FogBugz at Server Intellect
I am well overdue to talk about FogBugz and Server Intellect. I'd heard about FogBugz through Joel's blog, and then started hearing good things within my circle of friends at ASP Insiders - Eric at CodeSmith I think recommended it - so I figured it was time to check it out.
FogBugz is cool, but it has some quirks (quirks is what you call bugs or partial features when you still like the product).
On day 1 of using FogBuz I came across something that IMO showed that the product hadn't been used much in the wild, but their support team saved the purchase by understanding and promising an improvement in that area in the next dot release.
That was in late April, 3 weeks ago, so I don't expect it for a little while. That's ok, I understand all too well that the best you can do is respond quickly and positively, and keep your promises. Hopefully I'll be back here all gushy about their new release soon.
I also think that on a few occasions that Joel's "simple is best" has been taken a little too far. I can't be specific (my memory for unimportant details is terrible) but I'm pretty sure that it was something like they allow anyone to respond or close clases - not just the people who are assigned the case.
Their philosophy is not to "get in the way" of the user, which is fair enough, but not at the expense of necessary controls. Of course, everybody's opinion on necessary differs.
All-in-all though, I like the product. A few more miles under the tires and a few minor releases will make it an excellent product for tracking customer requests as well as product requirements for future releases.
Today I'd give it 7/10.
Server Intellect however are straight in at 9/10. I noticed that they had a FogBugz hosting plan - and again some ASP Insiders had started a buzz about them - so I checked them out too. Very affordable and feature-packed plans were the first thing I noticed, but as always I was concerned about the support that i might receive.
So, I filled in the form for FogBugz hosting and held my breath.
Apart from the auto-response that I'm sure I got, within an hour I got the actual hosting plan setup and ready to use. The web admin tools look very nice (something I'm not used to having) but more to the point FogBugz was pre-installed and ready for my license.
Easy.
I've only had a couple of questions for them in the last month, and each time they responded quickly and with a good answer. I think I'll add my voice to the crowd and recommend them highly.