Author: Albert Silver
Date: 04:15:24 11/20/04
Go up one level in this thread
On November 20, 2004 at 03:08:02, Alex Schmidt wrote:
>Hello Albert,
>
>>I must admit that the idea of paying to beta-test freeware is a totally new
>>concept to me.
>
>You don't have to pay for testing the betas. Testers will get the betas for free
>of course. You are interested in the betas because of testing?
No, I'm not interested in them for that purpose. If I were to install one it
would be out of idle curiosity.
>Show me your
>contribution, I wasn't able to find one.
Obviously.
>
>Why aren't you happy?
I'm not happy because of the way you approach people. And quite clearly, you are
no different.
A few years ago, I began enjoying a similar project in a different game: GNU
Backgammon. When I started to use it, it had an official release version, about
a year old, and almost daily beta builds with new functions, and new bugs of
course. There is a mailing list to address the bugs, and suggestions. The
program was quite interesting, and probably one of the top 3 programs around,
which was an easier thing to do as the market is more limited. Eventually, after
a few months of testing it, I began making a few suggestions to the mailing
list, which I had subscribed to after the first week. The programmers were
exceedingly nice, even when the suggestions were impractical or they disagreed
completely. Eventually, I made a contribution of my own in the form of
documentation, and then later, via a new GUI design. Of course, this happened
because they were so nice to normal users, and took the time to explain things.
Even when they got the usual complaints that the program cheated, the world's
oldest complaint about backgammon programs from people with no understanding of
the game. Now it is the best program of the type period (http://www.gnubg.org),
in terms of strength and functionality.
Anyhow, I can say that their way of approaching and talking to people was
diametrically opposite to what I've seen in this thread. Arena is a great
program, and I've certainly spread the word regularly, however you guys have a
lot to learn about dealing with people IMHO, and I sincerely hope your customer
support for your commercial projects is *completely* different.
Albert
>You as non beta tester will get a well tested Arena once a
>year, hopefully nearly bugfree.
>
>Kind Regards,
>Alex
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