2017-04-23

When Purchased Software Fails

tapdance
When purchased software fails in the absence of support there is a lot of tense troubleshooting along with the various drama laden scenarios which ensue. Web middleware outsourced to India is not really a very US friendly affair nor particularly cost effective when the vendor wants a ten thousand dollar check to speak with you on the telephone.

Love that ransom called "monthly maintenance fee" or "support agreement", some "contract" variant or one label or another which culminates in a situation where you have to get in there and solve your own issues because the company isn't going to cough up ten grand on a whim ... and the software isn't working or has some fatal flaw which eludes attempts at patching it.

Needless to say, after a week hitting the logs and testing the crap out of this, that, and the other problem determination will ultimately be successful in the presence of compentent support staffers and yes, that's precisely why they keep me around.

The moral of the story is before you run off and jump 6 versions of any software package you might want to take inventory and adequately test prior to the surprises which may arise from simply retrofitting your server with the new product line.

Case in point, when you find yourself in the glare of the spotlight it's time to tapdance. If there's no one else to fix it the star on stage is you.

It's a living.