by Ambrosia Software Users
This section features reader response to Ambrosia’s software & service. We will include the good with the bad, and address any problems brought to our attention. These are real people, writing real letters about real issues. Feel free to drop us a line.
>>> “Hello everybody. I was searchin’ your forum when lo and behold an instructional program for Chiral had settled amongst the other software. Well, since I threw out Chiral perplexed at its complex game play and stuff like that, I figured that I wouldn’t download it. My hands thought otherwise. I now have both Chiral and the basics for it. Well, its a lot more fun now that I know how to use it.”
-- Yas07016
— We’re glad it helps out. A lot of users were perplexed by Chiral’s relatively steep learning curve. Our Technical Service Manager, “Cajun” David Richard, was able to take all of his experience handling Chiral questions and turn it into a pretty neat application. Chiral Basics is now bundled with Chiral the game, and is also available separately for those who have already downloaded the game. For more information about this interactive tutorial, click on the icon below.
>>> “Many people are going to be purchasing Power Computing clones soon, due to their lower prices and 100% compatibility. Perhaps in your product lists and catalogs you should list Requirements as ‘Any Macintosh or 100% compatible’ rather than ‘Any Macintosh.’ Just my 2¢.”
-- Matt Lee
— Hmmm. What a brave new world us Mac enthusiasts are entering. I even hear that Apple is thinking of packaging and selling the Mac Operating System for use on those other machines.
Your suggestion definitely makes sense. We will be adding Mac Clone operators to our Beta-testing program real soon. Ambrosia actually tests all of its new products with existing machines, and existing products with new machines and operating systems. That way, if we say Maelstrom will run fine on your shiny new Power Mac with OS 7.5.1 it is because we know it will. We've tested it.
Until we actually get to test on a clone though, we’re not going to lay any claims. Not that I don’t trust those nice folks who are making the clones, we just want to make doubly sure.
>>> “I started to use your Bomb Shelter. About an hour ago I saw a ‘bomb’ but I could keep using my Mac without restarting. GREAT! I am very grateful that you provide this software.(And it is FREEware). Bye bye now.”
-- Kawamoto, Kyoto Japan.
—Thanks a lot. We appreciate your enthusiasm. Remember though, if it’s worth having; it’s worth saving. Bomb Shelter is a handy little utility but nothing beats a back-up copy. I know this, but I still sacrifice a fair amount of data to the mercurial god of crashes.
>>> “Well, I hope that you are getting SOME type of payment for advertising Ginseng Iced Tea, cuz it is BLOODY ADDICTIVE! Though I must say, it is the most tasty drink I’ve ever had. I drink it in the morning, at night, even when I’m asleep I guzzle on those 20 Oz bottles. Just today I bought a 24 pack of it... *gulp* Aw, there goes another pretty Cobalt Blue bottle. Well, you guy’s really made me find something terrific, thanx guy's! Gotta go get another bottle. Catch’ya on the flip side!”
-- Matt “Mykroft” Harmon
— Nope. That was a general public service announcement. I really am enjoying the responses that little article generated. It seems Ginseng Tea is just an edible version of WD 40 when it comes to usefulness.
We do however get our Ginseng tea at a sweet wholesale price from a local merchant who sells Snapple and Arizona beverages, as well as tombstones. Yes, grave markers. I little odd walking into the monument shop every week, but a deal is a deal.
>>> “ This is a fabulous game [Swoop]!!! Keep up the great work!”
-- Greg Pranzo, New York
— Thanks, I'll pass on the good word to Dave Wareing, Swoop’s author. Dave spent a lot of time with Swoop, and we are very, very happy with the results. From the looks of things, Swoop players are happy with the game as well. Folks like yourself, who register the shareware they use/enjoy, keep us in business. As long as we have your support, we’ll continue to develop, publish and support quality shareware.
Ambrosia is having a Swoop High Score contest. Click on the icon below for more information.
>>> “Great product [Eclipse 2.2.0]. Especially like being able to paste photo for screensaver. I would like to have the option of having NO sleep corner. This is useful for those of us with flight-sim games.”
-- Brian Moe, California
— Well I’m glad you appreciate our muscular little screensaver. It does offer a lot of the options found on bigger screen saver packages but takes up much less memory.
Surprise! Eclipse does in fact have the no sleep corner, we call it a “Don’t dim corner.” There is a dialog box, the same one you used to paste in your photo, that allows you to designate which corners are the dim now/dim never ones.
Actually, Eclipse version 3.0.0 is close to being done and will have even more neat features but still remain simple, small, and useful. You can designate your flight-sim game as an Application in which Eclipse should not dim. Click on the below Go To Icon to be taken to a current article about the new Eclipse.
>>>“I faxed in my registration, why wasn’t my code faxed to me?”
--Anonymous
— Sorry, but our standard procedure is to mail via U.S. Postal Service everyone who registers. If you phone, we can provide the code, and if you eMail we will eMail it back. Faxing involves busy signals, long distance rates, dealing with phone/fax machines, and waking customers on the other side of the world up in the middle of the night. We try to keep our prices rock bottom and provide as good a service as we can. The cost of faxing back individual registration codes is not figured into your low shareware fee.
The next logical question would be why one would even bother faxing in registrations than. The answer to that is that it does in fact reduce our response time. The order is processed within 24 hours of being faxed. This is a big time savings over dropping it in the mail. Usually it can cut your response time in about half.
