My Discussion with Kim Stowe - DisplayLink Public Relations

[MCV]

to Kimberly Stowe kim@stoweconsulting.com
date Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 2:50 PM
subject Re: DisplayLink Mac Support

Hi Kim -- I hate to bother you again, I just don't know where else to go with this and you have been the only helpful person at DisplayLink I have met. Once again, the Mac forum has been abandoned and no one has been able to get a response from the Mac Team for at least the last month. No updates on working drivers, no responses to technical support issues.... nothing period. Anything you can do would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Thanks again for all your help!

MCV

----------------------------

from Kimberly Stowe kim@stoweconsulting.com
date Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 12:28 PM
subject Re: DisplayLink Mac Support

Mike:

I spoke with DisplayLink and they are suggesting you send your complaints about Mac driver support and issues directly to the manufacturer of your device.

Kim

----------------------------

to Kimberly Stowe kim@stoweconsulting.com
date Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 12:43 PM
subject Re: DisplayLink Mac Support

So does that mean DisplayLink has given up on driver support and will no longer be responding to issues posted on the Mac driver forum? Again, they are responding to Windows related issues so I'm not sure why Mac users have been abandoned like this. It is very, very disheartening.

Thanks again, Kim.

MCV

----------------------------

from Kimberly Stowe kim@stoweconsulting.com
date Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 12:50 PM
subject Re: DisplayLink Mac Support

No Mike, that is not the case. And in fact I was on a call today where we are discussing this concern. DisplayLink does not want to be perceived as abandoning anyone!

That said, it is important the product vendors to hear from end users the problems they are experiencing. At the end of the day, the responsibility lies with the device manufacturer. That said, we have not abandoned the Mac community and there are things in the works to improve our drivers and support for Mac. I do not have any other specifics than that at this time, unfortunately.

We realize that the Mac community wants more support and we are addressing it as best we can at this time.

Is there a specific issue or problem I can try and delve into for you?

Kim

----------------------------

to Kimberly Stowe kim@stoweconsulting.com
date Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 1:12 PM
subject Re: DisplayLink Mac Support

I think I understand and I will definitely forward my problems and concerns on to the manufacturer of my device. Again, since DisplayLink is actively responding to questions and issues on the Windows side, it would have at least expected to have seen this sort of information posted in the forum. That is, after all, where everyone seems to be going to get answers and it's causing quite a stir when everyone sees Windows questions being answered but nothing for Mac. I realize that DisplayLink does not want to be perceived as abandoning their customers but unfortunately, that is precisely the feeling with Mac users. DisplayLink would know this if they had anyone reading through the Mac forum in the last few months. Realistically, all it would take is for Mac users receive the same level of support that Windows users are receiving. After all, we all purchased the same products and we all paid the same prices so it's reasonable to expect to receive the same support.

I hope this helps to clarify the situation and leads to some better support on our end.

Thanks again.

MCV

[DWR]

Good post.
I use a ViBook+. I have sent a message to Harmonic Inversions, the distributor for Village Tronics, with a link to your post. Hopefully, customers and potential customers will contact the vendors to enlist their help with DisplayLink. These issues are bad news for DisplayLink and its customers (the product vendors). Both will suffer diminished sales unless the issue is addressed. An unfortunate situation for all involved.

[wpns]

OK, as requested, I've logged a tech support ticket with IOGear, now can DisplayLink do their part and fix the drivers?

[fhall1]

I sent an email to Mimo support about the issue...c'mon Displaylink, make with the update already. OS X 10.6.5 is being seeded and I can't even upgrade to 10.6.4

[Stefan]

Informed Win-Star about the problem and sent a link to this Thread. Please update the MAC drivers for Snow Leopard. Thanks.

[MCV]

I agree that contacting the manufacturer regarding problems is necessary, however, it seems like DisplayLink is simply passing the buck and avoiding the main issues, which in my opinion are:

1. Fixing the driver properly
2. Providing adequate customer support by responding to their forums

Clearly, they are currently failing at both.

Until that day comes, I would also recommend letting their PR department know how you feel. Until they know the scope of the problem, I doubt they will change the way they are handing this situation. Here are a few email addresses to send to:
pr@displaylink.com
kim@stoweconsulting.com

Another thing to consider would be to search out other forums, blogs, etc. that discuss / review DisplayLink products and be open and honest about your experience with your device and the lack of support you have received from DisplayLink. One way or another, we should be vocal about our problems, alert others to them, and demand that DisplayLink address and resolve these problems instead of ignoring them.

[mastahype]

I'm sure we could figure out valid contact info for the executives for DisplayLink. I would suggest we email those folks and express our concerns for Mac Support.

[MCV]

I'm sure we could figure out valid contact info for the executives for DisplayLink. I would suggest we email those folks and express our concerns for Mac Support.

The only reason why I might disagree with that is because DisplayLink seems to be completely ignoring this problem already. Emailing their executive team my not be any different. The one thing I know for sure is that they do NOT want negative publicity -- their PR person told me that much in her email. That seems to be the real button to push. It's been weeks since my last contact with her and still there hasn't been one response on the forum from anyone at DisplayLink. I think if anyone is going to do anything more, it should be to take it to the next level and start talking about this publicly -- in other forums, blogs, etc. The goal should be to make it as difficult as possible for them to sell another unit to a new customer until they have addressed the problems their existing customer base is experiencing.

[mastahype]

>The one thing I know for sure is that they do NOT want negative publicity


displaylinksucks.com & displaylinksux.com are registered.:rolleyes: Could make it into a blog for all the comments and link to it in the forums.

[MCV]

I received this email from Kim Stowe back on July 28th:

Mike:

I wanted to add a point to our below discussion regarding DisplayLink supporting Apple technology. Apple has been blocking full development of a Windows competitive DisplayLink driver, not DisplayLink.

I hope this sheds some more light on the situation for you.

Kim

[MCV]

This was my response to Kim today:

Kimberly,

I can appreciate that Apple is making it difficult for DisplayLink to build a perfect product. That being said, Apple is not stopping DisplayLink from providing support and assistance to their customers. In one of your last emails to me, you said "We realize that the Mac community wants more support and we are addressing it as best we can at this time". It has been over a month and a half since your email and not one question has been answered on the DisplayLink forum. Not one single response to anything. That is not what I would call "addressing it as best as you can". That's called not addressing it at all.

It's about to get noisy over here very soon and I think DisplayLink should take that into consideration. Blogs, review sites, related forums are going to get a real earful about our experiences with these DisplayLink products if we don't start getting some support from them soon. I don't think it's what anyone wants to do but if that's the only way to get support then that's just what's going to have to happen.

I appreciate your trying to be a "middle man" and help get things resolved and I'm sorry that it hasn't worked.

Thanks again.

Mike Vaia

[mastahype]

I've got displaylinksucks.com registered and ready. Can make that into a blog with comments or discussion forum to track the major issues. I've been trying every workaround I can to avoid the sleep bug, but nothing consistently works. I just came out of a 13 minute wake cycle waiting for the driver to sync/resume from sleep. I'm ready to pull the trigger on the site.

[MCV]

If you noticed, Carlo is back on and responding to questions again, albeit old ones. Kind of funny that a message posted 4 months ago with log files attached is just being responded to today. I'd keep your finger hovering over that SUBMIT button for registering displaylinksucks.com -- let's see what happens and if support gets any better from her on out. My gut tells me it's just a matter of time before they abandon us again. I hope I'm wrong.

[mastahype]

Well, I've already registered the domain names. I just don't have anything on the site. I figured I could set it up as a blog with comments (Real easy with DreamHost). The only real issue I have with all this is the sleep issue. I can live without the acceleration and other bells and whistles - I just can't stand it when I have to put my macbook back to sleep to wake my second LCD.

[MikeKulls]

Well, I've already registered the domain names. I just don't have anything on the site. I figured I could set it up as a blog with comments (Real easy with DreamHost). The only real issue I have with all this is the sleep issue. I can live without the acceleration and other bells and whistles - I just can't stand it when I have to put my macbook back to sleep to wake my second LCD.

I think it's time to get this site up and running. The mac drivers from displaylink are simply not up to standard and the message needs to be sent out. How can something be in beta for what must be 2 years now? The fact is I've had this adaptor for 6 months and it's only worked for a few days within this time (I'm having a different issue to what is listed in this thread). Someone here has stated that we should wait to see how things pan out but that post was several months ago and I think even then we'd been waiting for a long time for a fix to these common problems. The fact is that mac support for DisplayLink is very poor and mac users need to know that this card is not currently a workable solution.

[krishkal]

I sent support mail to Imation (the vendor of the device for which DisplayLink supplies the driver) at the same time as posting my problem here, and they never even bothered to reply to me.

I just left a lengthy negative review on Amazon.com for the Imation Link product, and fingered DisplayLink as the problem. Hopefully, this will generate some negative publicity. I would urge you to do the same - go to any product review forum that has your product for sale, even if you did not purchase it from them (I did not buy mine from Amazon), and write the feedback blaming both the equipment vendor and DisplayLink for not coming through on the advertised "Mac support".

Also, I came across the following post from Seb (A forum admin):
"Again, thank you to everyone one for your support and patience. Oh and of course, if you want to see some significant improvements to our software, please don’t forget to drop Apple a line and speak your mind…

Regards

Seb"

Please go to the Apple Support link and post a complaint about not co-operating with DisplayLink, and how that monopolistic behavior is likely to cause you to lose faith in Apple products. That may help. In some ways just yelling at DisplayLink when their hands are tied by Apple is unfair.

[Dyea]

Hello all,

Spent $200 on a new monitor and $60 on a Kensington Universal Multi-Display Adapter. Might as well have thrown that money away. Using this on a Macbook I was having freezes and on a Macbook Pro it stopped working after two days.

Researching this before purchase I found that the web was full of great reviews and happy shiny faced people extolling the friggin virtues of this piece of junk.

I will do my part to amend this.

Love that quote from the PR person about DisplayLink not wanting to be "perceived" as abandoning mac users. That seems pretty accurate, more concerned about public perception than actually providing support for their products.

[MikeKulls]

Hello all,

Spent $200 on a new monitor and $60 on a Kensington Universal Multi-Display Adapter. Might as well have thrown that money away. Using this on a Macbook I was having freezes and on a Macbook Pro it stopped working after two days.

Researching this before purchase I found that the web was full of great reviews and happy shiny faced people extolling the friggin virtues of this piece of junk.

I will do my part to amend this.

Love that quote from the PR person about DisplayLink not wanting to be "perceived" as abandoning mac users. That seems pretty accurate, more concerned about public perception than actually providing support for their products.

I emailed Kym Stowe and got a very disturbing reply. I told how I thought there was little mac support and that this product doesn't really work on a mac. Her reply was to address none of my issues and just say "I'll see what I can find". I'm sure she has no plans to search for anything or get back to me because she didn't ask for further details about my problem or ask for the debug output.

[mastahype]

I'll be happy to setup a blog or wiki of some sorts for displaylinksucks.com. While I have seen them at least pop in to reply, the frequency is abysmal with months of gaps between replies. It seems like they only provide support within a couple weeks of the latest beta, which does seem to have a Duke Nukem Forever style "indefinite" release schedule. While it's clear that Apple has had a part to play with some of the issues, I believe the primary issues lie squarely on Displaylink's side. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if they just provided timely feedback and responses. Ignoring users just makes them look shady.

I'll work on getting a site up within the next couple weeks. I don't intend for it to bash Displaylink, but to serve as an open forum for users to post their experiences and opinions for potential buyers of their products for Macs. It can also hopefully be a location to find the current "state of affairs" for the mac drivers. If Displaylink fixes the issues, the site would likely reflect that and be very positive and supportive.

[mastahype]

I should mention that to be fair to Displaylink, the most recent beta 3 driver has been a significant improvement over the previous beta 2. So, although the updates are coming, the fixes aren't coming quite fast enough to prevent user frustration. 3-4 months per update is a lengthy time - and although its "beta" software, I believe some of the critical issues (like the sleep issue) are present in release versions as well.

[heythisisdave]

Hi Kim - any possibility that DisplayLink will open source the drivers for this? I just got one of the Diamond ones and while it really is pretty awesome what you guys are able to do, the lack of 3d acceleration is particularly noticeable on the Mac OS.

Also, I would consider the Mac people to be a bigger growth area than the Windows ones since you can't really solve this problem on Mac any other way (no docking stations etc). Also, with so many people getting the MBPs I'd think it's a pretty sizable market.

I like it since my main use case is text editing (programming) but every now and then the Expose hits and it definitely takes away from the experience.

[MikeKulls]

I'll be happy to setup a blog or wiki of some sorts for displaylinksucks.com. While I have seen them at least pop in to reply, the frequency is abysmal with months of gaps between replies. It seems like they only provide support within a couple weeks of the latest beta, which does seem to have a Duke Nukem Forever style "indefinite" release schedule. While it's clear that Apple has had a part to play with some of the issues, I believe the primary issues lie squarely on Displaylink's side. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if they just provided timely feedback and responses. Ignoring users just makes them look shady.

I'll work on getting a site up within the next couple weeks. I don't intend for it to bash Displaylink, but to serve as an open forum for users to post their experiences and opinions for potential buyers of their products for Macs. It can also hopefully be a location to find the current "state of affairs" for the mac drivers. If Displaylink fixes the issues, the site would likely reflect that and be very positive and supportive.

Please do, I think it would be good to light a bit of fire so to speak. If it works and they fix the drivers then your site can become an advertisement for displaylink.