Hello Parallels Support! Over here - out in the cheap seats! There are mounting unanswered issues in your "Parallels Desktop Products Support" Forums - are you even empowered to respond with "We don't know, either" or "We've never supported this product before" or even "We no longer support this product"?
You don't support this product? At all? Now there's a Big Surprise!
Don't worry - it shows. It shows in your squalid hopes that the user community will (somehow) support itself - without support documentation, without technical documentation, and with a provided Knowledge Base that amounts to "We don't know, either". It shows. Do you guys even read the forums?
I figure you guys are from another culture, possibly one with a demand-style economy, where you deliver whatever detritus you deem fit, and the user base has to deal with it. Welcome to the world economy - and here's your first lesson: "If you do not serve your customers, someone else will". Case in point - LongFist Game Designs and Moody Labs (as well as all those to whom Moody Labs delivers service) will be moving to the more expensive - yet dependable - VMWare product.
This is not without some happy news - you have reinforced that old adage "You get what you pay for" - in spades! I paid what amounts to USD 80.00 to learn that once you get this product licensed, you are on your own. BUT - the Parallels team will shamelessly attempt to call/eMail/SPAM you with "better offers" on their product, because "The website is NOT the best way for you to buy" (a direct quote from the Enterprise Solutions Manager for the SouthEast). I agree whole-heartedly. But for a different reason entirely. I deem the TOTAL lack of support to be the central reason to avoid this product at all costs.
I know - I know - Parallels would prefer that we - the users - would refrain from posting disparaging messages about your lackluster product. Better just to post pleas for assistance that fall on deaf ears/eyes. But look around --- tell your user-base --- What is your defense? Well? You got sick? Fired/Laid off the only guy(s) that knew how the system worked? Auto-responder kicked the bucket? Systems crash? Fear of meeting people? Can't reach the keyboard? Don't speak the language? Not enough caffeine in your diet?
But at least I can serve my clients: "Product not recommended for acquisition. Dependable Alternative Product Available." That's not a threat. It's already in action. But I thought you might want to know - so you could (maybe) improve your business model and (perhaps) acquire a chunk of the market. By *not* telling you, I was doing you a disservice. By letting you know - well - I offer you an opportunity to help what remains of your user base.
I used to be one of your most rabid supporters. I had used your Virtuozzo/Plesk systems at the ISP for which I worked, and your level of support for those products seemed incredible. That experience set my level of expected response. But you left me hanging one time too many for Parallels Desktop, and left my Clients wondering what you had done to garner my support. Upon reflection I decided that I was supporting the wrong team. "Parallels Desktop isn't Plesk or Virtuozzo" you'll say - and you'll be right. But I didn't purchase either of those products for use on my laptop, now did I?
Surprisingly enough the VMWare Workstation 6 does everything you promise and more - but with technical support!!! Technical Support! Blessed Technical Support!
[ While I don't expect this message to survive for long - I suspect one of you will have read it - and may have been at least illuminated as far as the reason you will never enjoy the market share that VMWare holds. Then again, mankind occasionally stumbles over the truth, but usually he will get back up and trundles onward, unaffected... ]
You don't support this product? At all? Now there's a Big Surprise!
Don't worry - it shows. It shows in your squalid hopes that the user community will (somehow) support itself - without support documentation, without technical documentation, and with a provided Knowledge Base that amounts to "We don't know, either". It shows. Do you guys even read the forums?
I figure you guys are from another culture, possibly one with a demand-style economy, where you deliver whatever detritus you deem fit, and the user base has to deal with it. Welcome to the world economy - and here's your first lesson: "If you do not serve your customers, someone else will". Case in point - LongFist Game Designs and Moody Labs (as well as all those to whom Moody Labs delivers service) will be moving to the more expensive - yet dependable - VMWare product.
This is not without some happy news - you have reinforced that old adage "You get what you pay for" - in spades! I paid what amounts to USD 80.00 to learn that once you get this product licensed, you are on your own. BUT - the Parallels team will shamelessly attempt to call/eMail/SPAM you with "better offers" on their product, because "The website is NOT the best way for you to buy" (a direct quote from the Enterprise Solutions Manager for the SouthEast). I agree whole-heartedly. But for a different reason entirely. I deem the TOTAL lack of support to be the central reason to avoid this product at all costs.
I know - I know - Parallels would prefer that we - the users - would refrain from posting disparaging messages about your lackluster product. Better just to post pleas for assistance that fall on deaf ears/eyes. But look around --- tell your user-base --- What is your defense? Well? You got sick? Fired/Laid off the only guy(s) that knew how the system worked? Auto-responder kicked the bucket? Systems crash? Fear of meeting people? Can't reach the keyboard? Don't speak the language? Not enough caffeine in your diet?
But at least I can serve my clients: "Product not recommended for acquisition. Dependable Alternative Product Available." That's not a threat. It's already in action. But I thought you might want to know - so you could (maybe) improve your business model and (perhaps) acquire a chunk of the market. By *not* telling you, I was doing you a disservice. By letting you know - well - I offer you an opportunity to help what remains of your user base.
I used to be one of your most rabid supporters. I had used your Virtuozzo/Plesk systems at the ISP for which I worked, and your level of support for those products seemed incredible. That experience set my level of expected response. But you left me hanging one time too many for Parallels Desktop, and left my Clients wondering what you had done to garner my support. Upon reflection I decided that I was supporting the wrong team. "Parallels Desktop isn't Plesk or Virtuozzo" you'll say - and you'll be right. But I didn't purchase either of those products for use on my laptop, now did I?
Surprisingly enough the VMWare Workstation 6 does everything you promise and more - but with technical support!!! Technical Support! Blessed Technical Support!
[ While I don't expect this message to survive for long - I suspect one of you will have read it - and may have been at least illuminated as far as the reason you will never enjoy the market share that VMWare holds. Then again, mankind occasionally stumbles over the truth, but usually he will get back up and trundles onward, unaffected... ]