Actinic Conference

[kathynewman]

Had a great time - was really good to meet Tracey, Andy, Alan, Pan, Jan, Simon & Rich - oh that the Actinic Stuff wasn't too bad either :D

[guccij]

I would like to know how bad the hangovers are this morning ...

[Bruce]

From experience, they are usually quite bad .. lol ..

[acompton]

Who's going to be first to dish the news on what features Actinic announced...?

[TraceyHand]

how come you weren't there, Bruce?

Apparently 5am was 'bedtime' last night so I guess there will be some rough heads today!
We were sensible though (eh, Rich/Sean?) we were done by 11.30!


I had a fantastic day and evening though. Can't wait for the next 'excuse'!

[Goz]

Who's going to be first to dish the news on what features Actinic announced...?


After having that NDPPS sprung on us, I'm not sure we should be discussing that here! I'm surprised at you Alan, even mentioning it! You'll be wanting to reveal the timetable next! But I guess we can talk about all the features they didn't talk about? ;)

[acompton]

After having that NDPPS sprung on us,
I don't remember that. Nor were we asked to sign NDAs.

[Goz]

The Non Disclosure Power Point Screen....the James Bond poster.....For Your Eyes Only :D

[Benjamin Dyer]

The Non Disclosure Power Point Screen....the James Bond poster.....For Your Eyes Only :D

I hope you liked that, also I can report over 12 brave souls made it to Paintballing this morning. ;)

The roadmap includes a number of items we are working on as well as the features we are working towards for future releases.

We are currently in the process of finalising the features for v10, which we plan to announce on the community.

I would like to thank everyone for attending the conference. One of the commitments we are making is to schedule a user / partner conference in 2009 with significantly more capacity, further details will follow.

Thanks!

[Goz]

I hope you liked that, also I can report over 12 brave souls made it to Paintballing this morning. ;)

Afternoon Ben

You don't mention if you made it to the paintballing :D


Definitely worth my while coming down yesterday. Learnt lots and met lots.

I hadn't realised that Actinic Payments had been so heavily integrated into the main product. It was worth attending just for Darren's live demo! :D

[TraceyHand]

It was worth attending just for Darren's live demo! :D
For entertainment value, was that?
LOL.

[Goz]

Exactly. :D

But it was illuminating - learnt lots.

[Benjamin Dyer]

For entertainment value, was that?
LOL.

Sorry this won't be a huge reply, it's now the turn of the developers to get together, so still in Winchester on iPhone! (hotel wifi is a bit sukky)

It's fantastic those that came found it usefull. Obviously this was the first time we have done this on this scale, a lot to think about for the user conference.

Daz has joined an elite club, live demos on test systems (with test accounts) on hotel wifi is always fun! ;) Those of you that came to discuss payments with him after would have seen it in action!

Oh and yes I was at paintballing, Actinic Director is only one of my roles, I also get to drive the minibus!

If you came to the conference and I didn't get a chance to speak to you, my apologies, but you may have been hiding after an hour of me whittering ;)

Right better get back to the developers conf, cheers all!

[Rich Brady]

Who's going to be first to dish the news on what features Actinic announced...?

Okay, I will...

9.03 will be released soon! :D

[TraceyHand]

Okay, I will...

9.03 will be released soon! :D

blimey...sticking your neck out there, Rich!
:D

[pnagames]

blimey...sticking your neck out there, Rich!
:D

oi you lot keep quiet

we were not supposed to reveal that :D

it was good to meet some of the rejects...

it was also a good experience to see the variety of people and business using actinic.

i am please with the outcome of the conference and imho it was a succesful conference.

[george]

Daz has joined an elite club



*waves bye bye to Daz*

[TraceyHand]

he was far too comfortable with that mic anyway.
Something had to go wrong!
The demo was still good though

[gabrielcrowe]

The roadmap includes a number of items we are working on as well as the features we are working towards for future releases.

We are currently in the process of finalising the features for v10, which we plan to announce on the community.

... to schedule a user / partner conference in 2009 with significantly more capacity, further details will follow.

Thanks!

No, thankyou. This is great news.

[Jan]

I enjoyed meeting people and putting faces to voices as well, it was also fascinating to see who looked like I thought that they would and who didn't.

Regards,

[acompton]

I can confidently say thay Jan is somewhat taller than her avatar picture (athough still shorter than I had imagined).
By contrast, Zoltan (Actinic) is a towering giant!

[Darren]

he was far too comfortable with that mic anyway.
Something had to go wrong!

I have a feeling I wont be asked to do demos again :D

[Goz]

So, what you're saying Darren, is that it was a deliberate ploy on your part to make the live demo fail....:D

[Darren]

So, what you're saying Darren, is that it was a deliberate ploy on your part to make the live demo fail....:D

I invoke the fifth amendment, my boss is monitoring this thread!

[Darren B]

Well hopefully i can make the next one and meet some more of you, Halloween was not a good time, especially when you have a little one.

[plantsforshade]

I must say I enjoyed the day, well once I had got my little bit done anyway. One always feels that most people in the room know more about the software than one does! Several people said they enjoyed it and even more were interested in buying plants ! I must admit when CB rang me up and twisted my arm to talk about us and how we use Actinic I was unsure but he did have quite a spread of different users amongst the six of us.
I probably am not letting too much out by saying the emphasis that Actinic has for developments in V10 and on is geared very much to shop owners and users rather than designers, and should make order taking and processing much better, and is really encouraging from my point of view.

Regards

Nigel

[fergusw]

especially when you have a little one.

:rolleyes: Ahem....

I was really wanting to make this one, however events conspired.
The journey down, plus "my little one" stopped the trip this time.

I'll definitely be aiming to attend the next one. Sounds like this one has been valuable for the attendees.

[Darren B]

Behave fergus, it's to early

besides what happened to my pm i sent you?;)

[Goz]

I probably am not letting too much out by saying the emphasis that Actinic has for developments in V10 and on is geared very much to shop owners and users rather than designers, and should make order taking and processing much better, and is really encouraging from my point of view.

Regards

Nigel


I agree, Nigel, that the developments will be focused on usability for the shop owner, which is great - but they will also make the job of the designer easier (not having to create work arounds, for example) and, ultimately, make Actinic a much more saleable (??) proposition to put to clients (I think that makes sense.... it did to me!)

[plantsforshade]

Very true.

Best

Nigel

[leehack]

From reading these last few posts one could get the impression that a huge swing of emphasis from designers over to the shop owners is going to happen. I just can't see that happening as there has been almost zilch emphasis specifically for the designer on V9 anyway and the only successful working part for designers in V8, was the DW integration. Did i miss something else?

Improvements in the software benefit all parties for sure, but all a designer needs is a working DW integration and a way to successfully pass a design over to a client. The rest is their own skill, experience and knowledge, which is nothing to do with the software at all.

[RuralWeb]

From what I know the work being done is towards the customer and not the designer - perhaps someone could post a summary of what was said at the conference so those of us who are under NDA know what we can and cannot discuss now V10 is in the wild

[leehack]

Designers don't need anything new though do they, all they need is the functions released in V8 to work correctly. All other problems are experienced by both clients and designers and therefore not designer specific from my perspective. I don't need anything new personally, i just want old things fixed.

[RuralWeb]

all they need is the functions released in V8 to work correctly.
Dont want much do you:D

[leehack]

Dont want much do you:D
3 years waiting is my breaking point, I'm safe for 6 months or so :D.

[Benjamin Dyer]

From what I know the work being done is towards the customer and not the designer - perhaps someone could post a summary of what was said at the conference so those of us who are under NDA know what we can and cannot discuss now V10 is in the wild

Hi Mal,

Regarding v10, its not really 'out in the wild' just yet, we have identified a roadmap for v10 onwards. We are getting there WRT identifying the contents of v10, when its ready we will publish on the community. Hopefully wont be that long! As far as I know this is a big move for us, we haven't done this before.

Something that has really helped is meeting a number of you, obviously you all have slightly different requirements and we need to assimilate the huge amount of notes and emails.

Ben

[RuralWeb]

Thanks ben I'll get back in my box then.

[acompton]

perhaps someone could post a summary of what was said at the conference

Brief summary:
Chris Barling (CEO) opened with an admission of the quality and support problems that had plagued recent releases. He outlined the efforts that had been made to rectify those problems: development effort on bug fixing and an increase in the support team. He also apologised for the lack of communication and said that the conference was one step towards rectifying that. He announced the User Conference to be held in London in 2009.

6 Actinic shopkeepers made their presentations. They came from a range of retail areas and business sizes. Suffice to say, they all had enjoyed success with Actinic and they all highlighted problem areas specific to their business. There was a lively question session following each presentation.

Ben Dyer (Development Director) briefly listed the functional areas being considered for the next three future releases. He gave neither a timetable, nor any indication of what would be included in V10, as this was still under discussion. There was no mention of feature balance for Designers vs. Shop Owners although it could be inferred from recent posts on the forum. The list did not disappoint and each item was greeted with muted cheers (we were being very reserved and British, I think).

Darren ? (Quality Assurance) did his now famous presentation of the integration of Actinic Payments within the Actinic Application. As Goz has stated earlier, this was quite impressive.

After the formal session, informal demonstrations and discussion took place. I noticed that the Actinic staff were taking notes during discussions with us. I took it as a sign that they are listening.

[Goz]

Brief summary:
I noticed that the Actinic staff were taking notes during discussions with us. I took it as a sign that they are listening.

I took it as a sign that they were writing. :D

[Sean Williams]

Belated Hi! to everyone I met at the conference, from both Actinic and from us gaggle of serfs. It was great to meet you all - I was very taken with just how friendly everyone was - particularly the poor beleaguered Actinic staff!

I thought the openness and willingness of the Staff to discuss both the good and bad points of Actinic as a piece of software and as a company was very encouraging and made me feel much better about everything.
So much so in fact, I'm renewing my Cover :eek:

The other thing that was encouraging was that all of us users work long and hard at running the business and using Actinic - this gives me comfort when sitting here at all hours; nice to know it's not just me ;)

Looking forward to next year's Do already.

Sean

[TraceyHand]

Belated Hi! to everyone I met at the conference, from both Actinic and from us gaggle of serfs.

hey! I resemble that remark!

It was a good day though followed by a good evening (of restaurant 'entertainment' :D )

[Rich Brady]

Sean,

Did you get back to the station okay in the morning or did you have to suffer another long walk?

Tracey, did you have those guys waiting on you at breakfast too? :eek:

[Sean Williams]

Lol - I wimped out and took a taxi down to Winchester station.
The Tariffa was very happy - whistling gaily and humming along.
I discovered why when it came time to pay - £18.00+ for a ten minute journey :eek:

I should have walked :D