Why, why, why?

[benatan]

I can't describe how upset I am that Dantz released the 5.0 final just a couple of days before the betas expired. Like a lot of folks, I was using the betas in production. I ordered 5.0 from my reseller (to get the academic discount we're due) and it took over a week for us to work out that Dantz *refused* to fulfill this order onlilne. And on top of that the reseller copies were delayed. By the time I worked out what all the problems were, it was late last week and my X clients hadn't been backed up for two weeks. I then bought a download copy straight from Dantz to avoid further delay, but it was too late.

 

 

 

I've lost 4 gigs of data and the root of the problem is that Dantz gave almost no overlap between the beta and the final release, and then made it way too difficult for me to buy the final version, too.

 

 

 

If you see yourself as a provider of mission-critical software, how can you put your customers in a position like this? What would it have cost Dantz to post an updated beta good for another 30 days to see us through? I am deeply disappointed.

 

 

 

 

[SteveW928]

>>>If you see yourself as a provider of mission-critical software, how can you put your customers in a position like this? What would it have cost Dantz to post an updated beta good for another 30 days to see us through? I am deeply disappointed. >>>

 

 

 

 

 

That's a really good question. I agree with all you say. I doubt they will answer though, they seem to be avoiding all questions about why they did this.

 

 

 

The best they have offered is something about the beta not being tested, and 'protecting' us from not using it any longer.

 

 

 

-Steve

 

 

[IrenaS]

The Preview version that we released does not expire until tomorrow, more than a month after we released the final product.

 

 

 

The origianl "public beta" client was offered as a very interim solution to help protect, even in the smallest way, those who chose to upgrade to Mac OS X. Until very recently, though, this operating system didn't even provide functional support for backup software.

 

 

 

Perhaps our providing a public beta client for Mac OS X -- which we recommended not be relied on as a sole means of data protection -- helped those considering Mac OS X to disregard the fact that there was no real backup software available for that OS.

 

 

 

I understand that you're frustrated. If you're having problems, post specifics and track the issue.

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

Irena Solomon

 

Dantz Tech Support

 

 

 

 

[benatan]

The preview didn't help those of us with server boxes running 9. Yes, the 4.0 beta was imperfect and yes we knew we were on thin ice; but it generally worked better than nothing. Dantz helped a lot of folks who had no choice about having X clients out there. It was a good tool and seemed to be produced with the right motivation. I was grateful to Dantz for providing it. I'm smart enough to have read and heeded the warnings; it wasn't a perfect safety net, but it was there and now it is gone.

 

 

 

Like many people, I don't usually like to jump to x.0 products till the bugs are shaken out. I knew the limitations of the beta and could live with them. But I was forced to move to the 5.0 version too fast and now I've found that there are serious bugs in it (it is crashing my ASIP servers every night, due to a well-reported bug).