How Do We Stay Informed?

[GoremanX]

What resources are available to us to stay up to date on the latest AfterShot news? Upcoming features? Planned updates? What do we have to look forward to? DxO and Adobe offer up multiple blogs and a news site to keep their customers interested and excited about upcoming stuff. Bibble used to have a similar thing, although it was almost never updated in recent years. As a result, all Bibble customers were left in the dark and wondering about upcoming developments.

I hate being left in the dark... makes being a customer a miserable and unpleasant experience. I hope Corel doesn't intend to maintain that model of secrecy.

For that matter, how do we know the binary has been updated? It doesn't even have any version information in the filename.

[BrianCee]

As a long - very long time user of Corel products all I can say is that it has never happened in the past - we have never known what is coming with any product until it was released onto the market. Maybe things are different with the ASP team but it will be a first if they are.

If Corel provide any updates the first we know is the release of a patch - which often we have to search for on the Corel website - so anybody who finds a patch will post in the relevant forum to alert others - application of any sort of update patch in the past has always resulted in a change of version number suffixes.

[GoremanX]

That's very discouraging...

As a photographer, I like to be kept informed of what's being planned for my workflow. It's something I've really come to appreciate over the years, and it's made my work more pleasant in the process. The lack of feedback from the Bibble team was the only disappointment in that area, every other product I use has great resources for keeping their customers informed.

The big software publishers who cater to professionals have already learned the value of keeping their customers informed, and that's part of what makes these publishers more appealing to professionals. I was really hoping the move to Corel would bring us that kind of interaction. If that's not the case, then perhaps I should just look at the alternatives.

I'm sick of being left in the dark.

[Fraenzken]

I'm sick of being left in the dark.

Me too.

[pesto126]

Corel has always been this way... hope it changes but in this day of information, there really is no excuse not to communicate with your clients.. and future clients. Just look at Cerious and Thumbsplus... decent software but NO communication with their customers basically put them out of business... and still they refuse to communicate.

[teknisyan]

If you're on facebook, you can like the Corel AfterShot Pro page at https://www.facebook.com/CorelAfterShotPro, I'll try to check if Aftershot is also on twitter. You can also subscribe to the corel newsletter.

[tundraquad]

If you're on facebook, ..., Aftershot is also on twitter. ....

This is exactly what I don' t want to hear!!
We are Photographers! Can you understand that we have something else to do than playing on Facebook/Twitter or else !!
To me, ASP is tool. If you tell me that I am wrong and that it's a computer game, Then ... My mistake. I should go somewhere else.
A well designed capture software should make the photographer save time behind a computer in order to spend more time in the field. ... No time for facebook!

[SteveCase]

Actually Facebook can be a very useful tool for the professional photographer. I used to be one of the great haters of social media. But.... That is where the masses are headed and one must go where the customers are.

[lundbech]

If you're on facebook, ..., Aftershot is also on twitter. ....

This is exactly what I don' t want to hear!!
We are Photographers! Can you understand that we have something else to do than playing on Facebook/Twitter or else !!

Then don't play around on facebook! Just grab the info and nothing else. Doesn't make a big diffence if the news is on facebook or twitter or google+ or the bibble blog on blogspot.

btw did you know there's an AfterShot Pro Presets page on google+

[GoremanX]

btw did you know there's an AfterShot Pro Presets page on google+

No I did not, that's very cool. Why aren't these things communicated to us? Why isn't there a central blog or RSS somewhere maintained by Corel or ASP developers that tells us about these useful resources?

And no, I'm not referring to a forum where I have to dig through layers of fluff like this just to unearth a single nugget of information.

[afx]

btw did you know there's an AfterShot Pro Presets page on google+

No I did not, that's very cool. Why aren't these things communicated to us?

That was set up by users...

cheers
afx

[GoremanX]

That was set up by users...

So? Maybe user-created content would help pad out the vast dearth of information provided by Corel and ASP devs until these guys can get their act together and start treating us like the professionals we are. If they want to compete successfully with Lightroom and Optics Pro, they'll have to cater to us the way Adobe and DxO do (or better). Those NDAs you're restricted by as a beta tester are nothing but a hindrance. What do they think they're protecting with those damn things?

Public betas vs secret, hidden betas
Informative blog posts by developers vs secret development of unknown "features"
Clear, known path to our professional workflow vs nasty surprises

Guess which of those I prefer? Dare I mention the secret transition from Bibble to AfterShot that took us all by surprise and wreaked havoc with our workflow?

[afx]

Dare I mention the secret transition from Bibble to AfterShot that took us all by surprise and wreaked havoc with our workflow?

Hmm,
a preannouncement would not have changed anything here.
And complaining that users have set up a repository for plugins is surely the right way to go.

Yes, there could be more communication. But you are complaining about the wrong things.

cheers
afx

[GoremanX]

What are you talking about? Where did I complain that users have setup a repository for plugins? Are you putting words in my mouth? Or just misreading my posts?

You really don't think that customers would have appreciated knowing what to look forward to? Because you're wrong.

[GoremanX]

But you are complaining about the wrong things.

I'm complaining about the lack of communication to the customers. About not keeping the customers involved. Treating us like cash cows who don't deserve to know what's being done to our chosen workflow. Anything else you've misunderstood is pure imagination.