Thanks Kas, my wording definitely borders on the, uhm... vitriolic. Given that it's personal editorial, I chose to keep it that way. I'm glad that you and a few others in the analyst world are around to keep vendors and each other honest. Hopefully the big guys will eventually change as well.

From my view things took a turn for the worst at Vignette during the Tom Hogan and Patty Jones era but the current administration has seemingly (from afar, anyway) elected to mostly maintain the status quo. It's understandable considering how a drastically a "reinvention" would impact the current customer base (and maintenance revenue), but perhaps it's better to quickly cut off the unnecessary limbs from the product portfolio before sepsis kills the body. They can then invest on the key products. More importantly, truly getting rid of products as opposed to keeping them on the price-sheet, gives the sales team (and customers) a clearer understanding of Vignette's value proposition. Who knows, maybe their new price-sheet will reflect this.

I tried to aim my comments at the company rather than the individuals, though some seem to be getting a wee bit high on the Kool Aid and believing what they're told rather than trying to act as agents of change. It is admittedly difficult to change course on such large a ship, but the culture there doesn't really encourage independent thinking and accountability. During my tenure there I witnessed more rear-end covering than actual accountability and am told by recent defectors that things still haven't improved much on that end. I find it interesting, though unsurprising, that some of the remaining "rock stars" have been effectively given "gold handcuffs", ie. large financial incentives to stay. Good for them, I guess...

Anyway, thanks again, and keep up the good work!

Thanks for the response. I see that, in general, you agree with my observations. From a personal perspective, one of the reasons why I left Vignette was because I lost faith in the products and the company. I grew tired of hiding the facts from my customers only to find some of them dissatisfied with incomplete projects that have gone over budget. Customers pay so much in up-front licenses that they're left with little with which to implement.

I still get irritated when I learn that, as a company (not necessarily as individuals), things simply haven't changed that much. Some things improve, but mostly things seem to wallow in festering heaps. I resent that practically all engineering has been outsourced, I believe that to have adversely affected product quality and innovation. I am perhaps overly "sensitive" when the subject of Vignette comes up, but to me it's like a sore that refuses to heal properly. I still hold affection in my heart for VAP and VBCS but the rest still needs help.

Thanks again...

-- Luis

Thank you for the quick response. It's an uncommon courtesy I wish more people adhered to.