ISYS OUTDOORS Newsletter 2008/02 New ways of working
This is the Newsletter for users of ISYS OUTDOORS Software: Hillwalker, MapWise, PhotoMaps and Alpiniste. This edition contains information on some important changes on the way we will work. Even the Hints and Tips are administrative! Normal service will be resumed in the next Newsletter.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER, as it will not be read. ISYS OUTDOORS contact details are at the end. If you are a Registered User of ISYS Software, select which publication you receive from ISYS, by visiting the User Area of the website isysoutdoors.com.
ISYS's Support is renowned as superb. It does however take a considerable amount of time and has started to impact development. We have therefore looked at ways of keeping up the level of Support but to do it more efficiently.
We have analysed the types of queries that come in to Support and the variety is staggering! Here are the heaviest used categories:
Registration How do you ...? Installation problems including Vista and Linux Help with Windows, email etc Errors (or perceived errors!)
Registration will continue to be done by Support, as this is the first contact most users have with ISYS and each Registration takes just a few seconds if email is used. We will also continue with any installation problems and any errors.
The bulk of calls, are however, of a "How do you ...?" nature; essentially these are requests for free training.
The Yahoo Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker) was set up for users to discuss the program as well as their outdoors activities. All emails of this type, even if sent to Support, will now be answered through this Group. This has several advantages.
Firstly, any user can provide help, thus reducing the load on ISYS. Secondly, once a query is answered, the answer remains available and all users can benefit, not just the one who asked the question.
The Yahoo Group has been available for these issues for some time, the big change, then, is that the How do you? queries sent to Support will be posted on the Yahoo Group.
Support will continue to monitor the Group and will provide help as required.
We continue to get emails to addresses other than
support
Up until now, we have just answered these although not all email inboxes are looked at as often as Support. Some problems came when we were all away for a few days and only the Support inbox was monitored. Some users even asked why their emails were not answered. The answer often turned out to be that they had sent it to a wrong address. As our email gets more automated, you will get a far better service if you remember these two simple rules:
The Licence Agreement is deliberately kept short to encourage users to read it! However, not everyone does otherwise I would not get questions like, "Can I run the program on my laptop as well as my desktop?" The answer is that you can run the programs on two computers but be Registered on just one at any one time.
If you would like two Registered copies, then you need to buy a second license. This is 50% of the cost of a first licence.
If you would like more than two licences, for example for schools, then please call Support. We recently introduced new codes with the SL prefix, the SL standing for either Second Licence or Subsequent Licence.
We still have a very few copies of MapWise 50 Great Britain and Man for £89 (normally £149) and of Hillwalker Max Scotland for £59 (normally £99). If you want one, buy it now! Supplies are nearly exhausted - four in total at the last count.
Currently, we are offering special prices on downloadable MapWise 25 programs. These special downloadable programs will be withdrawn on 1 May and the standard MapWise 25 programs will be available, with the rest of the ISYS collection, for downloading.
There will still be a price advantage to downloading as discussed in the next paragraph. If you want the really good prices, get in before 1 May!
For some time, ISYS have offered free delivery of programs to the UK with significant reductions to the rest of Europe and the rest of the world.
On 1 May, free and reduced delivery will be withdrawn. More and more users have broadband and now download the programs directly from the website. Naturally there will continue to be no delivery charge for downloaded programs.
All these changes require little from the user but we hope that it will make a big change to our efficiency and allow our development team to progress, carrying a lighter support burden. I hope that you agree.
To change your subscription to this and other ISYS Newsletters (there are no others sent out at the moment!), visit the website and sign in to the user area where you can select what Newsletters to receive, Please don't email Support or reply to this Newsletter.
What is a User Number? Your User Number is the first Serial Number that you Register with ISYS. Yours is given in the subject line of this email. If you are getting more than one copy of this Newsletter, please email Support with a note of the duplicate numbers.
When does Registration change? Normally when you Register a program, that's it, you don't need to Register again. However, if any of the following happen, the Lock will change and you will need a new Key:
If you change your name or postcode, you might want to re-register using the new data, but the old data will still work.
To link to a GPS you need a program called GPSU. The program is free and available from your Yahoo! Group website. To access this program and all the messages and other information, you need to be a member of the Yahoo! Hillwalker Group. The name Hillwalker betrays our origins but all ISYS OUTDOORS Software is now covered on this site. To keep spammers at bay, you need to join this Group. I have joined some users up to this group, but I have just discovered that if I join you, you get the emails but not access to the site content. If you are in this category, I will send you and email requesting a Yahoo! profile. This will give access to the full site.
This newsletter contains a lot of important information about ISYS and the changes we will be making over the next few weeks. This does make for a dry Newsletter. Maybe the Humour? will make up for it, or maybe not!
Walk long and safely
Iain R White
ISYS OUTDOORS Support
www.isysoutdoors.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker
support (at) isysoutdoors (dot) com
A minister, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!" The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!" The minister said, "Hey, here comes the greenkeeper. Let's have a word with him."
"Hi, George, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?" The greenkeeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind firefighters who lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The group was silent for a moment. The minister said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea, and I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at night?"
Thanks to Katie in Arbroath for sending me that one.
A very self-important college freshman attending a recent football game, took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation.
"You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one," the student said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear. "The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon, our spaceships have visited Mars, we have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with DSL, light-speed processing and ..", pausing to take another drink of beer. The Senior took advantage of the break in the student's litany and said, "You're right, son. We didn't have those things when we were young so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little ****, what are you doing for the next generation?"
The applause was resounding.
Thanks to Melissa in Colorado for send that one.