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<theintrepidfox@hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:1128911928.623353.173510@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Dear Group
>
> My personal review of MimarSinan InstallAWARE Studio 2005 SE as a
> courtesy for everyone considering evaluating or buying this product.
> There are many reviews out there praising the products features so I
> thought I may add my own review, information collected while creating a
> project in a live environment.
>
> I've to say, at first glance this product has a lot to offer and seems
> to be a better choice than InstallShield Professional which I evaluated
> at the same time. InstallAWARE's pricing is also very competitive.
>
> On overall, this is a product with some quirks. One will get used to
> them quickly. I appreciate that no produt is perfect and apprecite when
> a software vendor takes a greater emphasis on robustness rather than
> the UI and I hope that this product becomes more UI compliant as a user
> would expect over the years to come.
> It's most powerful feature are with no doubt the script editor as well
> as the flexibility in designing dialogs.
>
> However, I've reservations and serious concerns about the level of
> support being available and having received and if I had this known
> before I certainly would not recommend this product despite its
> features and price unless there's reassurance by MimarSinan that they
> will improve in this matter.
>
> The company seems to consist of only its founder, Sinan Karaca. At
> least that is my impression as all support emails I receive come from
> his email address. This raises concerns what the situation will be if
> that only person becomes ill.
>
> Another disappointing experience was the quality of support received.
> As I mentioned, as a developer I appreciate that no software is perfect
> as long as this is backed up by keen and pro-active support striving to
> resolve any issues.
>
>>From my emails to support I didn't get the impression that the company
> is actually too interested and an 'error by trial' policy seems to be
> in place. I could tolerate this for complex problems and sure would try
> this myself before contacting support but if it was in fact the company
> founder who provided me with this level of support regarding issues
> that seem to be obviously a malfunction in their application then I
> start wondering how much they really appreciate their customers apart
> from just paying for the product.
>
> Before you contact support one might however consult the InstallAWARE
> Help or Support Forum. Help provides basic information to most common
> questions but I found that many object properties which I came across
> on a regular basis are not listed. One of the biggest drawbacks after
> support in my opinion. Consulting the support forum did not yield more
> answers to my questions apart from not very detailed replies or the
> information that this has never been reported before and therefore must
> not be the products fault.
>
> In general, most issues seem to be the customers problem and any of my
> suggestions that it migt indeed a problem with the product and any
> offered assistance in investigating this issue further were turned down
> by InstallAWARE with the response that I can either pay for
> professional consultancy or that I can find the answer in going through
> their sample applications. May I point out that I never expected them
> to do my project for me and as having worked in support myself very
> well know what falls in the category consultancy/training or support.
>
> Not satisfiying but tolerable if the sample I'm directed to actually
> had addressed my problem. However, in one instance for a Button.click
> event a Checkbox.Value sample was suggested.
>
> Summed up, InstallAWARE support email responses might be quick, on
> average instant to 8hrs but the quality of support, the help and online
> forum has to be questioned.
>
> Just as final point to add, one might stick to email requests as any
> call to the company I made was answered by an answering machine and the
> one request for a callback was never returned. Despite InstallAWARE
> providing the option of phone support on their website.
> I might also add, that I tried both numbers, the one in San Francisco,
> California and the one in Turkey which can be found on the MirmarSinan
> website during the countries respective business hours.
>
> I hope that this is informative to anyone considerating or using
> InstallAWARE. I certainly will keep you updated should I have more
> information in the future and let you know of any improvements I
> notice. Please note that my case might be just an exception and I
> invite everyone to try for themselves.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Martin N Feuersteiner
> Invent2b - Innovative Property Business Solutions
>

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