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A warning to everyone

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Kari Salo
(@kari-salo)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3
Topic starter  

This complaint applies to the Windows version of Photopia Director.

The development of this application seems to be over.
The app contains a record number of pugs, and is just a waste of time working with this.
Support does not respond to messages, updates have not arrived for a long time, only sad users who try to write about bugs write on the forum.

The only thing that works is a monthly debit from your bank account.

Dear developers! It’s time to come out of the closet and tell customers the truth. What is the real situation and how are you going to continue to fix the bugs.


   
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Jennifer Clark
(@vidqueen)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 86
 

Hi Kari,

Were you a ProShow user before this?  I'm just curious because Photodex would go a year, or more with no updates, then force you to pay for an upgrade to just get all the fixes.  Photopia just released the last update of their program 23 days ago.

23 days ago.  The previous update.....15 days before that.  The update before that one...30 days.

That's insanely fast for program updates to be released to the public.  We on the Beta Team have to test all of those updates before the public gets them.  We get builds to test on a regular basis that you don't know about. So, the people you seem to be mad at is....us.  Because we're not testing fast enough for you.

Sorry, but I would much rather this program get thoroughly tested before they make a new build public. That takes time. Impatience has no place in software development.  That's when bad things happen.  Nobody wants that.


   
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Joshua
(@joshua)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1196
 

@kari-salo

We understand that you're frustrated with Photopia Director.  Let me assure you that development on our software is decidedly NOT over.  We have a lot of great new features / improvements currently being worked on and of course a number of bug fixes in the pipeline which, as Jennifer stated, take time to put through internal / beta testing before they're ready for public release.

You mentioned that 'Support does not respond to messages', which is a concern we want to address directly.  I see only one message from you in our system, having been sent in as a "Problem Report", so if you've sent in any other messages please let us know.  Note that the "Problem Report" system is primarily reserved for sending shows (and other content) to us as part of an ongoing Customer Support interaction.  Please use the Contact Us form on our website to reach us more quickly in the future.  I'll be getting back to you personally (via eMail) to address the "Problem Report" we have now.

Thank you.


   
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William von Boecklin
(@wvonb)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 4
 

I am a business analyst and I work with many different types of software applications. I purchased the Director version to replace the ProShow Producer software I had. My hope was to expand our business and provide both personal and business presentations to clients. I have encountered numerous issues which makes me wonder what your quality assurance process is. Part of my business is testing computer-based applications and web-based applications. I have read some of the forum issues and I would agree that Producer is an easier interface to use and is definitely was cheaper. I think there is a good basic application that just needs to be refined to be a great product. I would suggest that you have Beta users test the application prior to releasing a version to the public.


   
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Kari Salo
(@kari-salo)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3
Topic starter  

@joshua

Thank you for your feedback.
Obviously, you give your own support to each other regardless of the end users. One would think that the primary benefit of all would be the reliable operation of the application, and only then the addition of new features. Now it seems to be different, developing a new one even though the previous ones do not work reliably. The application version 1.0.526 contains a lot of bugs. In my career based on 50 years of experience, this number of bugs could very well get into the Guinness World Records book. Now is the time to change direction. I recommend that you take a break from developing new features and put the app in as reliable a condition as ProShow was at the time.
Jennifer also seems to be developing a lot of components for sale, so she needs to be aware of the different bugs. But is there time to report of them? Your own business is waiting for new products.
Joshua would like me to report the bugs I found. Yes, this is what I would do if it were one or two bugs, but when there are so many that my time is not enough to reporting, and on the other hand I´m the end user, so my job is not to act as beta-tester.
Good habits do not include putting paying end users to do testers work !
Remember: First the bugs, then new features!


   
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Tony Stoeckly
(@stoeckly)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 4
 

@kari-salo

I agree  lets get back where presenter ended  and then go further   tony 


   
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Jennifer Clark
(@vidqueen)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 86
 

@kari-salo

Hi Kari,

I report any bugs I find directly to the Photopia team as soon as I come across them.  I'm not sure what you meant by "is there time to report them?"...it takes about 30 seconds to report a bug (I just shoot off an email or send in a problem report), so yes there is time for that.  

I'm not a software developer, myself, so I may be speaking out of turn here, but I think its very possible to fix bugs AND add new features at the same time.  I feel like that would be similar to someone telling me that I can either record tutorials OR create new products, but I can't do both at the same time.  Actually, its totally possible to do both at the same time without sacrificing the quality of either one.  I do it all the time 🙂

Just my two cents 🙂

Jennifer


   
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Joshua
(@joshua)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1196
 

@kari-salo

We understand your frustration.  Rest assured that we're continuing to resolve issues as they're reported, in addition to those that are discovered entirely in house.  While it's fair to say that there are more bugs in Photopia at this time than we would like, the situation is not entire dissimilar to ProShow.  This doesn't excuse any issues but should provide some context.  Note that many issues are also system / usage specific and thus experiences with the program can vary quite a bit.

Perhaps the most important detail to note is that we can only resolve the issues of which we're aware.  While we're working diligently, every day, to find new issues that need to be resolved, customer feedback remains an instrumental part of that process.  Reports of this nature helped to make ProShow the program that it became and they're having the same effect here at Photopia, which is to say that we're so very grateful to everyone who has taken time out of their day to report a problem.  Programs with strong community support are simply better in the long run and that is absolutely where we're headed with Photopia.

We encourage everyone who runs into a particular problem with Photopia Creator / Director for the first time to report that issue, using the Contact Us form on our website.  It's much better to report an issue that we already know about than to avoid reporting one we haven't seen, under the assumption that it must already be known.

Thank you to everyone who has, or will, report an issue to us.  Your support helps everyone in the community and your efforts are greatly appreciated.


   
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Kari Salo
(@kari-salo)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3
Topic starter  

Jennifer, you've done a great job as a graphic designer. Your site <a href=" removed link " target="true"> removed link represents a model example of how products should be presented online 😍 . The pages contain a complete description of the features of the products spiced up with a video presentation 👍 .

Instead, what you have commented on in your previous post regarding doing two jobs at the same time may be true in your profession. It’s scary that you’re advocating similar work in a programming environment. Here you are 100% wrong. There is no uniformity in graphic work and programming. Programmers who work on some partition in the code are not always immediately able to see out what consequences small changes may have elsewhere. As a result, all work and changes must be carefully tested and not be accompanied by the addition of new features.

Dear developer team, you are doing a good job but test what you have done. It cannot be left to end users alone. I cannot agree with Joshua’s view of asking end users to report bugs. This idea supports the view that programmers develop, end-users test and report. That should not be the case.

Photopia is a good and advanced product, but only if it works reliably. Now it suffers from a huge lack of reliability, which is why it should be saved by eliminating the bugs that have occurred so far. Otherwise, it will remain a toy for children 🍕 . Those who want to use more advanced features, will not use it and will disappear.


   
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William von Boecklin
(@wvonb)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 4
 

@kari-salo

I am a business systems analyst who has been in the software industry as a developer, analyst, and quality assurance tester for almost thirty years. I fully support the development of applications based on SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) methodologies. Simply put this is the process of developing software and implementing changes to a delivered product in a systematic fashion. There should be design documents that provide a comprehensive detailed description of the complete functionality of an application. Developer A may have developed code for a particular function. Developer B should be able to read the specifications for Developer A's code and understand how it was coded. Quality Assurance should then test to ensure that the code, original or modified is tested as per the requirements documents. Enhancements can be implemented once the core product has been tested, released to the public and any existing bugs have been rectified. Enhancements can be implemented once they have been properly vetted - are they feasible, what is the impact of the enhancement, how long will it take to implement the enhancement.  Yes, developers must test the code that they execute but it is also important to have a quality assurance team that fully regression tests the application - the application is fully tested to ensure any new changes do not affect the existing functionality of the application.

I have tested the application as a user and I think the application has the potential to be a very good tool with respect to creating powerful slide presentions. A delivered application should work as it was designed without having users reporting numerous defects. I hope Photopia will deliver a robust product which will in turn provide a good revenue stream. I do appreciate the responsive feedback that I have found lacking from many companies in the past.


   
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Joshua
(@joshua)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1196
 

@kari-salo

We understand the perspectives expressed in this thread, that software should be thoroughly tested and free from defects before being released to the public.  This is the goal of ever software company.  When we ask customers to report issues they run into, rest assured that this is NOT the implementation of our primary software testing strategy but an attempt to find / fix those issues not previously identified through existing internal / beta testing.

Many of the issues we see reported by customers end up being intermittent, content / system specific, or the result of interference from other applications (ex. file access restrictions imposed by anti-virus software).  While we would love to have a limitless supply of systems on which a limitless number of testers could run through [n] software / hardware / content configurations, that's obviously not a reality.  Things do slip through our testing processes, much as we try to avoid it, and we encourage customers to report these problems when observed.  Some issues can be fixed the same day they're reported, and released with the next update, while other issues require more testing / planning to make sure they're identified / resolved appropriately.  In each case the most important detail is identifying the errant behavior so it can be reproduced on our end and thus analyzed / understood to make sure any solution properly addresses the underlying cause.  If there is one thing worse than letting a bug slip through testing it's fixing the issue incorrectly.

It appears that Photopia is not working well on your end, having stated that it 'suffers from a huge lack of reliability', and we invite you to contact us directly on that subject.  Reaching out through the Contact Us form on our website or by eMail makes it easier to send files back and forth, as may become necessary, while sharing relevant details in a setting that protects customer privacy.  I see that we sent you an eMail about a week ago on this subject and invite you to reply to that message at your earliest convenience to continue the discussion.

As always, we remain committed to identifying / resolving reported issues in our ongoing effort to produce the best possible slideshow application and have the utmost gratitude for everyone who chooses to contribute to that process... except Photopia employees, who are just doing their jobs and need to get back to work.  8)


   
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Nancy Knott
(@nancy-knott)
Member
Joined: 2 years ago
Posts: 4
 

@joshua. Seriously, Joshua? I’ve reached out for help numerous times and nobody bothers to answer. And yes I did use the contact us form. Many times. Nothing. End of Story


   
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Keith Simonian
(@yaryman)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 36
 

I have Creator, not Director, so I am currently not suffering from bugs. 
That said, the first 6 months I had creator ( paying ) I felt like I was a beta tester. 
That said, the development of Creator ( and most likely Director ) has been glacial at best. 
Something so simple as selecting favorites for transitions, and then do another transition requires selecting favorites again and again. 
( I just opened my 4 year old version of Proshow Producer, and when selecting a transition, it goes to whichever group I selected before )

Just my suggestion. 
Stop this board from being moderated with every post requiring the moderator approving it. 
YES, you will get hit with a sh#tstorm of what people are unhappy about. ( and maybe some posts that should be moderated ) 

BUT THE QUESTION IS, DO YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE PROBLEMS, OR SHOVE THEM UNDER THE RUG. 

This forum is dead. It's dead because it takes days to have a comment approved. 
For the record, I typed in this post at 10:29 PM ( Pacific time ) on Monday March 21st. 


   
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Joshua
(@joshua)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1196
 

@nancy-knott

I see that you've sent in several requests for assistance in the last 48 hours, starting Sunday afternoon. We are not ignoring those requests and should have responses back to you very soon. If you sent in any requests prior to Sunday afternoon, please let us know so we can track down those messages.


   
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Joshua
(@joshua)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1196
 

@yaryman

Your critique of our development cycle is fair. We've been working on some big improvements and they're a little behind schedule, which has pushed other updates back a bit. We're working to get those updates released as soon as possible but we don't want to put out new features before they've been thoroughly tested and that takes time.

The issue with Category selection not being remembered after closing / opening the "Transitions" selection window is a known problem. I can't say when a solution will be available but I can tell you this is a high priority workflow issue on the short list to be fixed.

We don't actually moderate every forum post. What we do is require approval for posts from accounts that are NOT associated with an active Photopia Creator / Director subscription. This has nothing to do with negative feedback. What we found is that allowing posts from any account led to a massive influx of spam posts with dangerous links, among other undesired content. Protecting the forum from these spam posts is the primary reason we have post moderation at all.

Having said that, your account should have been associated with an active Photopia subscription. This was not the case for some reason and that has been corrected. Your future posts should not require moderation. Let us know if you find otherwise.


   
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