MyVerbalOutlet

At the the Visual Web Developer Team Blog Microsoft details a feature that is being added for deploying a Web Application Project that will allow developers to specify sections in the web.config that will be replaced depending on the build environment. 

The example they show is replacing the connectionStrings section of the web.config when building for Release.  This is an issue I bump into all the time.  This is a feature that really should have been address in the 2008 release of Visual Studio.  The fact that Microsoft is only adding it in the 2010 release and only for Web Application Projects is pretty annoying.  I want this feature for Web Site Projects.

I previously posted comments on a story I read about software developer Ayende’s  poor customer service experience with a company who had developed a software licensing component he purchased.  As a follow up to that he ended up developing his own licensing component to replace the one he had previously purchased.  As a result of redoing the licensing component people who had downloaded his software couldn’t get a license that actually worked. The license now being generated by the licensing server will only work with the new component.  This would be a pretty big customer service issue from both the point of view of the user and the vendor.  Here Ayende details how he handled the issue and that the main point from his position as the vendor was

The underlying assumption is that it is not the customer’s fault, and even if it is, if you can, you fix it.

I wish more businesses realized that providing this kind of service is in their financial best interest.

I am an avid reader and I have been one since I was in the sixth grade.  I have been buying books whenever I had some disposable income for over 20 years so I have seen quite a few price increases for paperback books.  There is another increase taking place now.  Mass Market paperbacks by popular authors in the Sci-Fi genre are hitting $9.99. This means reading will cost me more this year than ever before.  I am noticing it now because several of the authors I read have new books coming out in the next few months. I wish the publishers weren’t instituting this price increase this year.

Ayende vents his frustration with here with a company that provides a specialized licensing tool for .NET developers.  Reading about the problems Ayende had with the company he was dealing with should teach a few valuable lessons about customer service. 

1. 1) Don’t ignore your customers problems
2. 2) Don’t tell your customers its their problem
3. 3) Don’t refuse to give a refund in a reasonable situation

If you are a technology company you should expect to hold conversations with your users in the public view of the Internet. A half way clued in technology company should take for granted seeing both praise and criticism of their products and practices on the Internet. Then to treat a community leader with a large audience who overlaps with your customer base so poorly is really dumb.

When a prospective customer researches your company’s product or service on the Internet and they come across a tale woe from dealing with your company from someone with a lot of Google juice it is going to negatively effect your bottom line and in the current economic climate that is going to hurt your company.