Subject:
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Re: Hey, like, is anyone there? (was: When is Mac support coming for LEGO Mosaic?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Fri, 9 Feb 2001 02:55:27 GMT
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Reply-To:
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CMASI@CMASI.CHEM.TULANE.spamcakeEDU
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Viewed:
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1361 times
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Jake,
Thanks for the detailed response. Posts that long take a long time to write,
and I can understand why those kinds of posts do not come often. I think most of
the ill will could be avoided by simply saying, "Oh, yeah, those menus are
really slow for your Mac users. We are looking into it." LD does not need to
respond to every post. I would guess that people who ask about brown bricks are
really making a suggestion and are not truly expecting a response. But when it
comes to usability of the Shop@Home services, a quick note to say that LD is
looking into the problem will go a long way.
LD has put itself into a very difficult position. In regard to communicating
with its customers, LD is doing more than many companies are doing, but LEGO
fans expect a lot from LEGO. So, we expect a lot from LD.
Chris
PS Is the problem with Java Netscape's implementation of Java, the MacOS
implementation of of Java, or both? Netscape (4.7 and older) uses its virtual
machine. Internet Explorer uses the virtual machine written by Apple. Apple's
virtual machine is much better than Netscape's--its faster, I do not know about
the completeness of its implementation of Java.
PPS I am not expecting an answer, just pointing out some Mac trivia, and my
perception of the negative posts that crop up here.
Jake McKee wrote:
>
> In lugnet.lego.direct, Todd Lehman writes:
> > Hey, is anyone at LEGO Direct gonna step up to the place and field these
> > Mac questions? I don't wanna sound rude, but the message below was posted
> > more than 2 weeks ago...still no reply from anyone at LEGO Direct.
>
> Greetings All!
>
> This is your friendly neighboorhood LEGO producer/AFOL again.
>
> My apologies for taking so long to put this response together. I wanted to
> make sure I can get as much detail as possible, to avoid any
> misunderstandings, miscommunications, or other confusion.
>
> I have been a little concern lately that SO much of the discussion here has
> been focused on LEGO bashing. (Up until a day or two ago, all but one of the
> home page spotlights were about how LEGO sucks) As several people have
> pointed out in this thread, in a large company like LEGO change takes time.
> We are trying to participate as much as possible in discussions on LUGNET,
> but please understand that when certain threads are driven off course by
> discussion of how LEGO is not doing the right things, it becomes hard for us
> to participate.
>
> Let me also comment on the issues a number of people have brought up
> regarding the LEGO.com web site and Online store. Please understand that the
> new web site has gotten a HUGE amount of traffic in the few months that it
> has been live. It has completely blown through the numbers from the same
> time last year. Additionally, the online store has a *massive* foundation in
> place at this point. We are able display different prices, availiablity,
> in/out stock status for multiple countries and multiple currincies. Further,
> the tie in with order fullfillment and processing is amazing. I have
> actually ordered as a consumer from the online store at 3:30p Thursday and
> by 10:00a the next morning, there was a large box on my desk. This was
> shipped UPS and I was not charged additional shipping...the fullfillment
> folks are just that fast!
>
> Anyone familiar with web development knows that the backend systems required
> to do these things do not come together overnight. Further, amid a very busy
> and successful Christmas shopping season, the online store did not go down
> or offline one time. Not one time! Few web sites can actually make this claim.
>
> OK, one last thing before we get to some of the updates.
>
> I have said before that many of the LD employees read LUGNET on a regular
> basis. We respond as we feel is appropriate. We take care of issues that are
> brought to attention. This is extremely important to come to terms with. I
> know it has become a very popular view to say that noone at LD actually read
> these posts, but the more you tell us that we don't read your comments and
> that we don't work hard enough, and that we should take more work home with
> us because the 9-12 hour days don't cut it, it doesn't do anything but turn
> some of us off from answering your questions. There are a great many AFOLs
> within LD and TLC as a whole. I have never worked for a company that has so
> many people working so hard to carry out a singular vision - LEGO Play
> values. I am sure that all of you work very hard at your jobs, so imagine if
> the only feedback you get is "Take more work home with you" or "Work longer
> hours". Or worse yet, posting pointing to posters about "Apathy".
>
> (Please note, that after more than two hours catching up on the online posts
> across the site, I started working on this message Sunday evening, after
> spending more than 8 hours at the Train Summit meeting yesterday, and have
> been working for about 30 minutes today)
>
> Now, on to the updates!
>
> 1. LEGO Direct Responsiveness
>
> As with any new company, there will always be things that start out kind of
> bumpy. Again, referring to the questions above, how bad are we *really*
> doing? I would venture to say that it isn't as much as is talked about here.
> Further, in the scheme of large companies, I am very impressed with all that
> we are doing. I really couldn't tell you about another company the size of
> TLC who has a better response time or who has created a group like LEGO
> Direct to truely empower their consumers.
>
> A good example of this, is the tech support email that I once sent to Sun.
> (I tried calling their tech support number, but after 2.5 hours of hold
> music, I was disconnected and then when I called back it was busy for at
> least an hour, so I sent email) 6, almost 7 months later, I received a reply
> from one of their tech support staff...asking for more details. I responded
> with the details (although we had already figured out how to work around the
> problem). Two months later, they sent me an answer. In my experience, *this*
> is the norm in dealing with large companies. So again, ask yourselves the
> questions above.
>
> Having said that, we are discussing the best way possible to help answer
> questions and inquiries as fast as possible. Please remember that the
> original discussions of response time were based in some part on the 200 or
> so members of LUGNET, not the close to 1000 that we are currently at! We are
> working on a solution.
>
> 2. Troubles accessing shop
>
> We are aware that some Mac users were having some problems with the shop
> menuing. We have reworked it to make it faster. In addition, we have
> completed a round of usability testing in our ongoing commitment to provide
> the best shopping experience possible.
>
> Additionally, we just finished several rounds of usability testing on the
> shop and will be making improvements immediately for future launches (Again,
> outside my projects, so I am not exactly sure when these will go live or
> exactly what they will all be)
>
> As has been stated before, no company in their right minds works on
> modifying their online store code around or during the Christmas shopping
> season, which extends _well_ into January. (Think returns, gift
> certificates, etc.) Now that the season is past, we have started working on
> improvements. As the details of this become more solidified, I will pass
> this info on.
>
> 3. Mosaic gray shades and Mac support
>
> I have passed this comment on the product development folks, but there is no
> simple answer here, as there is no simple solution. There was a great deal
> of thought that went into the selection of the shades. In addition, it takes
> alot of expense to change the kind of things. Not that they can't happen,
> but that they are time consuming and expensive when they do. We are
> currently working on refining the Mosaic app to make it an extremely solid
> application. All other tasks are currently secondary to that.
>
> Again, I have passed this note on to the appropriate person and will let you
> all know what the feedback is.
>
> Also, just to recap Tomas from as few days ago, the reason that there is no
> support for Mosaic on the Mac is due to the very very poor Java Virtual
> Machine (JVM) that the MacOS uses. There are so many problems with it, that
> it caused major problems in the initial coding. That is all I know at this
> point, more to come.
>
> 4. New instruction paper
>
> Thanks for the note! It is great to hear that we are, in fact, doing well
> with some things!! :)
>
> As far as sending a note acknowleding every post, please _know_ that LD
> employees DO read this newsgroup. There are many people who work on many
> things in the organization and personally, I would rather track those people
> down to get answers to outstanding questions, rather than spending that time
> to pass them compliments that they have already read.
>
> Once more, TLC and LD employees DO read LUGNET!!
>
> 5. Current Promotions Page
>
> Someone has actually answered this quite well already. There are a number of
> problems with this, including but not limited to:
>
> - regional promotions, country based promotions
> - contractual issues with certain promotions partners
> - clarity of brand message on LEGO.com (we are trying to keep LEGO.com free
> of "co-branding" or advertising)
>
> 6. Buying bulk Parts from Eurpoe/ Additional Payment methods
>
> I have asked for information on this, and I will pass it on when it comes in.
>
> 7. Speed scrolling and Printable "Fair Play" page
>
> As stated above, LD employees DO read LUGNET, and this should be a great
> example of this fact.
>
> As far as acknoweleding these updates, please understand that we aren't
> "blowing off" the request, or not paying attention. Rather, since we have
> many people working on different aspects of the site, sometimes, the changes
> are made or suggested to someone who isn't a LUGNET member, and therefore
> doesn't post.
>
> 8. Origin of 6500
>
> As Tomas mentioned in an earlier post, we were unable to dig up any info.
> Most likely, this was a set that made it as far as package design, but was
> cancelled before reaching production. This might have happened for many reasons.
>
> 9. Slow load times on S@H
>
> Please see the answer for question #2 above.
>
> 10. Brown Bricks
> The point here was that someone should respond even if all they could say
> was "We are working on it". I somewhat disagree. As of late, the number of
> rumors flying based on that exact statement have been overwhelming. Look at
> the Train Summit post from Larry P. yesterday. There is no correct answer
> unless we are sharing the actual details of the question.
>
> As far as the brown bricks, I am not sure what the rollout schedule is right
> now. I believe that Brad will be discussing that in his next post. If I find
> out anything in the meantime, I will pass it on in the Building section.
>
> 11. Official congratulations for every posting in the media of a LUG or LUGNET
>
> Todd, come on man, I would rather see LEGO Direct employees working on
> enhancements to the web site, improving communication with the community,
> and other LD goals.
>
> We are extremely happy to see success of everything LEGO, but some press
> coverage that includes LUGNET is not necessarily worth congratulations. In
> the "LEGOs Online Dream" article, your quote "A lot of people are worried
> that the Lego Company is spreading itself too thin" was shown by the
> reporter to show that the leader of the largest online LEGO community is not
> behind the TLC efforts.
>
> Alright, this message has taken more than an hour to put together, so I will
> cut it off now! (Plus if you read this far, you must getting really tired! :)
>
> I am sure that this message will generate a great number of responses and
> opinions, but hopefully has answered many questions.
>
> Now let's get back to the business at hand...building! In fact, I am off to
> build the new Dragon sculpture!
>
> Thanks!!
>
> Jake
>
> ----
> Jake McKee
> Sr. Producer - LEGO Direct
>
> The views expressed in this message do not necessarily reflect those of my
> employeer
--
See my LEGO creations at
http://cmasi.chem.tulane.edu/~lego/
Public key available upon request.
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