HRD Software, LLC Announces Departure of co-Founder, Rick Ruhl, W4PC

I am not in any way condoning the blacklist treatment of customers making negative comments about a product online. As someone who did customer software support for about 20 years, that idea boggles my mind. But, I think we must all realize that HRD is operating in a very small market. I'm surprised they can support the staff that they have, even with the prices charged for the software and support.

Moving a product from someone's "labor of love" to a truly commercial product has to be a perilous journey. Hopefully, this recent problem will be just a bump in the road.

Personally, I choose to use a different product, FLDIGI, because of the great NBEMS suite of messaging programs that work with it. If HRD added the support for those kinds of things, particularly messaging that would work with FLMSG, I'd give it another try.

 

No, based upon the fact it has been reported on way more than one website.

Do some research on your own. I didn't get my check in the mail to do it for you.

--Shane
KD6VXI

 

My point Shane, is if you respect people as having brains, dont do their thinking for them. The vulture website has no connection to W4PCs retirement.

If there is a connection then state it.

 

You should take your complaints / Pissing and moaning over to this thread.

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/ham-radio-deluxe-support-hacked-my-computer.547962/

This thread is for news. The news stand is closed for the year.

Have a Happy New Year.

 

I'm still using Simon's free version and it works fine.

 

I hope Rick's new interest is getting on the radio, Talking and using HRD.

 

You can choose not to believe it. That's one thing. (If not for the fact that I'm on vacation from my real-job this week, I wouldn't have the opportunity to be involved in this to the extent that I am.)

But I'm not sure how you can "disagree."

I'm happy to discuss this with you directly, Jeff. You're a customer and you're important to our future.

Mike, ,WA9PIE

 

hopefully HRD will get back on track where Simon and the original developers had intended

 

I have been using HRD since before the current owners acquired it. I was glad they did because Simon had quit making any changes to it so he could pursue other interests. I have renewed my support agreement a few times but don't know if it is current now or not. I really do not need support. They provide bug fixes for free and new features require you to have the support agreement. Sometimes the new features interest me, most of the time they do not. It is disappointing that bugs exist and some take a while to fix. But none have kept me from using it. They have a really small team of developers doing the coding so I understand the issues. I used to run much larger teams in companies I worked at. I did inquire at one time about developing for HRD but what they were able to pay was way below what I would do that work for. I have to think that their core people are also users who work both for some pay and some love for what they are doing. For those who have no idea about what programmers make, a good C++ programmer gets about $100/hour. There are some companies that pay more when it is a high pressure production environment and some that pay less where it is a relaxed work environment. How much experience you have and how much error free code you can write is a big factor. The cost of $100 is not very high for programs of this complexity (and I think the renewal is less than that). Without seeing it, I would expect that there are about 2 million lines of code in HRD. There could be more since they have programs that work independently or maybe less if they have enough reusable functions and have it very object oriented. I pay Microsoft about $25 a month for their software that I use daily and they still fix bugs and I can't remember the last time they added a feature I needed, but they still add them. I pay Adobe about $40 a month and they don't seem to have as many bugs, but they keep adding features or splitting them off into new programs that really do nothing for me. But if you get too far behind you end up doing things that no one can use. Then you have a very steep learning curve again. Yes there are free programs out there that do some of what HRD does. DXLabs, FLDigi, N1MM, etc. But they require a little more operator skill and my experience is that most Hams are appliance operators and fewer are really good with integrating disparate programs on their computers. I think HRD does that elegantly for them while having enough functionality for the rest of us.

What they seem to pay for support people, as I have been told by some, seems to be on par with other companies. I have never talked to an unhappy HRD person. Of course I only see them at Hamfests so they would be happy like most of us are at Hamfests.

I have known Rick, W4PC, for many years since he lives in Florida. where I also live, and was selling his other software products long before becoming part of HRD. He has always been friendly and open with me and I would have no reason to question his integrity or business ethics. I really can not imagine him cancelling someone's paid for license because of a negative review. When they first bought the rights from Simon I was very critical of how long it was taking them to implement changes, And I wrote a lot of negative posts on their progress. But I never had an issue with my license. And today they have gotten to where I was expecting them to be a few years ago. I am very pleased with how well the software works and I do have a list of things they could change and improve, but it still remains my main program. And yes I have used the others and still do so on occasion when needed.

I have to accept that the incidents described above did occur and also that it was not a company wide policy. If Rick is suffering from Diabetes, he has my sympathy and support. I know that it can produce irrational behavior with mood swings and bi-polar feelings very easily. Blaming a company or product for the actions of an individual, even if one of the owners, is really counter productive for all of us. My daughter developed late onset Juvenile Diabetes when she was 21. She passed away 3 days after her 25th birthday. The last year she was in the hospital, mostly in a coma, about as much as she was out. I hope Rick is able to get his under control and enjoy the rest of his life doing things he loves.

Tom, AJ4XM

 

I became an HRD user only because of W4PC . I knew him for many years and knew I could trust his judgement about a logging program. I was using another program which had been sold to an amateur with interests in building SDR computers and was not devoting much time to his new purchase as there was more profit in hardware. Ric told me HRD would serve me well and it has. I don't want my HRD to do everything for me, I can point my beam, etc. etc. All I need my logging program to do it track my awards status and upload/download to LOTW. I have had Excellent service from the HRD folks, it will be a loss not to see W4PC at major hamfests in the future. Using the announcement of his moving-on from the company as an excuse to revisit Old complaints about Simon et al is not helpful and suggests a basic character flaw IMHOP. The cost of HRD is minor compared to the cost of my K3S et al. Let's move on to something more useful. Larry. W4RA

 

Out of the ashes of this thread comes perspective, empathy and respect. Thank you Tom for your post!

Temperance people: Rick has done his part too, he resigned. Can we respect that please. Turn a new page/chapter.

Icarus: The same passion that drives a person can be their undoing. If the medical situation is in the mix... you can get fallout/undesirable results....

SIDE NOTE: QRZ had a tenuous/perilous time recently with the new front page layout - and if observed objectively - you will see similar tends/themes/concepts. AT SOME point, the key core owners/creators have to step away from the keyboard and and let trained tech support staff handle the flow of issues. IT becomes personal to quickly.

HRD concept years back changed the game. Goliath QRZ wrote the book. Not perfect, and when they muck up, it's our voice that needs to be heard. But with respect from BOTH parties.

 

I appreciate and laud Rick's efforts in picking up the HRD torch from Simon and carrying it to new heights. It is a wonderful program.

Best wishes to Rick and the folks at HRD Software, LLC! b.

 

Mike, You should not need to explain yourself over and over. Some here will never be happy.

I look forward to seeing HRD become the software that you and the rest of us want it to be.

Keep up the great work.

Have a Happy New Year.

73 DE KA9JLM

 

Blaming a company or product for the actions of an individual, even if one of the owners, is really counter productive for all of us.

The opposite is called PASSING the BUCK and usually has a $$ trail.

Most contributors to the HRD discussions missed the point - it was NEVER about quality of HRD software. But that in norm on QRZ, not staying on subject.

Good move HRD LLC , best of luck to you.

73 Shirley

 

OK, you're not interested in running HRD, so who is going to be running HRD on a daily basis? Will this person understand how HRD got itself in this current state of affairs? If that person doesn't understand why the company is failing, then there's no hope in saving the company. You really need to stop working half days, otherwise you'll die before your time is due.