Monday, July 05, 2010

Babylon currency converter saga

See below for transcript of live chat with Babylon support (as reported earlier today at the IT Help Desk for Translators) for your entertainment.

I have since received an e-mail saying "After talking with my supervisor we reached the conclusion that you cannot change manually the converter" - AAAARRGGGGHHHHH!

********************************************
The following is a record of your online chat.

General Info
Chat start time Jul 4, 2010 7:43:03 AM EST
Chat end time Jul 4, 2010 8:16:01 AM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:32:58
Operator babylon
Chat Transcript
info: Please wait for a site operator to respond.
info: You are now chatting with 'babylon'
babylon: Welcome to Babylon Support , How can I help you?
you: Thanks for your quick reply. Give me a minute to compose my question please
babylon: Ok!
you: I have several Babylon licences (3 I think). On my old Windows 2000 PC I still have Babylon 7 (Version 7.0.0 r13). I just noticed that it doesn't update the currency information from the currency server. If I try and do it manually by clicking "Update rates now" it connects to the server and says the update was successful but the date is 30 August 2009!
babylon: Can I have your order number please?
you: I have had Babylon for years - I can try an find the order number - do you mean my licence number? You should be able to find me on your database if you look for my surname
babylon: Ok, what is your surname?
you: Sorry - I assumed you would see it in the correspondence - my name is Herbert Eppel
babylon: Ok, I found you.
you: That's good :-)
babylon: Unfortunately at this moment this tool is anavaliable, we are still checking and trying to fix...
babylon: :)
you: Is this a problem in Version 7 or in Version 8 too?
babylon: I believe in both of them.
babylon: Its an actual problem
you: Is it possible to enter a currency conversion rate manually?
babylon: I guess it would make much difference
you: Using date from August last year is very misleading in some cases!
babylon: Give me your e-mail address, I will ask my supervisor about it and I will come back to you asap
you: Babylon currently uses 1 EUR = 0.879 GBP (which is from August last year) - the actual value is more like 0.800, so the conversion is useless as it stands.
you: My e-mail address is ...
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to ... at the end of your chat.
babylon: I think if you download the trial version of the website which is an actual version than yours
babylon: it could work
you: I'm not sure what you mean. I don't need/want a trial version. As I said, I already have 3 licences!
babylon: Yes but then you enter your codes
babylon: And make it yours
babylon: Just for the sake of having a new version
you: I don't want to complicate matters, I just want my existing version 7 to work on this Windows 2000 PC
babylon: Babylon 7 doesnt work in the windows 2000
you: Yes it does. I have it here. I gave you my exact version number earlier. I think you mean Babylon 8?
babylon: I checked again with my supervisor.
you: And?
babylon: Its not compatible.
you: What exactly is not compatible?
babylon: B7 = Win2000
you: Your information is incorrect.Babylon 7 definitely works under Windows 2000, as I said.
babylon: Ok, I will write you asap as we have any news regarding currency convertor
babylon: ok?
you: When do you think I can expect an answer?
babylon: I`m not sure when
you: Can you give me a rough idea, i.e. next week, next month, next year?
babylon: I cannot, I`m sorry. We are working on it
you: Can you let me know whether I can enter a currency conversion rate manually? As I said, the converter is useless as it stands.
babylon: I will check with my supervisor and I will try to return to you asap
you: Thanks - will you respond by e-mail or should we leave this chat session open for now?
babylon: By email
you: OK, thank you.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Argentina in the semi-finals???

This is what showed up on the FIFA website shortly after the Germany v. Argentina match.
Note: ARG listed for the semi-finals!The FIFA at www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/calendar.html has since been corrected.