RE: Software Vendors -- MIDRANGE-L


The "bugs" I am referring to is when one of their program literally blows up
with a data decimal error.  That is truly a but.  Not a software glitz that
I
just don't happen to care for.

Deb

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
> [mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Buck Calabro
> Sent: Monday, November 29, 1999 3:44 PM
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: RE: Software Vendors
>
>
> 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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