SDLX sickness

This weekend I thought about what will Trados and SDLX together result into. And I recalled my very first tests that I did in 2002 or 2003. I had to make a comparison and select a TM solution for our new company and our main client. I'll try to find this comparison chart in my archives and publish or quote it here. I do remember there were Trados, SDLX, Deja Vu, Wordfast and some more TM systems.

Based on it, what I suggested to our client was SDLX. Why? Because it was nice, made use of TMs and glossaries in quite a convenient way, supported a lot of file formats and languages and had a free "lite" version for freelance translators. But what was maybe the most important thing was that the company was very responsive. They replied messages immediately, fixed bugs within 24 hours and always were ready to help, even to import our files into a new project if we experienced some troubles doing it locally.

I still remember the names of people who responded my mails. It was so nice to feel they care and you may rely on them. There were a lot of different problems with this software, but if we ever missed a deadline, it was not because of them. They all got resolved promptly.

SDL was growing, SDLX was developing, new features were added and old features were considered to be "obsolete". Free lite version was discontinued. Technical support first became slow, then paid. I don't know how prompt is currently their paid support. Unpaid one is pretty slow and useless, at least if you don't know addresses of real people you need to contact.

Knowing some SDL people almost in person, I'm quite sure they are pretty dedicated and doing their best, just like their predecessors were back in 2002 or 2003. What's changed is the environment they're in. I don't know if it's true for all large corporations, or if SDL just was unlucky on this way, or it it was their intention and they're really lucky to achieve their goal. But I really miss that nice cozy company that I selected 6 or 7 years ago.