In response to yesterday's rant about WebTrends, I got an email this morning from Scott Driscoll, Product Manager at WebTrends. He says they're working on improving usability and want a chat about what I've experienced. A very positive sign.
Building software for a general market is hard. You have so many conflicting demands, and the people writing specs and cutting code are generally the furthest away from the people using the software and so have to make decisions without fully understanding what's needed. Then there's the pressure to cram ever more features in. I know, I've been there.
This is a very positive move from WebTrends. Engaging people who use the product every day can only improve things, and I imagine there is quite a bit of market pressure on companies like WebTrends (we're talking figures with five zeros on them to buy WebTrends) competing against Google's free tool.
I'm quite looking forward to giving my feedback. Hopefully I can be quite helpful for them, and the result should at least make part of my day-to-day job easier.