Is this the end of the road for Déjà Vu X? A historical account with elements of reasoning Thread poster: Pavel Tsvetkov
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Pavel Tsvetkov 
Bulgaria
Local time: 12:56
Member (2008)
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
Moderator of this forum
Déjà Vu X3 used to be my main CAT tool for several years, mostly as a way to express my dissatisfaction with Trados at the time. This proved difficult to sustain as virtually no customer has ever asked me to use Déjà Vu X for their projects, while I kept getting requests for Trados, MemoQ and various web-based CAT tools.
With the passing of time, however, I grew dissatisfied with Déjà Vu X3, as the software seemed to be slowly turning into deadware, and Atril continually exhib... See more Déjà Vu X3 used to be my main CAT tool for several years, mostly as a way to express my dissatisfaction with Trados at the time. This proved difficult to sustain as virtually no customer has ever asked me to use Déjà Vu X for their projects, while I kept getting requests for Trados, MemoQ and various web-based CAT tools.
With the passing of time, however, I grew dissatisfied with Déjà Vu X3, as the software seemed to be slowly turning into deadware, and Atril continually exhibited lack of customer communication, support, and clarity regarding the development path.
On two occasions, I was approached to join their Ambassador program (which I did) but said program later drifted into obscurity with no explanation whatsoever.
I had to finally revert to good bad Trados which in the meantime had ironed out most of the glaring problems it used to have. Most but not all. I am still an outspoken critic of Trados at their forum, and at times intensely disliked by them, but I always say what I deem to be true, and I have never been successfully silenced.
Dejavu X is still reliable to use but remains a niche product with an unclear future and the worst customer relations program on the market. Atril have also stopped selling their product on www.proz.com for a copule of years now, which is telling. If they do not believe in their own product, why should I?
[Edited at 2022-04-26 06:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Alternatives | Apr 26, 2022 |
Pavel Tsvetkov wrote:
I had to finally revert to Trados which in the meantime had ironed out most of the glaring problems it used to have. Some, not all. I am still an outspoken critic of Trados at their forum, and at times intensely disliked by them, but I say what I deem to be true, and I have never been successfully silenced.
Did you evaluate any alternatives?
| | | | Pavel Tsvetkov
Bulgaria
Local time: 12:56
Member (2008)
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
Moderator of this forum TOPIC STARTER
Hans Lenting wrote:
Did you evaluate any alternatives?
I often use MemoQ with client-supplied licenses. MemoQ has the glitchiest licensing module, and we have to often contact their Customer Support for me to be able to use the product. Same computer, same customer... but MemoQ simply refuses to run in the Pro version.
Still, MemoQ is a solid option, its termbase management is better than that of Trados despite Trados having a separate software solution for it: MultiTerm, which crashes every 30 minutes when used separately, or fails to recognize terms when used from inside the Editor.
I do not particularly like using MemoQ, and not least because of how they handle license extensions. Basically, it is a subscription scheme where you have to pay them every year. If one does the math, MemoQ is probably the most expensive CAT tool at the moment.
I used to own a license for MemoQ Pro and now they want me to pay for all the years after my last payment in order to "reinstate" my license. Who does that? It is mind-boggling.
I am also obliged to use Smartcat, Transifex, Verbingo, etc. as my clients require it. All these platforms are inferior to Trados, often lacking even basic spell-checking features, not to mention QA.
[Edited at 2022-04-26 06:24 GMT]
| | | | | Better term management and better licensing conditions | Apr 26, 2022 |
Pavel Tsvetkov wrote:
Still, MemoQ is a solid option, its termbase management is better than that of Trados despite Trados having a separate software solution for it: MultiTerm, which basically crashes every 30 minutes, or fails to offer terms when used from inside the Editor.
I do not particularly like using MemoQ for one reason or another, and not least because of how they handle license extensions.
I'll send you a PM.
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| X3 still alive | Apr 26, 2022 |
I recently was able to download and install their latest bug fixes. As long as X3 is supported this way I am still satisfied. I can only hope that somebody will take care of the interaction between X3 and Windows in the future and of supporting the file types X3 can deal with. I wonder why the new owners of Atril do not want to develop and marketing the brand. Are they just waiting for another potential buyer? Any statements by them would be welcomed (I believe this thread is followed by them)! ... See more I recently was able to download and install their latest bug fixes. As long as X3 is supported this way I am still satisfied. I can only hope that somebody will take care of the interaction between X3 and Windows in the future and of supporting the file types X3 can deal with. I wonder why the new owners of Atril do not want to develop and marketing the brand. Are they just waiting for another potential buyer? Any statements by them would be welcomed (I believe this thread is followed by them)! Furthermore, I'm sure there are some tech-savvy translators outside, who would like to take over the tool, to make it a kind of success Cafe Tran has become. It only needs a handful of enthusiasts with a sound background, and with some money to invest in that tool, of course. But can't that be solved by a crowd funding-based investment? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Pavel Tsvetkov
Bulgaria
Local time: 12:56
Member (2008)
English to Bulgarian
+ ...
Moderator of this forum TOPIC STARTER
Matthias Brombach wrote:
I wonder why the new owners of Atril do not want to develop and marketing the brand.
Who are the new owners?
| | | | | Wasn't it discussed here ... | Apr 26, 2022 |
... a year or two ago that Atril has a new company address*, that was referred to an agency?
*Have a look here, please:
https://atril.com/terms-and-conditions/
| | | | | Keep testing Déjà Vu X3 against competitors | Apr 27, 2022 |
I keep testing Déjà Vu X3 against competition every couple of months to streamline my translation process, which has relied heavily on the DVX/XBench tandem for about a decade.
While I've been very happy with the DVX's minimalistic UI, SQL support, DeepMiner/AutoWrite/FuzzyRepair and Assemble/MT combos, I've had to keep turning to external tools for advanced concordance, corpora/web research and QA.
My QA process has particularly suffered from the lack of morphology support [pipe/a... See more I keep testing Déjà Vu X3 against competition every couple of months to streamline my translation process, which has relied heavily on the DVX/XBench tandem for about a decade.
While I've been very happy with the DVX's minimalistic UI, SQL support, DeepMiner/AutoWrite/FuzzyRepair and Assemble/MT combos, I've had to keep turning to external tools for advanced concordance, corpora/web research and QA.
My QA process has particularly suffered from the lack of morphology support [pipe/asterisk regex] for terminology QA.
I've already upgraded some parts of my routine by hooking up CafeTran 11 and look forward to resuming promoting DVX as the Atril's ambassador here in Ukraine. ▲ Collapse
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