From: Andrzej Styrcz <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Tandberg, Teleste Newsletter
To: [log in to unmask]


Hallo LLTI members!

Greetings from snowy Finland!

If I may I would like to thank all the people who have recently contributed
to the interesting discussion on the Tandberg experiences and especially
those who were so generous in their comments about Tandberg.

It goes without saying that we would like all our customers (both teachers
and students) to be happy and satisfied and we are trying all the time to
improve both the customer relations as well as the products quality and
service. We appreciate all the comments about our developments. However, it
does hurt to hear that whatever we seem to do produces such a negative
feedback as recently posted by Mr Scott Smith. First, a total criticism of
the Tandberg technology, documentation and prices (Jan 25th), then a
refusal of Divace with a "nice try t(!)eleste" statement(Jan 27th). I
wonder what kind of a terrible experience with Tandberg could have caused
such negative opinions? I would very much like to take the opportunity of
going to TESOL 2000 in Vancouver and invite Mr Smith to our stand in order
to understand and clarify the situation.

As to Divace, let me explain one thing here as it seems to be confusing to
many. Divace, being one of the very first virtual recorders to replace
analog lab recorder, is, in its concept a RECORDER and not just a player.
It is a mistake to compare it to other media players. We are not in the
same game here and our target has never been to make Divace the player,
RealAudio, Media player, ATI, Winamp, Sonic or other players are. Divace is
a very powerful language learning tool with two tracks (one for playback of
the master file and the other for student's voice input recording)and lots
of other "language learning" related features (AACC, text synchronisation,
bookmarks, recap etc.) Therefore to say that ATI player gives you the same
options as Divace is groundless, to say the least. Unless one is looking
only for playback features. Then, again, why should one need Divace?

One more thing that has also been raised in some messages. Tandberg
developments (except for multimedia lab teacher-control software and
hardware) ARE NOT proprietary. Even though, in most LLTI postings Tandberg
is perceived as a manufacturer of IS10, IS11 or Prisma labs, our recent
developments are software concepts utilising generic, widely adopted
technologies (eg. MS Windows-compatible) and serve the needs of learning
environments other than language labs. DIVACE, for example, plays back all
basic file formats from avi, wav, mpeg or mp3 to qt and RealMedia (ra, rm)
to mention just a few. Resource and management software LIBRARY PILOT,
authoring software PARTNER TOOLS or IMPERATA - application for activity
control in computer labs - all conform to standard PC technologies.

Thank you for your attention.

Andrzej Styrcz
Marketing Manager
Teleste Educational Ltd.  tel.+358 2 2166569
Kaurakatu 46    fax.+358 2 2166527
20741 Turku    e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Finland     http://edu.teleste.fi
     http://www.divace.com