugs" exist on a fuzzy
dim spectrum, ranging from white messages (divide by zero, record lock, etc.
- clearly a bug) to report spacing/level breaks (less clear, especially if
the totals are correct) to missing reports/displays ("ZZZSoft had a report
to do that" - incorrect expectations?) to user interface questions ("why do
we need to go through 3 menus to reach this?") to corrupted data ("but WHY
can't we run the month close in the middle of the month?  We want to see how
we're doing!"- user error) to ease of use ("I can't find the purge menu -
where is it?" - the documentation tells you that each sub-system has it's
own purge option, unlike ZZZSoft).  A user may legitimately argue that all
of these examples are bugs, whereas a vendor might legitimately argue that
only white messages are bugs.

If this were Utopia, the vendor and customer would negotiate the "what's a
bug" question before the sale.  The customer would also make every effort to
let the line people understand that the new package is replacing ZZZSoft
because it's better, not because some executive had a whim.  The customer
would view the vendor as a partner, not an opponent and vice versa.  Ahhh,
if only we were in Utopia...

Humbly, quietly and very respectfully,

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Patrick Townsend 
> Sent: Monday, November 29, 1999 2:04 PM
> To:   MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      Re: Software Vendors
> 
-snip-

> And I can't imagine a software vendor charging you for 
> consulting time to fix a software problem. I'd be inclined 
> to send the software back!
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