AlakaLazlo:
Yup!
While I appreciate the response from a “marketing director” indicating they listen to their users, I don’t think that adequately addresses the real issue that this thread appears to advance.
Initially, are we supposed to be “grateful” that Steinberg listens to its customers? If they want to stay in business, don’t they have to? I mean, seriously, they release buggy (broken?) “Pro” software and their users complain (instead of boycotting like some of us have finally begun to do). If they ignore the negative response, this propagates everywhere - GS, social media, individual artists’ websites and blogs, etc. - and Steinberg is dead in 1-2 years tops. So a “we hear you” posting from a marketing director - while calculated to be a feel good response - isn’t nearly as encouraging as would be a promise to actually fix the problem; that being their repeatedly releasing buggy software.
Incidentally, I’m inclined to address the pro versus hobbyist component to this thread. I used to be a pro - now I’m a hobbyist - because I went down a different career path. There is no question that people who use software to make a living deserve a working product, especially from a company that markets its product as “Pro.” But so do hobbyists. When I have time (which I must say is unfortunately rare these days) to devote to something I love doing - making music - I deserve the same level of honesty and technical functionality from the company that sells me my software as a pro. People that buy products, software or otherwise, have a right to receive what they are sold. There’s a term for promising one thing and delivering another - false advertising. It doesn’t matter whether the purchaser of a product is a pro user or a hobbyist - the product should work as promised.
Next, even though I have not purchased the .5 release (and won’t until Steinberg explains why we still don’t have working W10 drivers for the MR816s) They want us to be grateful to hear there will be another update next week. Everyone is glad when serious bugs get fixed promptly. But again, isn’t that missing the point? If Steinberg did proper QC on its products, why would this even be necessary. The answer is hidden in plain view. They use their customers as unpaid beta-testers. More troubling - as has been pointed out in this and many other threads - is why aren’t bugs that are more than a year old fixed yet?
Which brings me back to what I believe is the main point of this whole thread. Steinberg needs to stop adding shinny new stuff (that many of us couldn’t care less about) and just sell a product that works as advertised. Period! It seems quite obvious that releasing a paid upgrade at the end of the year - working or not - is Steinberg’s current business model. Steinberg gets to add some revenue to the books for year end close. They know that a significant number of their users will buy it, even if its full of bugs, and we (not me anymore!) keep proving them right. So they have no reason to change this business practice. It’s my opinion, for what its worth, that until enough of their users proclaim “I’m sick and tired, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” - and back it up with a boycott - or until they get hit with a class action lawsuit for false advertising, nothing is going to change.
And to that end, they’re probably would not have been an “official statement”, indirectly communicated, had this thread not existed in the first place (!). I think everyone can agree that, for whatever reason or combination of reasons, this has left kind of a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.