Someone on the Verbots forum asked who was in charge of Verbots.com these days and in the ensuing discussion (with Aaron and my internal to myself) I began to wonder what Verbots users think there is going on development-wise.
Take a look at the past:
If we look at Matt's brief post A little history: Chatterbots and Conversive we can see that, in terms of major developments, there haven't been any since 2006 when Verbots Online was introduced. The Verbots Desktop 5 I believe was a push to make Verbots Desktop compatible with a newer version of .NET and to get it working with Windows 7. If I had to guess Matt probably spent less than a months worth of work (part time) on it. No significant development in 6 years says something about the product.
Look at the present:
Have you ever noticed the Conversive.com site makes no reference to Verbots.com? I think Verbots was kept around as a kind of introductory service compared to the full enterprise approach Conversive took. In the end not many hobbyists run Fortune 500 companies or at least none ended up buying. The recent shuttering of Verbots Online shows the company didn't have time to focus on the hobbyist market anymore. (I hope the community is able to come up with a free / open-source version for those still using the service.)
I don't know what will come of the Verbots or the future of its development past this day. I'm not speaking for the company, rather sharing my own experience in dealing with the extension that is Verbots. If there is a strong enough community and if that community is helped out along the way I can see many parts of Verbots living on past any one organization, let's just hope that happens. How it survives is anyone's guess.
Take a look at the past:
If we look at Matt's brief post A little history: Chatterbots and Conversive we can see that, in terms of major developments, there haven't been any since 2006 when Verbots Online was introduced. The Verbots Desktop 5 I believe was a push to make Verbots Desktop compatible with a newer version of .NET and to get it working with Windows 7. If I had to guess Matt probably spent less than a months worth of work (part time) on it. No significant development in 6 years says something about the product.
Look at the present:
Have you ever noticed the Conversive.com site makes no reference to Verbots.com? I think Verbots was kept around as a kind of introductory service compared to the full enterprise approach Conversive took. In the end not many hobbyists run Fortune 500 companies or at least none ended up buying. The recent shuttering of Verbots Online shows the company didn't have time to focus on the hobbyist market anymore. (I hope the community is able to come up with a free / open-source version for those still using the service.)
I don't know what will come of the Verbots or the future of its development past this day. I'm not speaking for the company, rather sharing my own experience in dealing with the extension that is Verbots. If there is a strong enough community and if that community is helped out along the way I can see many parts of Verbots living on past any one organization, let's just hope that happens. How it survives is anyone's guess.
Matt is no longer with Conversive. Will Avaya release the Verbots Online SDK Matt built before he left? There are some hobbyist who have spent hundred of hours developing their Online Verbots. These dedicated people would like to see their Verbots back on the Web.
ReplyDelete- Mapestone
Yes please, tell me what is happening with Verbot..probably one of the best knowledge base A.I programs around. Conversive, your maintenance on the Verbot Forum is getting very poor..
ReplyDeletegaffa
If you have a problem with the maintenance on the Verbots Forum, start a thread there and we'll see what we can do. I have no idea what will happen with the SDK Matt created.
ReplyDeleteIt's checked into the Verbots source control repository (I showed aaron where it was), it was ready to be released, I just didn't get the go-ahead/approval from Avaya before I left.
ReplyDelete-Matt
Is verbots 5 still downloadable? I tried asking in the forum 3 times but I think my posts are being ignored as spam. Can't contact admin cause I need to post more. Can't post unless they know I'm not spamming. Please email me at lofugirl@hot mail.com for my user name matt.
ReplyDeleteJe voudrai telecharger l'application. Comment faire ?
ReplyDeletemerci.
It gives exhaustive learning of the subject. Everything written in this blog is near acceptable level. I am certain nobody can raise any issue about all the data conveyed here.
ReplyDeletewebchat
Verbot 5 Is still downloadable on CNet.com but i don't know about Verbotonline IDK will it work or not.
ReplyDelete