Bloody Annoyed

Oh Knickers,

Instead of ranting and moaning, just sign in and the PDF manual for Gert is right there. I was not a member of Element 14 and it took me two minutes to sign up and download the pdf. I mean, bollux.

What do you need help with bc Correct me if am woring but this sounds like  a rant

Here is a link to the user guide:

http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-48860/l/gertboard-user-manual-gertboard-kit

It's a fair comment that a CD was provided containing 500MB of free space but lacking many essential resources such as documentation and forcing the purchaser to find them online.

Why supply a CD in the first place if it's not going to make the purchase self-sufficient?  Opportunity lost.

I suggest that one of two possible changes might be appropriate:

• Omit the CD entirely, add just one sheet of paper containing URLs to the relevant online resources, and reduce the price of the product by the amount saved.
• Alternatively, fill in the free space on the CD with documentation etc to make the product standalone.

I'm sure that the developers want the product to become better with time, and this would improve the customer experience.

I'll second that - it's really annoying that it is so often assumed that everyone has continuous and fast internet access. How long would it have taken to copy the relevant stuff to the CD ?

As for the passwords - I think I've linked this before on E14 but it's so good it can stand repetition.

http://xkcd.com/936/

MK

@ Morgaine

As you are almost certainly aware, most if not all of embedded boards of all types do not ship with documentation on a CD precisely to save money (way ahead of you there) with all

documentation provided online. This is almost universal everywhere else now so why do you think it is exceptional is this case ?

The CD included with the Gertboard has several useful free tools (at least for people that use Microsoft Windows) and is provided by a source (CooCox) that is not related to E14 or

the Gertboard although the software provided on the CD can be used to compile applications for either one. It is provided with the Gertboard for promotional purposes not as a

part of the product itself.

@ Michael Kellett

It does not take either fast or continuous Internet access to download the document. It does take a couple of minutes to find and download the documentation from E14.

Gary Stewart wrote:

 

most if not all of embedded boards of all types do not ship with documentation on a CD precisely to save money [cut].  This is almost universal everywhere else now so why do you think it is exceptional is this case ?

I don't recall writing nor suggesting that it was exceptional.  I merely agreed that the original poster's point was a fair one, given that the CD was provided, but was lacking in important items like documentation despite having plenty of room remaining for it.  It fell between two stools, raising the cost of the product by including a CD but not making the most of it.  A suboptimal choice.  I suggested a couple of improved choices under the assumption that the provider desires to improve the customer experience.  I suspect that most do.

It does not take either fast or continuous Internet access to download the document. It does take a couple of minutes to find and download the documentation from E14.

You're projecting your personal capabilities and experience onto others.  If it were as you claim, the customer would not have felt compelled to express his annoyance at the product in this thread.

@ Morgaine

Finding documentation on a CD shipped with most embedded hardware is exceptional. Finding documentation on the web is normal.  Once again, it was a

promotional CD provided by a third party, not an official part of the Gertboard package.

I am not projecting anything onto anyone. I gave a direct response to the assertion that it somehow requires a fast and continuous (?) Internet connection to get the

documentation. It doesn't. The original poster obviously has an Internet connection and that, plus a little effort (enter "gertboard documentation" in the search box

at the top of the main E14 page) to find what he is looking for. If he has a Raspberry Pi (I would assume he must) he is probably already familiar with this process.

Your points are fair enough, although they don't perceive the issue from the customer perspective:  whether a CD is provided by a third party or by the  producer of the product is immaterial to the customer.  It's a CD, period.

What has happened here seems to be that the producer is (presumably) benefitting from the CooCox promotion without considering two side effects of receiving the CD:

1. Non-Windows users are getting annoyed because supplied software is useless to them.
2. Customers find a CD enclosed but discover that it does not contain their product documentation.

There's not much doubt that this may be found annoying.  YMMV on the "bloody" part.

We're not talking about the end of the world here, it's quite small fry.  But it is worthy of note that a customer was annoyed enough to write in, and that probably means that there are lots of other customers also annoyed but it's within their tolerance limits.

Is there room for improvement?  Sure.

@ Morgaine

I understand it perfectly well from a customer perspective. I am a repeat customer with E14 and several other embedded board manufacturers/retailers.

Online documentation and software for this type of product is just the way it is across the entire industry no matter how angry it makes a few customers

(the fewer the better of course). Obviously the main reason is cost and from their perspective I understand that too. As long as it is fairly easy to find

and download, and most of them that I can remember have been so far, then I have no problem with it.

On the E14 page where Gertboards are sold there are easy to see links to the user manual and software directly above the first Overview section.