weirdosmurf
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
Wikipedia (not exactly the perfect definition source, but acceptable) defines the term prototype as;dabigkahuna said:
So you think using terms like “prototype” isn’t misleading?poisednoise said:
My understanding is that it is acknowledged by all parties that objectively, final production units ("General Release") have not yet been sent to anyone. On that basis the only possible reason to claim that "units have shipped to customers" is to attempt to obfuscate.
Seems to me the only people trying to promote their personal view are WT and, possibly, DBK.
btw, at certain times, if the units we had turned out to be satisfactory, those would have been our final units. It is only because of the paint that we know these won’t be.
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.
That sounds a lot like what’s happening with the units TREG [you] have to me... I don’t see any obfuscation or misrepresentation by using that term. I certainly think it’s unusual for a developer to still be in the testing and prototyping phase of their project 4+ years on from having announced release was imminent, but... well... we can’t avoid reality on that point. Even if there are reasons to still be in the development, iterative, prototyping, testing phase - that’s still what it is...
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
Lol...!alexonline said:Neither Mark nor Elon are the Messiah. They're just very naughty boys.
Oddly when I mistyped "naughty" it oddly autocorrected to Naughton... Most appropriate. I changed it back though -
The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
Oh, an I forgot to add:
Your public communication and website information are ways to communicate and inform that subset of your customers who don’t have a TextBlade. You already have channels and methods for communicating internally and with the testers who have one. Using those two groups (internal company and TREG) as your perspective when communicating to everyone who does not have a TextBlade yet might be one of the reasons you are so... umm... “misunderstood”...
You need to get a little better (and everyone can “be better”...) at placing yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn’t have their TextBlade yet when talking to those people. That is not an easy thing to do, which is why I’d humbly suggest employing a public relations officer who has expertise is this sort of thing... -
The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
It’s not often I agree with dbk, but his point below is, I think, correct:WayTools_Support said:weirdosmurf - hundreds of TextBlades from production-tooled molds and processes have shipped to paying customers.
That’s not general release yet, but it is an important accomplishment, and customers like it. Those are good things.
We know why folks who want to interfere with general release would talk-down what’s already been achieved.>...but I do thing Mark views it as a big deal to have shipped to any customers, even if it is Treg. After all, to be okay with doing that, he had to have felt he crossed an important boundary in development...
The problem (as you can see just from the responses in this forum) is that you have written this statement in this way to make yourself feel validated and don’t seem to appreciate how it antagonises or aggravates many of your customers. Failing to acknowledge and appreciate this point is one of the things which may cause people to come to a conclusion that you have contempt for many of your customers - you have pointed out [to you] what and why your words upset people and you simply double down on your statement.
I’d also point out that your words “...and customers like it.” is another thing that triggers people. Your use of the term “customers” in this context (without specifying it’s only a subset of customers) comes across in a very vague, all-encompassing way: i.e it implies all customers love it when there is [presumably] a much, much, much larger subset of your customers who cannot possibly “like it” since they’ve never laid eyes on one...
”Shipped to customers” is sufficiently vague as to be mistaken by a reasonable person to mean oh, they’ve started general release, and “customers like it...” can similarly be easily mistaken as oh, their whole customer base are happy with the situation... If you maintain the vagueness of these statements then it’s understandable people might conclude that you are happy with the confusing terminology - again, that triggers people... I can tell you with absolute certainty it will antagonise people and I presume that’s something you would avoid wherever possible and I also presume you actively try to empathise with your existing customers as well as chasing future ones...
I presume no vendor intends to piss off their customers so that’s why I have made an attempt to give you feedback - you aren’t required to accept it and act on it, but knowing what antagonises and frustrates people and continuing to do so would be... well, it would be contemptuous of your customers... If you need to go to the trouble of the second sentence “that’s not general release yet...” then the initial sentence is clearly insufficient to give context and shouldn’t be used in isolation as you have been doing up to this point (I’m suggesting you actually go to the trouble of changing the text on your website any time the term “shipped to customers...” appears).
I appreciate you’ve attempted to clarify that you’re not in general release, but sticking with that first line of text without qualifiers is misrepresentative of the actual situation and “misrepresentation” is a quality you yourself have used in shadow banning people from your forum.
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The TextBlade keyboard is superb, but you'll have to be patient
I appreciate you’re trying to thread a needle here with your use of the word “customers”. You’re clearly using it to further the narrative that the “product has [technically] been successfully shipped to customers...”, however you may want to consider that using it seriously triggers people (also customers) who are not seeing and experiencing that “success”. Moreover, knowing that people who had an order placed significantly later than they have had months/years long access to the fabled product might feel like having your nose rubbed in dog poop...WayTools_Support said:
...There were many technical challenges we overcame to build TextBlade, and users really like it. Our replies to you, and the posts on our site make clear that time windows are estimates, and more defined dates will follow completion of validation tests from customers. We’ve posted a lot of info as we’ve progressed through this work...
I say this simply for your consideration... I am sure you don’t want your customers feeling like they’ve had their nose rubbed in it.
(Seriously, it’s just an observation, feel free to disregard entirely... but it’s always worthwhile considering any point of view which comes from your own blind spots. Don’t ever forget the business adage; stupid leaders should surround themselves with smart people... smart leaders surround themselves with smart people who disagree with them...)
I have seen time and again where you get yourself in a terrible tangle with your communications and it is clear that public relations is not your area of expertise; you (possibly unintentionally) write things which people take offence to and your defence of those situations becomes emotional, often leading to silence (whether due to fits of pique or a frustration that you find yourself in no-win situations...)
It may be worth employing a public relations/communications specialist. These are easily avoidable “rookie” issues. An employed specialist is not so emotionally tied to “the product” and therefore tend not to fall in to emotional comms errors.
I know it’s just a single word, but it’s a word (and comms strategy) a professional would have avoided - it’s obvious to an objective professional that particular word/phrase, whilst pleasing the company’s internal idea of itself and “pumping up public perception to the uninformed”, nevertheless has a high probability of antagonising existing customers with unfulfilled orders (actually, all customer orders remain unfulfilled if we’re being honest...)
