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  #1  
Old 08-04-2022, 01:05 AM
simonchase simonchase is offline
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Default Feature request section here vs AVID Link

This may be screaming into the wind. But could we set up a feature request section of this message board?

I know that we're meant to use the AVID Link but it's hopeless. It's unusable. It's DOA. There's no way to even sort for popular ideas that might get traction. Once you've scrolled down a page or two the scroll bar becomes impossible to use. After a month the ideas there just die. Engagement there is negligible. It's slightly a chicken and egg problem but people went to ideascale because it was usable. People are not engaging with the AVID Link lounge because it's badly implemented.

Perhaps with some strict guidelines, some merging of threads with duplicate ideas, etc etc etc it could be a useful place here. Is it possible to add "upvote" functionality to this forum?

Even if we just said that once an idea gets say 15 upvotes or "enough" engagement, someone adds it to the AVID link area and alerts people to upvote it there. I don't know.

I do know that it's so frustrating that AVID will not fix things that aren't technically "bugs" but that are just hopeless implementation. Things that would be utterly simple to fix. There seems to be no way to shake the tree there.

Sorry for the rant.
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  #2  
Old 08-04-2022, 08:19 AM
RossH RossH is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

+1! I didn't even know you could submit feature requests through Avid Link, first I've heard of this.
Also agree Avid Link is pretty bad.
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  #3  
Old 08-04-2022, 06:19 PM
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ChrisBové ChrisBové is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

Hi everyone.

Feature requests can be submitted using Avid Link. I worked with the Avid Link team to make changes to the Link Lounges a few months ago, and would like you to try the process below.

One thing to note however, and I can't stress this enough... The good changes we made are NOT visible if you are running an older version of Link. So go to your Link app, or go to the Download Center, and get yourself onto the latest version. In fact, there was a new version released today - Link 2022.7.1.

1) Launch Link version 2022.4 or later.

2) In Link 2022.7.1, you'll see the new three-dot menu in the upper left corner. In there, you can click "Customize Toolbar". Make sure "Lounges" is checked. (And yes, as you'll see, you can now uncheck some of the tabs on the left, in order to remove the additional tabs you don't want to see anymore.)

3) Click on the Lounges Tab. We've renamed them. The three at the top are for Pro Tools. "Pro Tools - Get Help" is a Lounge that the Community Team monitors constantly, and you can use it to get our help in creating Support Cases. The Lounge called "Collaborating and Creating Music" is more for high-end discussions between professionals. "Share My Music" is all about posting stuff you've worked on and letting others get a listen. But as you'll see, the one at the bottom is called Feature Requests. If you click on that one, you'll see Pro Tools.

4) Add your feature requests here. and here's the trick -- Do you see in the top right corner where it allows you to sort by "Most Recent Activity"? Go ahead and change that to "Number of Likes". That allows this Link Lounge to behave like a voting system, and our internal staff can see your favorites.


Now... There's one issue with this implementation, and I would LOVE your help with it... Do you see how many times "ARA Support" is listed by numerous users? It would be wonderful if everyone would take a moment before posting their feature request, and see if someone has already done so, and then simply vote on theirs. Having a dozen different posts requesting ARA2 is fine, but it clutters the place up, don't you think?

Many of you will remember when we implemented Ideascale. This was a paid service Avid used for a time, but was only intended to be a temporary implementation because Ideascale costs money to set up and maintain. We implemented it, we got what we needed, and then we ended it. Then, we put that money towards the internal development resources to implement the requests that everyone gave us. It was a terrific service to get us up-and-running with a new agenda of requests, but we're now done with it. It did its job.

So, now we have this process with the Lounges - which is free to us, because it is our own product. Plus, it is monitored by me, by our Community Team, and by the product managers themselves.

The DUC forum here doesn't have the proper tools to implement a voting system in the way customers would expect it to run. So for now, please use the Lounges. Plus - don't forget that you can also use Link on your Smartphone.

I hope that clears a few things up. As usual, feel free to comment below, or to email me directly with any comments, concerns, or ideas. Hit me at [email protected]
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  #4  
Old 08-04-2022, 06:33 PM
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ChrisBové ChrisBové is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

Side note -- About Avid Link...

There are many customers I talk to, both on the Pro Tools and the Media Composer side of the product lines, who are a bit confused about Avid Link - its purpose, and how to handle it.

Probably because it hasn't had the... shall we say... most pleasant history with customers Alright I'll be blunt, it was a huge resource hog for many, many years - first as "Application Manager" and later as Link.

The good news there is that the development team finally stripped-away all of the old code that was bogging it down. As of the version that came out in June of 2021, the team focused efforts on making it run incredibly light... because they are intending for it to be running in the background without hitting your performance in the form of RAM pressure. Compared to what it used to be, it's a great deal better... almost unnoticeable.

So, with all that said, many people are confused by Links' versions. Here's the skinny -- If you are running a version of Pro Tools or Media Composer that is older, no problem. That is your preference and prerogative as a business owner. However, that does NOT mean that you need to run the "matching" version of Link that PT came with. In fact, it's a bad idea to do so.

Everyone who runs PT should be running the most recent version of Link possible. Apps that assist in the validation and/or launching of licenses and entitlements -- from Link to Creative Cloud to whatever else -- need to be as current as possible, in order to grant you access to your licenses as cleanly as possible. That's the way they work.

So, if you don't want to upgrade your primary apps while in the middle of a project, then you're following good, safe, professional protocols. However for the Link app, upgrading to the newest version is equally safe and responsible.
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  #5  
Old 08-04-2022, 06:39 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

[this reply crossed Chris' last post. but Avid Link is not stable and not trusted...]

Chris you seem a little out of touch with the reality that Avid link is a steaming buggy mess and you just seem to be ignoring that kinda important issue. That's the whole reason for this thread. i.e. Given it's a buggy mess what is the answer for reporting feature requests to Avid? So how about addressing that issue?

Many of us will not install Link bloatware on our systems, it's another suspect badly done buggy piece of crap, sadly like many new things Avid tries.

[Edit and no it's not fixed its still buggy...]

Avid has been all over the place in past years with managing feature suggestions, using third party web tools etc. and all that seemed a failure. So now the plan is to stick this on top of a inherently buggy platform? Who is making these decisions?

Edit: there is also something suspicious here with replying on tools for this. Who are the Pro Tools product managers? They should have a very good feel from just talking to customers, reading DUC and other forums etc. To some extent these "submit feature requests" are performance art, if you folks really need them something is wrong. (I have decades of high-tech product management experience and just scratch my head at all this).

Last edited by Darryl Ramm; 08-04-2022 at 06:59 PM.
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  #6  
Old 08-05-2022, 09:10 AM
smurfyou smurfyou is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

I think working on the Ideascale backlog should be a priority.

I agree most sensible users are not running Avid Link. It is poorly implemented and frankly most professional users don’t want anything extra running in the background. Especially with constant network activity and RAM usage.

An on-demand installation manager would be better. But even then most companies seem to do that really poorly. Spitfire comes to mind of one that works like I expect it to.
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  #7  
Old 08-05-2022, 01:20 PM
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ChrisBové ChrisBové is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm View Post
[this reply crossed Chris' last post. but Avid Link is not stable and not trusted...]

Chris you seem a little out of touch with the reality that Avid link is a steaming buggy mess and you just seem to be ignoring that kinda important issue. That's the whole reason for this thread. i.e. Given it's a buggy mess what is the answer for reporting feature requests to Avid? So how about addressing that issue?
Hi Darryl, happy to do so. And I'm happy you want to dig deeper into this stuff.

First, know that I did see that in the above post, and nearly every time I'm answering questions about Link being "buggy", I triage the issue with the customer and we realize that they are running older versions. Hence why I clarified the need to always be on the newest one possible.

Second, I need exact criteria from you if I'm going to answer as best as possible. "Steaming buggy mess" doesn't give me specifics... and when we get specifics, that's when we are able to turn issues into bug fixes and feature requests. Could you launch the latest version of the app, test a few things, and then let me know what they are? For example, we have a known bug that we're working on in which some of the names of plugins are too long, and so in Link they are getting cut-off.

Every software ever made has bugs and has need for improvement. If you can spot some specific stuff, I'll forward it to the internal teams to get them looked at.
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  #8  
Old 08-05-2022, 02:41 PM
cmhawke cmhawke is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisBové View Post
Hi Darryl, happy to do so. And I'm happy you want to dig deeper into this stuff.

First, know that I did see that in the above post, and nearly every time I'm answering questions about Link being "buggy", I triage the issue with the customer and we realize that they are running older versions. Hence why I clarified the need to always be on the newest one possible.

Second, I need exact criteria from you if I'm going to answer as best as possible. "Steaming buggy mess" doesn't give me specifics... and when we get specifics, that's when we are able to turn issues into bug fixes and feature requests. Could you launch the latest version of the app, test a few things, and then let me know what they are? For example, we have a known bug that we're working on in which some of the names of plugins are too long, and so in Link they are getting cut-off.

Every software ever made has bugs and has need for improvement. If you can spot some specific stuff, I'll forward it to the internal teams to get them looked at.
Hi Chris, I stumbled across this thread and saw your recommendation to update to 2022.7.1. I myself am interested in updating to that from 2022.7 to see if a bug is fixed. Unfortunately, on both my devices running Windows 11, I have been unable to do so. On one device, express install is enabled, and on the other, it's not (due to aforementioned bug), but on both the same problems occur:

If I try to upgrade via the Avid Link interface, it hangs for a little bit (says Installing...), eventually goes to the User Account Control dialogue, which I press Yes on, then hangs some more, before reverting to saying that 2022.7 is installed and there being the 2022.7.1 update available.

If I instead try to upgrade via the downloadable installer (AvidLink_22.7.1_win), a seemingly similar phenomenon occurs. When I double-tap on AvidLinkSetup.exe, it hangs for a bit (i.e. cursor has the loading circle icon next to it), goes to the User Account Control dialogue, which I press Yes on, then hangs some more, before the cursor returns to normal, and apparently nothing has happened. Avid Link is still on 2022.7.

Troubleshooting steps I tried were to close Avid Link before using the separate installer, as well as restart the PC. I thought about uninstalling Avid Link entirely to install 2022.7.1 from scratch, but am wondering if that would work, as it seems the fault may relate to the 2022.7.1 installation process. Thanks for any help.
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  #9  
Old 08-08-2022, 08:20 AM
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ChrisBové ChrisBové is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

Hi Connorhawke, and thanks for asking.

I know that most people use Link for updating and installing, but I personally have been doing so from the Download Center for years and years now. No shade to Link, it's just my muscle memory.

Try downloading and installing from there. Go to your MyAvid account, login, and find the My Products page. On it is the link to the Download Center, followed by the link to Avid Link.

If that doesn't work, and you still see issues, hit me with a quick email at [email protected] and I'll get a support case created for you. There might be something on your system - like a remnant of a crash or a cache issue - that we could remote-in and clean up for you.

Thanks!
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  #10  
Old 08-08-2022, 08:40 AM
simonchase simonchase is offline
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Default Re: Feature request section here vs AVID Link

Hi Chris,

I can tell you're sincerely trying to help give people a way to give feedback.

But I'm sceptical to say the least about AVID link. If I load up chrome and click on a bookmark to come here and talk about Pro Tools I'm here within three seconds, scrolling through 20 ideas and discussion points.

AVID link takes ages to load, the scroll bar is laggy, it's grey on grey with small font, there's no way to sort by top voted ideas, there's one big "Pro Tools" area rather than subsections that may be of interest to some but not others, I can see only five or six ideas per page rather than twenty here on the DUC. And I may be mistaken, but I see close to zero engagement there by AVID, responding to users and discussing their ideas.

It needs a complete overhaul if AVID wants it to be a place where their customers want to spend time. Your enthusiasm aside, the cynic in me thinks AVID made it badly on purpose so nobody would go there and bother them.

Remember when the "new" software release model was announced and AVID said it would allow for more frequent bug fixes and updates? How about if in the release notes on 2022.8 it had a section saying which of the new features came from the feedback area of AVID Link. Maybe the top five suggestions every month. That would get people there. "Thanks to user JohnSmith for suggesting this one back in May"

But instead it seems to be a place where a few good ideas appear, they gradually slip down the timeline, never to be thought of again, safe for AVID to ignore.

Maybe AVID could let us know the top ten features per year implemented as a result of suggestions from the Feature Request area of the AVID link since it was introduced back in 2018. And how many upvotes those ideas got. I'm sure AVID would like to trumpet the successful results that came from closing the ideascale. Four years, no doubt that's 40 great ideas from the user base, now in the code.

I apologise if I sound snarky, that's not my intention. I just want somewhere to be able to give feedback where I feel there's a chance of any ideas getting traction.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisBové View Post
Hi everyone.

Feature requests can be submitted using Avid Link. I worked with the Avid Link team to make changes to the Link Lounges a few months ago, and would like you to try the process below.

One thing to note however, and I can't stress this enough... The good changes we made are NOT visible if you are running an older version of Link. So go to your Link app, or go to the Download Center, and get yourself onto the latest version. In fact, there was a new version released today - Link 2022.7.1.

1) Launch Link version 2022.4 or later.

2) In Link 2022.7.1, you'll see the new three-dot menu in the upper left corner. In there, you can click "Customize Toolbar". Make sure "Lounges" is checked. (And yes, as you'll see, you can now uncheck some of the tabs on the left, in order to remove the additional tabs you don't want to see anymore.)

3) Click on the Lounges Tab. We've renamed them. The three at the top are for Pro Tools. "Pro Tools - Get Help" is a Lounge that the Community Team monitors constantly, and you can use it to get our help in creating Support Cases. The Lounge called "Collaborating and Creating Music" is more for high-end discussions between professionals. "Share My Music" is all about posting stuff you've worked on and letting others get a listen. But as you'll see, the one at the bottom is called Feature Requests. If you click on that one, you'll see Pro Tools.

4) Add your feature requests here. and here's the trick -- Do you see in the top right corner where it allows you to sort by "Most Recent Activity"? Go ahead and change that to "Number of Likes". That allows this Link Lounge to behave like a voting system, and our internal staff can see your favorites.


Now... There's one issue with this implementation, and I would LOVE your help with it... Do you see how many times "ARA Support" is listed by numerous users? It would be wonderful if everyone would take a moment before posting their feature request, and see if someone has already done so, and then simply vote on theirs. Having a dozen different posts requesting ARA2 is fine, but it clutters the place up, don't you think?

Many of you will remember when we implemented Ideascale. This was a paid service Avid used for a time, but was only intended to be a temporary implementation because Ideascale costs money to set up and maintain. We implemented it, we got what we needed, and then we ended it. Then, we put that money towards the internal development resources to implement the requests that everyone gave us. It was a terrific service to get us up-and-running with a new agenda of requests, but we're now done with it. It did its job.

So, now we have this process with the Lounges - which is free to us, because it is our own product. Plus, it is monitored by me, by our Community Team, and by the product managers themselves.

The DUC forum here doesn't have the proper tools to implement a voting system in the way customers would expect it to run. So for now, please use the Lounges. Plus - don't forget that you can also use Link on your Smartphone.

I hope that clears a few things up. As usual, feel free to comment below, or to email me directly with any comments, concerns, or ideas. Hit me at [email protected]
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