Hi everyone! I’m Marc Tassin, the Product Manager here at Ilium Software. I’ve been with Ilium Software since 2000 and I am “Employee #0001”. That is to say, I’m the first person to start working at Ilium Software who wasn’t one of the three founders.
So….want to know more about me? Then read on!
[Read more…] about Meet Marc, Ilium Software’s Product Manager
No prizes for recognizing the reference in the title here – it’s much too obvious (please don’t tell me if it isn’t).
Here’s the current staff of Ilium Software (click for the big version):
Standing, left to right: Ken, Julie, Dan, Sheri, Matt, Ellen, Marc
Kneeling: Kevin, Lee
OK, we’ll have a prize (one of our programs, or, if you have all of them already, a handful of excellent stylus pens) for anyone who comes up with a good caption. Put any entries into the comments.
I’m Lee, part of the support team, and if you call or email for tech support you will probably get Kevin before you get me, unless you are a bulk-purchaser or one of a select bunch of resellers.
I have been doing tech support of one variety or another for about 15 years, nearly five of those here at Ilium Software. It truly is a great place to work; it’s nice to be around people who are caring and honest, and really believe in what they are doing.
I, too, am a big fan of our software, especially ListPro and eWallet. I use them every day, both at work and home, and wonder how I ever managed without them. Both travel everywhere with me on my Treo 650; it’s so nice to have my information at my fingertips! I save a ton of time by filtering my grocery list to only show the items I need, and then sort it by aisle. Then I print it out and check it off in the store (I really don’t have enough hands to wrangle two active kids, a grocery cart, *and* my Palm — and besides my kids will ask endlessly “Mom, can I play a game on your Palm now?” Out of sight, out of mind). One trip through the store and I’m done. No backtracking to a missed item (this is a really good thing — see previous statement about two active kids…).
Also, since I am calendar-challenged (write it on the calendar and promptly forget it), I use a running list of appointments, events, reminders, etc. in ListPro. Since I am constantly referring to it for one reason or another, I don’t miss appointments anymore. When an event is past, I check it off to make it hidden, but I can easily look back and say “When was that?”.
Did someone encourage me to write about our software? No. Do I recommend it to friends, and even people I don’t know? Yup. It’s good stuff, and it just works.
Hi, I’m Julie. I’ve been working at Ilium Software since last September, and I help work on the website and marketing end of things. I also help answer the phones when everyone in support gets swamped. So, if any out there ever calls and gets me, you might not get technical help right away, but I am great at taking messages!
Besides working on the web site here, I am still going to school, online, for a degree in web development, so I am pretty much in front of a computer screen either here or at home, about 12 hours a day. Of course, I’m not complaining, really – I’m glad that there is such a thing as online school. I don’t know if I would be able to work here and attend a traditional college – there just isn’t much flexibility in on-site schools, but the Internet is always open.
I have to admit, before I started working at Ilium Software, I didn’t know much at all about PDAs. I mean, I’d heard about them, seen commercials and ads, but I couldn’t have told you the difference between a Pocket PC and a Palm handheld to save my life. Of course, it’s not like they always make it easy out there, as in the new Palm Treo 700w Smartphone, which actually runs a Pocket PC operating system. I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s ever been confused by handheld devices. So I’m really glad that I’m starting to understand more about mobile devices and that I am able to use them when I need to around here – the world is definitely becoming more mobile, and wireless, and all those other technological-type adjectives.
I liked Kevin’s introduction so much that I’m going to encourage everyone else here to write one. Which I’m pretty sure means I should do one first.
I’m Ellen, one of the people who started Ilium Software, back in 1997. I’ve met some of the people who are reading this – many of the people who run the PDA and mobile related websites, as well as many other developers and even quite a few users – at various conferences and events over the years. I’ve also talked to a number of users (fewer in recent years, but still keep my hand in a little) over the phone and by email. And of course I’ve seen many companies and individuals drop out of mobile software completely. Like people say about old age, it’s definitely not for sissies.
If companies reflect the personalities of the people who started them, I guess Ilium Software reflects mine to a large extent. Certainly our emphasis on providing really good support is a direct result of my frustration with the very bad support I’ve received from too many companies over the years. I don’t accept bad support from anyone (at least not more than once), and as long as I’m in control, we won’t provide it.
Since we now have a blog, I can introduce myself officially. I’m Kevin, and if you call or email Ilium Software for tech support, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll talk to me at some point.
I’m not just a tech support guy who provides PDA software tech support – I actually use the things I support on a regular basis. In general, Ilium “eats its own dog food” – I think that’s the saying. We use eWallet for company passwords and other super-secret things, and we use ListPro for keeping track of not-super-secret things (including many of our QA test lists, the phone support log we keep notes in while on calls, and our feature request tracker.)
I use eWallet to keep track of all my passwords and bank information (you cannot believe how cool it is to be able to call for a pizza and just flip open eWallet on the same phone and read the number right off!), and ListPro to handle my grocery list, consulting hours, and car mileage. I can’t go shopping without looking in ListPro first. This isn’t a sales blurb – I really use both products, they really help me out, and I figure it’s important for people to know that I’m not just paid to say eWallet is super cool.
I’ve been using PDAs since I was in middle school: the first one I got was some 20 dollar electronic organizer that I’d keep my homework assignments in, to the astonishment of the other 6th graders. Next was a Palm IIIx (the screen broke), Dell Axim X5, Palm Zire 31, Audiovox SMT5600, and finally a Palm Treo 650 which seems to be the best fit.
I don’t just support our products; I also help test them. As a result, my desk is a breeding ground for PDAs as you’ll see in the picture below:
Back row: Dell Axim X51V, HP iPAQ 3870, iPAQ 4350, Palm Tungsten T, iMate Pocket PC, Orange SPV-e200, iPAQ 3600, Handspring Visor, Sony Clie NR70.
Front row: Palm Zire 31, Memorex U3 flash drive, Palm Treo 650, Motorola MPX-220, T-Mobile SDA, Motorola MPX-200, Palm M505, Palm Tungsten T3, Palm Zire 71, and my iPod.
The camera: Palm Treo 700w
That’s a lot of PDAs.
