I realize in this age of instant communication, posts that "last forever," and taking things out of context it's hard for a company to be transparent with the supporters as competitors may use admissions of temporary shortcomings of the product as an advertisement of inferiority. But I believe that a very high percentage of users realize that there are bugs and issues with every advanced software application, especially when you start to engage in some of the more complex features in heavy use scenarios.
It is reassuring to know that there are real people, that you can see and hear working behind the scenes on the software that many of us have used for so many years. I believe such transparency promotes brand loyalty, better communication and ultimately a better and more efficiently developed product. When I see people dressed for work in a office environment fully engaged in the product it makes me personally much more liable to go for the upgrade even if I don't absolutely need it. Not just to support the software, but more importantly the people behind it that need to support themselves.
It's fascinating to me with Vegas Pro as complicated as it is and the myriad amount of hardware that it must perform in how a manager can keep all of this data/functions in his mind without being carted off to the funny farm. This indeed reminds me of the complexity of the older Western Electric/Bell telephone systems and the print systems on how to troubleshoot it. Yes, that's one of the things I have done. (Unix)
I actually appreciate seeing you two talking about Vegas. I remember eons ago I watched a webinar series Gary did and it was quite helpful. I would like to see even more in depth questions or maybe a stream where we could ask questions live. It is so nice to actually SEE the people behind Vegas. And I'd love to see the outtakes!!!