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Last post Author Topic: GemX - missing in action  (Read 266779 times)

doublewitt

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #175 on: October 13, 2007, 11:08 AM »
I think if they just said how it was going for them, we would have backed them up.

It's all in the approach... if you stick it out with your clients, they'll do the same for you, especially when you have a good product. I think we would have all backed them. But the way things were done, well, ...clients made their moves in other directions. It will be difficult for them to regain confidence.

vizacc

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #176 on: October 13, 2007, 02:30 PM »

Hi,
I downloaded a copy of their GemX do-Organizer.
It says: TRIAL EXPIRED.

I'm not able to find out what it does, other than what is on their website.

Here's what mine looks like
a1.png

a2.png

This is FREE software.


« Last Edit: October 13, 2007, 02:33 PM by vizacc »

vizacc

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #177 on: October 13, 2007, 02:39 PM »
I dunno if this is appropriate or not -

One of my lead developers is available today.
if you're available for a phone discussion and web-conference (via www.gotomeeting.com) can walk him through this GemX DoOrganizer and what it does, we can make a much, much better alternative.

Drop me an email today at "supportviz@vizacc dot com" with your name and phone number.

(note: This offer is valid until 10pm EST time Sunday)

vizacc

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #178 on: October 13, 2007, 08:08 PM »
I mean, 10pm EST time Sunday 14 Oct 2007.

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #179 on: October 15, 2007, 08:49 AM »
Hmmm... interesting. The refund was applied to my cc a week ago. TODAY I get a response (actually, SWREG) got a response from GemX saying: "The customer has already downloaded the full version, therefore delivery has already been completed." Still not a word to me - no response to my e-mails, DSM's, nothing... (SWREG forwarded their message to me). Idiot. This is like  the manufacturer of a car telling the dealer that as I've already taken delivery of it, any defect in design, such as that the model has a nasty habit of exploding when rear-ended, is irrelevant. SUPPORT YOUR PRODUCT, ASSHOLE! Sorry, I should just move on, given that I've gotten my refund already, but this really puts me over the edge. What about a note to me expressing regret that I've stopped using their products? I'm absolutely stunned.

zak11000

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #180 on: October 15, 2007, 10:38 AM »
He, he... We were trying to be nice - but I think your last post sums it up best...

SUPPORT YOUR PRODUCT, ASSHOLE!

sri

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #181 on: October 15, 2007, 10:45 AM »
I mean, 10pm EST time Sunday 14 Oct 2007.

Not sure where you got whatever that it is you got. It's not do-Organizer AFAIK. do-Organizer is not a freeware. It should look like this:

http://www.gemx.com/...doorganizer/home.png
<a href="https://sridharkatakam.com">My blog</a>

vizacc

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #182 on: October 15, 2007, 02:29 PM »
hi,
just a note here:

vizacc - is NOT the owners of GemX or distribute the product GemX Do-Organizer.

vizacc writes the free software HelpMaker.
The version in Development is HelpMaker version 8.0, which has similar features to GemX DoOrganizer.

The reason why I joined this thread is because vizacc competes against GemX in the E-Book (embedded E-Book) market.

Some kind person was willing to show was GemX Do-Organizer does via web-conference and had a nice discussion with him.
I did some analysis of that Do-Organizer program using the WinSpy utility supplied with Visual C++ v6.0.

Esentially,
Some parts of HelpMaker v8 is written in Delphi and some in Visual C++. We use a special method of compiling where we statically link
MSVCRT (Microsoft Visual C++ Run-Time Library) and MFC (Microsoft Foundation Code) together with Delphi code.

We use the same libraries such as "TNT (Troy's Unicode Controls)".

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


For example:
- The "Treesviews" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.
- HelpMaker's Treeview library is constant updated, hence, any bugs or issues our customers have with the Treeview is fixed and updated.

- The Calendar and Planner found in GemX was ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ .
- HelpMaker's Calendar and Planner library is custom-made, and goes far beyond what GemX does.

- GemX database system .... I won't discuss that...
- HelpMaker database I/O library connects to every large and well-know database vendor in the market.

For the record:
- Vizacc "used to use" that Treeview library, that Planner library, that Calendar library, that WordProcessor library, and many libraries that GemX uses.
- Vizacc don't use them +++++++++++++ libraries .

The reason why I hijacked this thread is because:
- Vizacc have all the libraries required to make something similar to GemX.
- Vizacc have the ability to make something similar to GemX, and probably give a lower or scaled-down version for free.
- Vizacc has it's own WordProcessor, MindMapper system and many libraries (which we will never sell).

For example,
- our WordProcessing guys here does nothing all day long but breath RTF, HTML and PDF all day long.
- our MindMapper guys does nothing but geometric and graphics calculations all day long.

Most importantly:
- Vizacc has the financial resources to pull this off, and give good customer-service as well.

Hope that helps.

« Last Edit: October 15, 2007, 05:08 PM by vizacc »

thomthowolf

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #183 on: October 15, 2007, 03:23 PM »


vizacc writes the free software HelpMaker.
The version in Development is HelpMaker version 8.0, which has similar features to GemX DoOrganizer.


So, when can we get a look at helpmaker 8.0?  I'll bet you could probably find some eager beta testers in this community.
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.  - Benjamin Franklin

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #184 on: October 15, 2007, 05:44 PM »
Do-Organizer 3.0.9 was released today...

Josh

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #185 on: October 15, 2007, 05:51 PM »
And coincidentally, its the exact same version and build as the latest beta I saw.

Darwin

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #186 on: October 15, 2007, 06:01 PM »
Yeah, I assumed it would be (obviously didn't download it) but as mentioned earlier it was my attempt to get clarification as to why I was running 3.0.9 when the latest version was supposed to be 3.0.8 that led me to realise that the lights were on at GemX but no one was home... and look where that got us!

RBernier

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #187 on: October 15, 2007, 06:39 PM »
I posted a DSM to Gemx today asking why they insisted on ignoring their customers.  This is the reponse that I received from Peter:

"Hi,

Thank you for your comments.

Please note that we do not ignore our customers by closing the forums. We appreciate all the constructive criticism, after all that's the only way to improve our products. However, all destructive criticisms are ignored. The following text we have sent to another customer who wanted additional information about the closure of the forums provide further explanation:

Unfortunately, we had to close down the GemX forums. The volume just got more than we can handle without sacrificing our main task (development) at hand. If GemX forum community didn't demand our attention in most cases we would have let it going but when we didn't
respond all posts asking/expecting a response people start developing concerns and asking where we are etc.. This not a complaint, just
stating the facts. Off course that's what we would be expecting of any lively forum, the volume. However, we didn't expect it'd develop this
quick. Our plan was when forums volume increased (about 2 years time) we would be in position to employ fully qualified (technically) person
to monitor and moderate.

Please note that we are a small company with a limited resources. Main team of GemX made of myself and Jon and we have "supporting cast" from family members and some users who kindly volunteered. However, we can not ask our "supporting cast" to do things as we do. They have their things to do first. They don't get paid by us. Unfortunately, we don't earn enough to employ qualified additional staff on the full time
basis at present.

We agree on the value of maintaining forums wholeheartedly, but it came to the point we had to make a decision either put more time operating in forums or close down and concentrate on development. If we have chosen to maintaining forums we would have to sacrifice development. I am sure you'd agree that it would be a self defeating option. However, this doesn't mean we would ignore our customers questions and inquiries. You can always contact us via email and DSM (registered users). Only situations customer inquiry may not be answered as follows:
1. Answer to the question is already in help files.
2. When we are in heavy development phase we may miss/overlook some inquiries unintentionally due to error on our side.
3. Email or DSM just didn't reach us due to various technical such as non delivery, spam filters etc reasons but chances of this happening is very slim.
4. I and Jon both got sick and temporarily can't work at all.

Until we are in position to re-instate the forums please send your inquiries and bug reports via email or DSM. At present, I can't give
any indication as to when we'd be able to re-instate GemX forums.

I know this doesn't help you but just to let you know that our choice on this matter prioritized on keep offering to our customers improved
and better products within our resources.

Best regards,
Peter.
GemX Software."

After receiving his response, I asked for his permission to post his response to this forum.  He gave his permission with this response:

"Hi Ron,

Thanks for your kind understanding.

I can't see any problem with publishing our email response on Donation Coders forum.

We didn't post anything there as the problems originated from us. We decided to take it as it comes. It was our mistake in the first place starting the forums too early. Well, actually mine. Jon was against it due to our resources. He said, if I think I can manage the forums without diverting from development go ahead an do it. I am an optimist, I thought users can help each other without we spending much time on it, but reality turned out to be different.

I'll certainly listen Jon's views in the future bit more carefully.

Best regards,
peter."


Regards,
Ron Bernier

Carol Haynes

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #188 on: October 15, 2007, 06:52 PM »
At least that is a response - but it begs a number of question not least - why don't they respond to support reqests (including refund requests) and if they can't support a forum where other users will share the load of answering dumb questions how will they possibly cope with the same people emailing the same dumb questions for individual attention?

If they don't want a forum that they respond to why not have a forum that is peer-peer help with just a bug posting board that they can check occasionally for new bug reports. Their policy of irregular participation and primarily peer-peer discussion could be made absolutely clear.

RBernier

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #189 on: October 15, 2007, 07:53 PM »
Do-Organizer 3.0.9 was released today...

With 3.0.9, for the first time in months, I can launch do-Organizer and not have 41 past event reminders pop up.

Regards,
Ron Bernier

sigh...

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #190 on: October 15, 2007, 08:37 PM »
well, at least a response after all this time.....i am actually quite shocked..

however, i don't agree with the closing of the forums if just for the following reason:

the "How To" section.  there were some great how to's listed that i never got a chance to implement or even read all of them.  shame those are also gone.

I can almost guarantee, if they ever do bring the forum back, it will be brand new - not inclusive of the original posts.

so the reminder pop up is no longer a problem...hmmmmm..

well, glad that it is "fixed" - but that still doesn't quite do it for me!!
What you allow, you encourage...

doublewitt

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #191 on: October 15, 2007, 09:56 PM »
I can almost guarantee, if they ever do bring the forum back, it will be brand new - not inclusive of the original posts.

I think everything will be there - certainly... we will just pick up from where we left off.
Every business has it's ups and downs... so we'll just wait and see how things turn out.

mouser

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #192 on: October 15, 2007, 10:17 PM »
In all fairness to Ron, it can be so much work responding to requests and posts on a forum.  One can understand how it would be a difficult choice between closing a forum, which obviously upsets some people vs. keeping it open but not having the time to reply to everyone's request for help - and therefore leaving the impression that the company doesn't care.

Of course it would have been good to give the forum members a generous advance warning about the change, then at least people would have had time to adjust to the idea and not assumed the worst.

beldeamon

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #193 on: October 16, 2007, 01:25 AM »
Well there is still life ...OMG !!

Still, I am not sure where this leaves me as a payed Do-O member - I had lost patience with the product and replaced my usage of it with other tools. 

The above still doesn't address some underlying major frailties in their organization or give me any clue on the future direction of the product (KEY AREA).

As mouser states, there is a large time overhead associated with support and customer  care, but to switch off COMPLETELY for 2 months with no message on their web-site, no Email to PAYED customers, really this is VERY POOR
management and shows a total lack of business/customer savvy.

My 2 Cents :)

I will continue to use D-O in a limited way (some notes and archives) but it will take more than this to bring me back on board.









zak11000

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #194 on: October 16, 2007, 04:00 AM »
Its all a joke and I don't consider them as a serious company any more. To leave customers in the dark for 2 months and dissapear. To  not even give any info on what is going on to their Beta Testers or Tiptop who managed the forum. HELLOOO - THEY JUST DISSAPEARED.

To take the forum down because they can't spare 5-10 minutes a day answering queries (everyone who has used the forum knows there weren't more than 3-4 posts per day - MAX). A joke. I couldn't care less about the forum - its the fact that even with the forum they ignored their customers and kept them in the dark. Its going to get even worse now and the evasiveness, ignoring and secretiveness will become much easier for them to pursue. I can see there are people here that are willing to forgive them and forget - I'm not one of them. They showed total disrespect for their customers - and have obviously done this before - take a look at the history of releases - the huge gaps between new updates. THESE GUYS HAVE A HABIT OF DISSAPEARING.

And on top of that keeping that message about changing servers on their website as the reason the forum was down. What's that about? They have obviously admitted now that this was a lie and that the reason was "lack of resources". So why not post that instead of keeping the message about changing servers for two months. Why lie to us??? Where do these guys live - Mars?

A TOTAL JOKE for a serious company to do this. And shows no character.

Actually think the Helpmaker tool has potential to do what Do-organizer does because it looks very similar. If they already completed the calendar and planner tools for version 8, the rest hopefully shouldn't take too long. It would be good for there to be another similar product on the market. Makes you realise that Do-organizer is not that unique after all...

From that email they they sent its clear to me that GemX don't understand what the problem is. They think the problem is that we are upset because they are taking the forum down. The problem is not that there is no forum.

THE PROBLEM IS IN THEIR ATTITUDE AND DISRESPECTFULL WAY IN WHICH THEY TREAT THEIR CUSTOMERS (IGNORING THEM, LYING TO THEM, KEEPING THEM IN THE DARK...)

WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO UNDERSTAND THIS????????
« Last Edit: October 16, 2007, 11:00 AM by zak11000 »

Josh

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #195 on: October 16, 2007, 09:03 AM »
As carol said, this leaves to question one thing. WHY DIDNT THEY RESPOND TO THEIR TOUTED DSM SERVICE. I sent a total of 12 messages over the course of that 2 months, and only recently did I receive replies that they wont honor my refund. Its ok, I am going to trialpay and getting them removed as a customer. I am also pursuing SwREG for the same thing. I am actually dealing with one of the managers at trialpay and am pretty close to this. I will keep you all informed. In my opinion, these CROOKS, yes that is what they are as they take the customers money and force them to waste ungodly amounts of time trying to contact them, dont deserve to be allowed to sell software. Anyways, I have moved on from Do-O and have purchased a full-fledged PDA which outperforms and outshines Do-O in every conceivable manner.

Armando

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #196 on: October 16, 2007, 10:09 AM »
Anyways, I have moved on from Do-O and have purchased a full-fledged PDA which outperforms and outshines Do-O in every conceivable manner.

 :) ?

superboyac

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #197 on: October 16, 2007, 10:20 AM »
To take the forum down because they can't spare 5-10 minutes a day answering queries (everyone who has used the forum knows there weren't more than 3-4 posts per day - MAX).

I have to agree here.  They weren't the most active forums in the world.  3-4 posts a day actually sounds pretty accurate to me from what I remember.  I can't imagine those posts taking up too much time away from development of the software, it just doesn't sound right.  it's like deciding not to use email at work because you're getting 5 emails a day and it's taking too much time.  It's a silly argument.

Josh

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #198 on: October 16, 2007, 10:33 AM »
Agreed wholeheartedly. Pardon the expression but this crow doesn't caw. I really doubt that the reason for closing the forum was due to the amount of activity. Alot of their replies were "Thanks for the report. Next Action/Someday" and didnt involve much typing. The company still releases far too many modules and doesnt seem to realize that they should have spent more time fixing existing modules as opposed to adding more.

Josh

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Re: GemX - missing in action
« Reply #199 on: October 16, 2007, 06:35 PM »
Let them know how you feel. Rate their newest release on betanews.com

http://fileforum.bet...ganizer/1127561838/1