Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 12:45:29 06/03/03
Go up one level in this thread
On June 03, 2003 at 04:59:34, Mike Hood wrote:
>On June 03, 2003 at 00:05:46, Christophe Theron wrote:
>
>>On June 01, 2003 at 20:19:36, Mike Hood wrote:
>>
>>>On June 01, 2003 at 19:40:45, Mr j smith wrote:
>>>
>>>>On June 01, 2003 at 19:14:04, John Rice wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>I've updated my Fritz 7/8 and Shredder 7 engines several times, yet haven't
>>>>>heard a peep from Lokasoft or Christophe Théron about engine updates. Why is
>>>>>this?
>>>>
>>>>Unless there was some inherent flaw or bug with CT 15, which would explain why
>>>>an update would be offered, why should we get 'free' updates?
>>>
>>>According to Christophe Theron there is a GUI bug that prevents the playing
>>>style of Chess Tiger 15 being changed. See his message
>>>http://www.talkchess.com/forums/1/message.html?298903
>>>
>>>Let's hope there is soon an update to fix this bug.
>>
>>
>>
>>Yes, and as I said this is a GUI bug. The engine is not responsible for this bug
>>and does not have to be fixed.
>>
>>If you insist I think I can write a buggy engine and provide several free
>>updates.
>>
>>From what I see it seems that customers are more happy when you do that.
>>
>>
>>
>> Christophe
>
>Christophe, humour aside, there is a psychological problem here. Even if an
>engine is technically error free, plays strong chess and has an attractive
>playing style, users want something more. This "something more" is difficult to
>describe exactly. It can be very frustrating for the programmer trying to fulfil
>the user's need. The average user wants to have the feeling that the programmer
>cares about him and continues to think about him after the money has been laid
>on the table. This can be done by frequent updates, by regular newsletters sent
>to registered users, by online discussions, etc...
>
>I'm not saying that you ought to do any of these things. You're not Microsoft,
>so you can't invest infinite ressources into making users happy. All I'm saying
>is that you should be sympathetic when users start clamouring for "something
>more".
Chess Tiger 14 was a free update for Tiger 13 customers, so I think I know what
you are talking about.
I just want to point out that customers need to be more educated and let
companies who produce buggy software know that this is not good business
practice, and that releasing patches after patches does not erase the initial
mistake.
But I know that this is not the way it works.
At this time customers are treated as monkeys who are happy to grab any peanut
that is thrown to them.
If this is really what customers are, then producing buggy software in a hurry
and releasing patches is indeed the way to go.
But I wish people stand up some day and punish companies who treat them this
way.
Christophe
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