From: magundi@gaul.csd.uwo.ca (john macdonald)
Subject: Re: The Emplant Ordeal.
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 06:15:24 GMT

In article <1992Nov16.233220.4109@memstvx1.memst.edu> langston@memstvx1.memst.edu (Mark C. Langston) writes:
>
>
>   (here I go again... my mother didn't teach me any better, apparently...)
>
>I'm not going to take sides here, but I would like to point out a few things:
>
>
>  2)  People (not everyone) jumped all over Jim when he didn't make his
>      shipping deadline.  This is a bit strange, because companies regularly
>      miss announced shipment deadlines.

And some people still think the earth is flat.

>
>  3)  Some of these people had a right to jump on Jim, because they had
>      already paid for the product.  This is odd, and I have no explanation
>      for Jim charging people when the product was not ready to ship.

I hope to think that it was honestly an unforeseen problem and not
because the UU is about to go under and needed the money.

>
>  4)  People ordered the product sight-unseen, with no authoritative
>      reviews, first-hand experience, etc.  While this is not unusual, I
>      wouldn't suggest it to anyone.

Fools and money.


>  5)  UU finally shipped prepaid Emplant orders.  Good for them.

Oh?  It is good to send customers something that doesn't work?
If that is good what could possibly be bad?  Sending them rocks?

>  6)  The product did not work as advertised (as of yet).  This was probably
>      due to several factors:  pressure to release from those people who
>      already paid, general public pressure to release, and quickly declining
>      customer base.

Does not work at all as of yet.
It is obscene to release a product that doesn't work.

>
>  7)  UU is working to fix the software problems the product currently has.
>      These fixes are being offered free-of-charge, and UU is doing their
>      best to keep the customer base informed of progress while trying very
>      hard to fix any problems.

This is good?
Offering free-of-charge fixes that still don't make the product work?
UU is just so generous.


>
>  8)  Customers are becoming irate, and potential customers are shying away.
>
>While these items seem discouraging, I would wager that the people now 
>complaining will sing UU's praises if and when the product succesfully 
>emulates a Macintosh.  Whether or not the product meets the original specs
>is open for debate.  However, many products do not achieve their original
>goals.

Products not meeting the original specs is not that uncommon.
What I have a real problem is that Emplant will not work with an
unaccelerated machine when it has been stated all along that it
would work on 500 and base 2000 machines.
I just wonder how many people that pre-ordered Emplant are getting
a product that they can't even use.
I can understand why they decided to drop 68000 support but I can't
understand why UU did not inform people.  They must have known
for months that they were going to have to do that.



>  Although people with Emplants in their hands have some right to complain,
>it ist as though UU did not ship a product, and is not doing anything to 
>fix the problems.

Some right to complain?
WHat planet are you from?

There is no excuse for shipping out Emplant in the state it is in.
IT is not like some people can get it to work and others can't.
No one ( except Jim Drew ) has got one to work yet.


Don't get be wrong, there is nothing I would like to see more
than Emplant to work properly, and once I have an accelerated
Amiga and Emplant is actually working I will buy it.

I just feel UU has been dishonest in shipping out a non-working
product.

john