Bugs bite hard at Talentbreed

A defect in the latest version of Zetafax, a fax software package from Equisys, caused major headaches last week for one small dealer.

Michael Hobbs of Talentbreed, a Var based at Camberley, Surrey, slammed the software vendor for being insensitive to the problems facing small dealers.

'As a dealer, I spend so much time rectifying problems that have been caused by faulty goods and software,' he said.

Equisys offered Hobbs several options, which it says are standard for any of its resellers, regardless of their size.

Solutions to software problems are available via the Internet or email.

In addition, replacement disks will be biked to companies in London.

But for firms outside London, replacement disks are couriered overnight.

Without Internet access, however, Hobbs said the result was a loss of two days' work - a big amount for a small dealer.

The software developer is keen not to have the situation blown out of proportion, as only five of its sites have experienced the problem. Several hundred copies have been shipped each week since the release of Zetafax 5 in October.

The error, a file sharing violation message, only affects 16-bit clients using Windows 3.x.

Alan Colley, NT consultant for Equisys reseller Morse NT, said: 'We started with Equisys from nothing. One recent problem we had was solved by the company within 20 minutes. In Scotland we are the company's local presence, so perhaps in a more competitive environment our relationship could be different.'