Of course, I have to chime in here. I guess I can't think of many censored message boards. I see nothing wrong with people's venting here.
I would argue over the years that the message board's positive comments have far outweighed the negative. I have never seen a message board as helpful as this one and with the cameraderie it engenders.
It is always good to have free feedback even if it may cost a customer or two. Because in the long run, support will get better because of it. Just read Trish's post. Some of these changes MAY have come from some negative comments.
The board has made it through more than a few threads of discontent. Remember the EULA wars that actually resulted in a few users' leaving. Many were upset, but if I recall many more defended it. I know I was one of the leading proponents of the EULA.
I have only needed support once, and it was very good. As I recall I did post a compliment right away, which was followed by compliments from four or five other users.
We all understand how much more work it is to support a change to SQL and all of the platforms it must run on. But, the increased support needs to be considered at that time. Most everyone here knows that my programmer and I make a few small applications for helping with the daily work of medicine. We have given a few versions out for free -- well all for free. Why? Because we can't support it, so we say that right up front. Although we do what we can.
I must say I agree with everything Osler has said. I don't know what the best way to do support is. Per incident or whatever. And, no, I don't think it is unfair if one pays for a year of support and doesn't use it. That's just part of software and support. But, I do know that things like servers with Dell or HP have choices of warranty service up front. I was thinking I wouldn't need the 5-hour 24-7 onsite service, but it was great when the server went down. Having an HP tech at the office at 2PM the same day with a new CPU installed by 3:45PM was a sight to behold.
My only disagreement would be that deleting a signature file out of a folder should not corrupt one's database.
