Herb - You and your entire VSL team are truly a class act.

[edhamilton]

I posted this in another thread but felt after my many critical posts - Herb deserves this one as its own thread.

Herb,
While I am deeply disappointed in your chosen VIP program .....

You are truely a classy gentleman.

You left our discontent unsensored. All your replies were completely professional (even if you didn't directly address the issue [[;)]] )

Your entire forum staff exemplified this also.

Kudos are deserved and I just wanted to acknowledge this publicly.

Congrats on what must have been incredibly intense effort to create your VI.
Maybe someday I will be a customer of yours once again.

[Holgmeister]

I would like to second that without the irony of the previous poster:

Beeing myself owner of a software business, I can judge what intense way it is from building a company, from permanent innovation while sustaining the company, and all this in an international, harsh economy that will crash you on a single false move.

I admire Herb's vision and the way to fulfill at the end. It is easy to do "company bashing" and it is easy to cry "foul".

If anyone in the nineties had ask you for a million dollar investment to sample every possible halftone of every possible playing way of every possible instruments in an symphonic orchestra? Who had said "Cool idea, here is my money?" I mean before, not after success?

But do for a single moment the math: How much does it cost to sustain the silent stage, double shift of sampling with single players and orchestra and years of software development. I know these kind of math and in my business, it gives me sleepless nights, especially when your mission goal is technical brilliance at global economy speed, and you are not one of the big guys on the block..

I just wish Herb and all his co-workers all the best and all success in the world. They deserve more than this simple price bashing for such a giant step.

[Christian Marcussen]

I agree - Its things like this that, as I have repeated again and again, make VSL such a unique company.

To Holgmeister. I also agree that they deserve much better than this price bashing, and focus on the negative. But with all due respect, much of the bickering and confusion should and could have been avoided by having everything ready at the end of the countdown. Its a damn shame that the focus isen't on the product itself.

However I am sure that in half a year we will all be praising what a wonderful step forward VI has been.

[fitch]

ya... have to agree.. VSL samples are the classiest samples around.. and the whole VSL team are to be thanked loads for it ..

i'll just sit it out on the VI till there's a holiday price special if you don't mind [:D]

[Rodney_G]

I also agree with Ed.

Even though many critical comments have been made (some of which from myself as well I must confess), it's clear that the VSL team has done their very best to answer questions, sort out misunderstandings and explain the matter to lots of confused people.

Some might argue that this release was "poorly" handled due to lack of information and that this is what caused much of the trouble in the first place. However, the more time I spend learning about this new release, the more I also understand the complexity of it and the upgrade paths involved.

In spite of some comments being pretty harsh and perhaps almost aggressive, I have not yet seen one single example of censorship, developer/moderator ridiculing of critics or deleting of "uncomfortable" posts...things that would have been almost a certainty in some other forums should even a fraction of these criticical comments have been voiced there.

To handle rough criticism without resorting to such actions is the mark of a true professional...and IMO Herb and his team passed this test with bravure. We all make mistakes from time to time, but it is how we attempt to rectify them that show our true quality.

Kudos to Herb and the rest of the team for dealing with this difficult situation in such an professional and patient manner...and apologies from me if any of my comments have been overly harsh. I'm not going to say I'm in any way glad I made them, but it sure feels good to have been allowed to express them without being reprimanded nevertheless.

Thank you

R

[edhamilton]

No irony at all on my part.
I can be pissed at their decisions yet fully respect the manner in which they have handled this discussion.

The class displayed by the VSL staff could easily have been overlooked. I just wanted them to know it was appreciated.

[charl]

@edhamilton said:

No irony at all on my part.
I can be pissed at their decisions yet fully respect the manner in which they have handled this discussion.

The class displayed by the VSL staff could easily have been overlooked. I just wanted them to know it was appreciated.

They are polite, educated and most probably nice chaps.. So maybe this is class...

I don't know..

I would have the exact same opinion as you only if I was convinced by the arguments they've given to justify their policy or if they openly stood up to the 'reality' of their new philosophy.

Sincerly, I've been trying very hard to understand why they're not spliting the VIP privilege between 'Standard' AND 'Extended' so as not to systematicly force the 'pro-ed' users to the full Library.

In regards to the VSL philosophy that most of us have trustfully bought into these recent years, I see no other acceptable justification of the current pricing policy than the survival of the company. And frankly I don't believe this is the case.

In my eyes, real class would be to at least acknowledge that the latest VIP pricing policy isn't particularly classy, and certainly not as classy as what we were made to believe from VSL in the past...

I doubt we'll get this level of honesty on the forum though...
I can understand why.

I know my post is a little grim, but seriously we're talking about considerable amounts of money here. I can't imagine the guys in Vienna being surprised at the negative reactions appearing on the forum.
For me what we're hearing around here is common sense..


I'm not the type of guy who's into endless blabla for getting a better discount on the goods, but there is no doubt in my mind that Herb & co should review the current upgrade path & honor the VIP concept in a 'fair' way.
I know that's not really the subject of this thread.

[charl]

@Rodney_G said:

I also agree with Ed.

To handle rough criticism without resorting to such actions is the mark of a true professional...

R

Yup !!!
Very true..

[Tripit]

I'm inclined to agree. I'm hoping that Herb and crew will make some changes to the VIP upgrade path as they have always shown a concern and made an effort to fix issues in the past.

I'm not happy with the upgrade path either, but as unhappy as I am, I still respect the efforts of VSL.

If I decide to purchase the upgrade, remains to be seen. At current upgrade path, I will not.

[Guy Bacos]

I think this thread received all the love it could take for one day... [:)]