It’s Amazing What Vendors Call Support These Days
I know I shouldn't be surprised given the recent history I have had with software Vendors recently, but today was once again an eye-opener. I have known that an upgrade of a certain vendor's API was coming for many months. It took a lot of negotiations, explanations of the usage patterns, etc. to get to the point where things are all signed and executed so that we can actually get the software. Today was the day we could finally start the process of actually getting and using the new API.
It started out with the same problems I've come to expect from this vendor - the software was for Windows, Solaris, and Linux - yet in order to download it, you had to be running a Windows client app. Why? Why not just have a password-enabled web site where you can get the files? It seems that when you're charging what these cats are charging, you can invest the modest sum to get someone on your staff to figure this out. Nope. It was a sign of things to come.
After getting the packages I asked the 'installation specialist' what I needed to know during the install. What questions would be asked, etc. so that I could have all the proper data available to me before the install started so that I wouldn't have to start over or back up during the process. Also, I like to have all this documented so that when I do it on the next box, I'm ready to go and the delays will be minimal.
'No problems, it's self-explanatory' he says.
Wrong. Several times I had to email him to get the specifics of what the question is asking for - things like the version of the API to install? What's the difference in the versions? Why choose one over the other? Things like this are essential in an install app, and there's no documentation - nothing, to help.
I get him on the phone and work my way through the install questions. Then I'm passed off to an 'installation technician' that is going to assign a login and certificate for the installed software. I'm asked if I have my key fob - What key fob?
Clearly, they have forgotten to tell me I needed this, what role it plays in the software, and so on. It's a ridiculous situation. A simple text file would have explained all the steps and why each was necessary. I'm not sure if I'm the first that's asked these questions, but I'm betting not. Why I had to get as many people on the phone and have them explain these things to me I do not know. In the end, I'm not really sure that I have the real explanation, but it appears that the software is working, so I'm willing to take a few things on faith. But how easily this all would have been avoided with a simple installation guide.
Once I got that working, the production box running the old version of the software stopped working! I was not surprised. They had made so many mistakes like this in the past that it wasn't an amazing surprise that by turning on the new version on the development box, they disables the old version on the production box. I had to call back and yell that they had taken my production box offline and they needed to get it back up ASAP. 45 mins later, it was back up, and I was able to tell my users things were back to normal.
The software upgrade itself is a welcome upgrade. There are fewer libraries to link and they are all shared libs as opposed to static libs - which is nice. So it's clear that someone was thinking when they did this, but it's also clear they didn't give a lot of thought to the converting users. There were no code changes - just a recompile and re-link and we're good to go. But what an ordeal. It's amazing what some vendors call support these days.