Posted: 08/07/2003 7:44:00 PM

Reply Quoted  

I think you guys should have concentrated your time in getting all the bugs out of the current version and release a link indexing script that is more powerful than any other script out there. Instead of getting yourself involve in a big project that you cannot handle. Most of the request here were about new feature with inlink itself. No one requested a new forum script. There is plenty of them out there and I will be really impressed if your forum will as feature rich as Vbulletin or phpbb.

I have never seen a company that cannot even give an estimated time line of when their product is going to be released.

And what bother me the most with Pavel is getting upset and frustrated every time someone ask about in-portal. I think it is your duty as the CEO of inlink to keep your client informed of a long waited product and get their money worth.

I am making my switch this weekend and going with a different script. I really hate doing this but at the same time I really hate dealing with a company that cannot fulfill its promises.

I do admit that Stoyan was a great help to me and a lot of people in this forum in resolving a lot of the issues and customizing a lot of the features users requested. Thank you Stoyan.

Also, I hope you guys get your head together and fulfill your clients needs and release in-portal. A lot of people here bought inlink thinking that in-portal is going to be released soon, and I was one of them.

Good luck.

Posted: 08/07/2003 11:25:00 PM

Reply Quoted  

I have been on the sidelines for quite awhile now, reading the on-going saga that is In-Portal. I am the biggest supporter of In-Link out there and due to some things beyond my control, the project I was using it for fell to the wayside. I am currently working on another project, still using In-Link, but that is not the point of this post.

I think the biggest issue people are facing is the fact that development of In-Link, the product that we paid for, has ceased in favor of a new product that has been announced for almost a year and yet, for all intents and purposes, is vaporware. An EXISTING customer base, who purchased product on the good faith that development would be continued, has been left out in the cold. From a business perspective, you have alienated those that you would want in your camp when in-portal is released: previous customers.

Now, I understand to a certain extent, the reasoning behind this. A new product, from all the PR that has come out (or been rehashed over and over), that will be/could be/should be the greatest thing in the portal industry. Biggest issue: you (intechnic) have set expectations outrageously high regarding in-portal. This thing had better be bug-free (which we know is all but impossible) when released and be everything you have said and then some because you have taken what was a great product (in-link) and basically ceased all development. It is going on 1 year since there have been any updates to the core product your business is built on. I know you do development work among other things, but the majority of people who know of intechnic know you because of in-link and the majority of the majority (nice, huh: :smile: ) feel, for lack of a better word, betrayed. You set a standard: From October 2001 through Septmeber of 2002, there were 14 releases (including all .x.x releases) of in-link. Your reputation was built on what made you different: support and product development. The support still seems to be as good as ever. I, and it appears others, wish the same could be said for the development. For what it's worth, the suggestion I would make is this: put in-portal development on hold for a month or so. At this point, another month isn't going to matter. Take some of those development resources, go through the Next Generation forum and create a list of things that the USERS (read: customers) are looking for, determine what updates/changes can be done in a reasonable amount of time and release an update to in-link. The time lost on in-portal development would be minor compared to the renewed loyalty and refreshed impression your EXISTING customers would have.

Just my $0.02.

V

Posted: 08/08/2003 10:00:00 AM

Reply Quoted  

Tariqali, I am also curious what product it is, if you don't mind please send me a PM or email.

Others:
Please believe me, I understand where the frustration is coming from. I am also quite frustrated - as a matter of fact, I am so tired of being frustrated that I got used to it :sad: Some of the suggestions that I see here are not feasible from the business perspective (like releaseing the In-link module before the others are ready). Some are challenging technically. And I don't like to discuss either in great detail, because this is a public form and I cannot talk about all of the reasons behind what we are doing here.

One idea I would like to discuss more, though - releasing an upgrade to In-link 2. Let's conduct a quick poll here:

All those, who read this In-portal thread,
please post who is in favor of or against releasing a minor In-link2 upgrade at the cost of several weeks delay of In-portal. (I know, "several weeks" sounds silly after we have been late by about a year, but for me it is a real question - so far we haven't stopped working on In-portal even for a day).
Also please include a *brief* reason behind your vote.

Thanks,

_________________
Pavel Kharitonov

Project Manager
Intechnic Corporation
http://www.intechnic.com

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Pavel on 2003-08-08 10:02 ]</font>

Posted: 08/08/2003 11:18:00 AM

Reply Quoted  

"minor In-link2 upgrade"

I think we would need some details as to what that would include.

Posted: 08/08/2003 12:55:00 PM

Reply Quoted  

I would be happy with a upgrade to in-link that made the template system more like Hyperseeks, below is a description of the features. I would be happy to give you access to my hyperseek site Pavel so you can see what I'm talking about.

Let me just add this, Hyperseek is not cheap software ... and in-link seems to work just as well if not better in most areas of the software, it's just lacking in the ability to easly customize the look.

Thanks
Mike

http://www.gamescanner.com <-hyperseek
http://www.pengos.net <-In-link

Static or Live Output
Statically HTML pages load much faster than the "Live" CGI Generated pages. For this reason alone, using Hyperseek's built-in HTML Generator is worth it. Factor in the fact that you can alter the META and IMG ALT information separately for each category and subcategory to make your Search Engine "submittable" to the biggies, and you have a sure-fire traffic grabber.

Template Based Pages
Every word on every page generated by Hyperseek 2000 is generated by a template that you design. You can define a separate template for every page, category, report, etc. generated by the system, or you can define one "master" template that everything will share. Templates use our exclusive "PLUGIN" system to give you total control over the layout and display of your search engine.

[So when I want a search box in hyperseek I just add <!-- SEARCH:Basic --> in my template]

Template Based Everything
In addition to page templates, Hyperseek 2000 uses templates to give you the power to define how individual listings are drawn. You decide which database fields to show and how to show them, using any HTML you'd like. You can define an unlimited number of "Listing Templates", and assign a different template for each listing in the search engine to use! In addition to listing templates, you are able to define templates for category listings, and featured sites.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: tundra96 on 2003-08-08 12:56 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: tundra96 on 2003-08-08 13:02 ]</font>