Posted: 04/28/2004 1:32:59 PM

Reply Quoted  

You all have been taken by swindlers. There is no in-portal. The site has been disassembled. We have all been ripped off. I know I will get the same response we all have had. It is coming: be patient. Well after 2 years, we are all frustrated.

I know I have to trust the programmers, but after years of no news, you have to wonder.

Posted: 05/06/2004 2:47:44 PM

Reply Quoted  

Let's look at a timeline, shall we:

April 2, 2002: In-Portal is announced
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1602
"Our first release is scheduled for June 1st, 2002. It will contain a Link Management System (In-link), a discussion forum (In-bulletin) and, of course, the In-portal kernel itself. We believe this will address all of the current questions and requests for integration of In-link with a forum software."

May 29, 2002: In-Link 2.2.8 is released

June 10, 2002: A delay
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1861
"Right now the public release date got pushed back to August 1st. I will check in here every once in a while to update everybody on the current status"

July 19, 2002: Another delay
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1955
"While we are planning to be releasing the BETA version soon, we are reluctant to call any specific dates. Out best estimate is towards the end of August. Which means, that most likely, the public version will be available sometime in September or October. Again, having postponed many of the release dates before, we are reluctant to call any specific dates. One thing that I can tell you for sure – we are much closer now that we were before"

BTW, you have to read this entire post. Laughable is the only word I can come up with.

Sep 2, 2002: 2.2.10 is released

Nov 8, 2002: Screenshots are released with the following statement:
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2237
"More screenshots are on the way later today, meanwhile I will gladly start addressing any question that you might have."

No more screenshots are released and no questions are addressed

Nov 20, 2002: Some questions from users. The tap dancing continues
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2266

Dec 19, 2002: Questions and the first of many defensive responses
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2329
"The plan is to release a BETA by the end of the year. No idea if it is going to happen yet, but we are on track for at least a completed ALPHA version by the end of the month and then a BETA early January"

"Frankly, I don't see why we should be "proving" this to anybody"
"So I will ask everybody who is impatient to remain clam, don’t cause panic and make false statements. These actions will not change anything and certainly will not make the release come any sooner. Everybody is welcome to visit us in our office, take a tour of the development area and see for themselves what’s true and what’s not."
"We cannot promise anything at this point, but our best estimate currently is the following:
- Alpha Jan 3rd
- Beta Jan 17th-20th
- Public release in February, based on Beta results
Again, this is an estimate based on our current production schedule.

Hope this will wrap up the timeframe discussions "

Jan 11, 2003: Update
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2329
"Sadly, we are running late again, this time not by very much. Our new expected beta dates are the 24-27th of January.

Sorry about this delay, but I hope another week will not break your hearts after 6 months of patience"

Feb 20, 2003: An update!
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2431
"To answer the recent questions on the forum regarding the status of In-portal.

We have not forgotten about the program

We are working on it every day; the program is about to enter the beta phase (which I hoped would have happened at the beginning of the month, but has been since delayed).

All of the core functionality for the first release has been completed long time ago. We have experienced problems with the administrator interface, which have been solved this month. The admin interface is finally finished, and we are cleaning it up as I am typing this...."

"I will post more as the development progresses, please continue to be patient."


March 23, 2003: Moving forward?
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2329&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
"As I mentioned in the topic above, the beta is in full motion, and we will be moving to the last step of testing the front end soon."

April 1st, 2003: Same post
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2431
"Stay tuned for more updates next week"

April 1st 2003: Question regarding In-Portal and In-Link3 (HA!)
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2475
"I want to buy In-Link within a next few days. But I don't want to install In-Link2 and after a few days install In-Portal & In-Link3. I'd like to know the released date of In-Portal & In-Link3. If it'll be in next few (1-2) weeks so I will wait."

Answer:" "

April 8th, 2003: Questions from the community, unanswered
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2485

May 16th, 2003: Update request, no answer
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2572

May 22nd, 2003: Again, more questions, no answers
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2587

June 11th, 2003: Update request, no answer
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2634

June 11th, 2003: An update. The economy is to blame
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2635

June 17th, 2003: In-Portal is spotted!
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2646
"Indeed this client's site is based on In-portal. However, it would be wrong to say that it is "In-portal in action", since the site was so heavily customized, that only the general structure remained from In-portal. Most of the front-end functionality was custom written, as well as the majority of the user/subscription management code."

July 31, 2003: Request for update
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2731
"We did make the mistake of announcing In-portal too soon, creating false expectations and not delivering them. But please also see the other side of the coin - how could we completely hide the fact that we are working on a new product, and at the same time continue discussing the future of In-link? We were constantly bombarded with requests for new features, improvements, etc. - and most of them were like "when, when, when? Can I please have this, this and that?" So we listened, and the answer to these questions became In-portal... The trouble is, it turned out to be a lot more complicated task than we expected, and our development resources became scarce"

Same, thread, Aug 13, 2003
"Since In-portal is not going to be ready fast enough, I think we will work on the next In-link version, 2.3.0 release."

Sep 6, 2003: 2.3.0 is released

Mar 3, 2004
http://support.intechnic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3035
"Let me start saying, that this forum is viewed on a daily basis."

Translated: "While we are reading, we are not responding"

Forgive the length of this post, however, I think it goes to show that we are going on two years since the announcement of In-portal and the patience of the In-Link community. What has happened is that those of us who felt the support was the key feature in In-Link is all but gone. No updates to a product we paid for. If you want to quit supporting In-Link, say so. It happens all the time in the software industry. Support for old software (which, BTW, In-Link is now an old product with no updates for 8 months and the last release and that release, though labeled 2.3 could have easily been 2.2.3) is discontinued all the time. The key differentiator that In-Link had over all the competition out there was the great customer support. That is gone and is something that can NEVER be recovered. If and when In-Portal comes out, I suggest that you delete all the postings from here because once people read the crappy way you have dealt with your customers over the last two years, you would be hard pressed (in my mind, anyway) to GIVE me the software, much less pay for it. The excuses, the defensive posture of actually having to answer to PAYING customers, it has grown old and tired. Two years we have been wading through the BS regarding In-Portal. I said before, I will say it again, you have lost NUMEROUS customers, your reputation is sullied and you cannot blame the economy for that. You can only blame yourselves.

As Ripbud stated, I wish you the best and I do hope that the "revolutionary" In-Portal appears from the vapor and makes you rich because you will have done it at the expense of your previously faithful, previously happy, previously PAYING customers.

-Vince

Posted: 05/06/2004 10:43:49 PM

Reply Quoted  

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]Guys, I am really trying to understand something here... (Honestly, not trying to BS or come up with more sad excuses)[/quote:93dfe28742]

You said it yourself. More sad excuses

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
The question that puzzles me is the following:
"Why does every poster who complains about In-portal think that Intechnic owes them?" I can elaborate, but I think you get the point.
[/quote:93dfe28742]

No. We are not saying that Intechnic owes us In-Portal. Intechnic owes us what we paid for. The core of the issue is the fact that the product you DO have, that we HAVE paid for is being neglected for a 2 year old vaporware product.

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
Let's pretend that the In-portal announcement has never been made on that April 2, 2002 (as I have admitted before - it was a mistake). What would have changed? [/quote:93dfe28742]

Would be nice, but like the old saying goes, you can't go back to just holding hands.

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
Try to look at it this way: In-link has been out now for almost 3 years. We have always paid a lot of attention to its support and customer service, and we hear almost no complaints about that – but we do hear a lot of grateful and encouraging comments. One can argue about the frequency of releases, and features that are included. But compare the current version to other products on the market – and you will see that we are still competitive. Maybe it’s not the best, but certainly not a dead product, and certainly not an abandoned one.[/quote:93dfe28742]

Grateful and encouraging comments? This is from new users who don't know any better. I think you have had your head in the sand, or In-Portal, if you think you are still competitive. Take a look at the market you are currently in, as well as the portal market, and you will see you are NOT as competitive as you once were. As for being out for three years, in reality, you should say two years as there hasn't been a major update in that time. You are selling year old technology. Biggest issue you have with In-Link is the lack of search engine compatibility and it isn't like this is a new issue. Every time it comes up, the standard answer is "Wait for In-Portal". Well, we have waited, we have dealt with an inferior product as far as SEO is concerned while waiting for this holy grail of In-Portal.

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
What we promise about In-link, we deliver. And that’s what the users are paying us for, when they purchase In-link licenses. If anything, they should be happy about this In-portal situation – the support expiration term of 1 year has been “indefinitely” extended until In-portal comes out. So they get free, unlimited support and updates on In-link, instead of 1 year as we originally planned.[/quote:93dfe28742]

You have got to be kidding me! You have some nerve sitting there telling us we should be happy about this situation. This is typical of the defensive demeanor Intechnic has taken with those of us who have been around since 1.6.

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
No one has paid us as much as a cent for what has been coined here “vaporware” In-portal. And yes, we intended to deliver In-portal when we announced it. Then we ran into problems with features, programming resources and all kinds of things – but there was no way back after the initial announcement. So we stuck with it, and today it’s a 90-95% finished software. Anybody on the beta team can confirm it – it’s running on the site specifically set up for that. We continue working on it every day, little by little. And I don’t know when we are going to be 100% done and ready to release. That’s all there is to it.[/quote:93dfe28742]

You may want to look up the definition of vaporware. From webopedia.com:

"vaporware
A sarcastic term used to designate software and hardware products that have been announced and advertised but are not yet available."

Pavel, In-Portal is the epitome of vaporware, not so-called. No, we haven't paid a cent for In-Portal. What we HAVE paid for is continued development of a product that we paid for. That hasn't happened. The only thing worse than the In-Portal vaporware is the In-Link3 vaporware.

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
To me, this In-portal complaining is like complaining to BMW that their cars suck, lack technical innovation and are unsafe – because they have not yet delivered a hydrogen-powered vehicle to the public. "It’s been in the research for years!" "They have prototypes of it running now, yet none are being sold to the general public!" "How dare they do this to their loyal drivers???" "What a waste of money on a newly purchased 2004 745 iL!!!"[/quote:93dfe28742]

Last I checked, BWM didn't announce that they had a hydrogen powered car, announced a date when one would be available, nor have they stopped development altogether (as far as their buyers can tell) of the old, reliable gasoline powered model that got them where they are in the first place. THAT is the analogy you should be looking at.

[quote:93dfe28742="Pavel"]
Unfortunately, we are not as smart as BMW (and don’t have their PR resources ) – we have made promises and announcements that we haven’t kept. But as far as I can see that’s our only fault in this entire story…
[/quote:93dfe28742]

You just summarized this entire issue in that last sentence. You seem to think that is your only fault. That is obvious. The bottom line, Pavel and the rest of the Intechnic staff, you once had the best thing on the market. You made a horrible business decision to cast your entire lot on a new product. That, obviously, was your decision to make. The fact that you are trying to blame the users for this, that the only fault you have is the fact you made a couple of bad release announcements is nothing short of laughable. We did not make this stuff up. We are not asking for gold. It seems that the development group is not the only part of Intechnic that needs assistance. Your corporate communications group could use an overhaul as well.

Now, I am sure that at this point I am persona non grata with Intechnic. That is fine because I have watched this once great product, once great support (and by support, I mean more than simply answering questions on a message forum. I mean actual, continual development) go straight down the crapper because of a pie-in-the-sky idea to reinvent the portal script market. Others may simply sit idly by, but I for one will not have my intelligence insulted by you or anyone else with comments stating it isn't Intechnic's fault we are pissed off. It most certainly is and the holier than thou attitude when you are pressed for information is sad and, as you should have learned by now, simply adds fuel to the fire.

-V

Posted: 05/07/2004 9:25:04 AM

Reply Quoted  

Vince and other severely disappointed,

If you really want to discuss this further, please call me at my office, or send me email/PM with a number and time best to reach you. This online discussion is going nowhere as far as I am concerned. I will be happy to debate this further on individual bases over the phone; forum just does not seem to be the right medium to solve this - when I post "A" and replies come in as "No, B".... So once again, I'd like to conclude this thread, and anybody who wants to peruse it - call or PM me.

(i did find "persona non grata" and "holier than thou" parts particularly funny and unsubstantiated, i must say)

---

Jason, thanks for your comments. I agree with every one of them, and it's good to see that there are other opinions among the users on this subject!

Cheers,
Pavel

Posted: 05/09/2004 8:21:51 AM

Reply Quoted  

The core problem here is not that anybody spent money on a product that wasn't delivered. The problem is that Intech has demonstrated poor customer relations by getting up expectations on a new product, that in turn caused alot of people who would otherwise have searched elsewhere to delay their search, in hopes of staying loyal to Intech.

Then, after committing that snafu, Intech personnel have been relatively cavalier about dealing with us on the delays, throwing it in our faces that we haven't paid anything, and therefore we are owed nothing. While technically true, I think a company owes it's customers more diligence when they announce a product and fail to deliver it, whether I've paid for it or not.

As for me, I've already moved on, because I don't believe in rewarding a company that can demonstrate such a high level of incompetence, and then blame the customers for being upset. It shows a complete lack of leadership and customer relations skills, and I'm not sure I would want to risk my money on another product from such a company.

I now use Focal Media's Powerseek for my directories and it's been great. It gets crawled in Google like crazy, and it's been a blessing. The company actually does what it says it's going to do, and is very pleasant about resolving glitches.

I think the remedy here is to look elsewhere and not reward this company with your business, knowing how they prefer to mistreat their customers. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Focal Media would offer some dramatic discount to recruit us all over to their product. Maybe we should look into that. Then, Intech could take as long as they like developing the product that will never come.

Warmest regards,


Glenn