Posted: 05/06/2004 2:46:42 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
