RE: enhancement vs. bug

["Paul Tiger" <tigerp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob,

This is something that many of us are well aware of. Especially those of us
that work in tech fields. I've spent most of my career in pre-sales
engineering, and those that are successful in such an endeavor know the
value of language.
Actually there was a point to my satirical missive. That is that BC
officials are often sucked into buying yet-to-be-invented or massively buggy
products based on what they hear sales people say. One of the biggest
pitfalls for them is the response that many vendors have to inquiries about
things that they would like, but don't appear to exist in a product. The
statement is, "Sure, we can do that." or, "That will be available in out
next release."
The 'next release' statement is almost always the response to bugs. As in
your 'bug problems' will be 'addressed by an enhancement'.

Paul Tiger

-----Original Message-----
From: Mcgrath, Bob___PI_Mkt [mailto:bob.mcgrath@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 8:02 AM
To: 'paul.tiger@xxxxxxxxxxxx'
Cc: 'bcv@xxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: enhancement vs. bug

As one who works in marketing at a manufacturer, I can attest that we will
rarely own up to "bugs" but will "spin" the response to say we "improved" or
offered a "newer version" that "addressed expressed concerns" etc.  You get
it.  It is not just semantics.  It is an effort to avoid owning up to any
responsibility and to create a positive impression in an end-user's mind
that the company "cares" and "responds"


[|>] snip