Marketing tools in full effect
In LLBLGen Pro I currently use the 1.7.4.0 release of the Magic Library for several GUI elements like docking windows. As this release was the final release before the library went commercial, no support was given, but that version was free, came with sourcecode, so no complaints here. As I'm adding new GUI functionalities to our O/R mapper, I required a nice tab control which not only looked nice but was more flexible than the .NET tab control. As Magic contains such a tab control, it was the obvious choice.
However I ran into all kinds of bugs and after a day and a half I gave up (which was yesterday). So I googled a little for tab controls but on the freebee side, nothing was very usable, so I went to Component Source and browsed their catalog. I took my time, as a lot of vendors have something to say about their product. I registered at Component Source to download a trial of some tab control (which wasn't that great) so they had my email address and of course started tracking me.
Today, I received an email from a Component Source sales person, that I'd spent more than half an hour on their site in a specific category and if I needed help selecting the product I want.
I was stunned. Their system apparently tracks visitors, which is perfectly fine, but their system is also clever enough to list the people who apparently have trouble making a choice and that they perhaps need assistance. A perfect example of how IT can help your business and how software can make the difference!
(Btw, I chose the Infragistics suite, as it was the most stable control set and contained the most value)