Eclipse Library System moved to hosted and now very slow

[abrigham]

We have also recently moved to MLS hosted and we in the last year the only comments we have are unbelievable slow at times and their support is shocking.

[Davit2005]

Silverlight is losing support, in theory HTML5 should be a lot better as no plugins required.

 

My first school in 2009 they moved to SilverLight because Sales sold it to the librarians much earlier than they should of. It took a lot of man hours in IT support to even get it working, but at least support was a bit better back then.

[psbresner]

We have also recently moved to MLS hosted and it's very slow indeed.

[CMDRShepard]

Silverlight is losing support, in theory HTML5 should be a lot better as no plugins required.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case. I spoke to a member of (what I think was) their support team recently, and was told that it isn't *true* HTML5, rather a HTML5 skin over what was there before. I'm not familiar with Eclipse so I don't know how this is done or whether or not it's a bad thing, but it instantly triggers alarm bells for me. How many plugins do they insist you install as part of the setup of Eclipse?

[PR-UK]

Quite a few familiar stories in here that we've experienced to "It's not us it's your AV/Firewall/PC".

 

We had the local install version however we experienced several issues that we were told would only ever be fixed on the hosted system, so the Librarians fell for it and purchased the hosted system.

 

They did something wrong with the user import during the migration and we've suffered ever since; users who were on the old hosted system don't always work correctly, in fact a member of staff spent several days opening the records of each student in the Junior School and then saving it (without making changes) as default settings hadn't applied to accounts properly. Over all it was slow and Silverlight was awful, it mostly settled down in the last 12 months until the HTML5 part came out and it was oh so slow. A librarian demoed it to me showing adding a new book, you could see MLS's server creaking when you stood for 15 seconds as the page pulled the long list of book categories off their servers.

 

Any complaints however just come back with the boilerplate "Check your AV/Firewall/PC" and if we push past that they say they'll look in to it and we hear nothing more.

 

None of these library systems for schools seem very good, so there's no real incentive for them to improve...

[jcs808]

Quite a few familiar stories in here that we've experienced to "It's not us it's your AV/Firewall/PC".

 

We had the local install version however we experienced several issues that we were told would only ever be fixed on the hosted system, so the Librarians fell for it and purchased the hosted system.

 

They did something wrong with the user import during the migration and we've suffered ever since; users who were on the old hosted system don't always work correctly, in fact a member of staff spent several days opening the records of each student in the Junior School and then saving it (without making changes) as default settings hadn't applied to accounts properly. Over all it was slow and Silverlight was awful, it mostly settled down in the last 12 months until the HTML5 part came out and it was oh so slow. A librarian demoed it to me showing adding a new book, you could see MLS's server creaking when you stood for 15 seconds as the page pulled the long list of book categories off their servers.

 

Any complaints however just come back with the boilerplate "Check your AV/Firewall/PC" and if we push past that they say they'll look in to it and we hear nothing more.

 

None of these library systems for schools seem very good, so there's no real incentive for them to improve...

 

This just about sums up our experience too.

[MLS]

Hi All,

 

Customer Service Manager from MLS. Adam kindly shared this with me. Must say it does not make pleasant reading at all. My sincere apologies for your experiences. I'd like to assure you all that we are very happy to work with you all and determined to provide you with complete resolutions regards the speed of your system. I'd be very grateful if you would grant me the opportunity to assist and drop me a line, I will then make sure your accounts are treated with highest priority with some dedicated resources and we will post back our lessons as we go. Just let me know which account you are when you email.

 

[email protected]

[round2it]

2 pence worth. Onsite system moved up to silverlight and the speed is rubbish. Wish i never upgraded.

 

Given vm shed loads or ram and cores makes no difference.

It has always been a poor piece of software.

 

And i think i am going to ditch it and save money on the support costs only good thing is the free labels for books.

 

It needs to be rewritten from the ground up.

 

 

Feel for the guys in support.

[mukz]

Wasnt MLS brought by Capita?

Also we use MLS, our librarian just gets on with it. She is fed up of complaining.

[JonThompson]

Wasnt MLS brought by Capita?

Also we use MLS, our librarian just gets on with it. She is fed up of complaining.

 

Yep. But run as a separate company I do believe.

[clockend25]

Interesting reading this. We're self-hosted and using the Silverlight version. Two years ago I got badgered by one of their sales reps regading moving to the hosted solution; literally lasted all summer and wouldn't take no for an answer. Have to say that none of the supposed advantages of moving to a hosted platform make sense for us so could never justify the cost.

 

Our new librarian is being hunted down now regarding our support contract. Not inclined to renew.

[gumbygaz]

Same here, librarian is just living with it. Tried to report speed issues a while back, got the antivirus/plugin usual response. Thought moving to HTML5 would speed it up, I think it's slower and more basic looking now. At least the silverlight one looked slightly more engaging. Now it's slow and very boring looking, not even bothering with the students using it now. Mainly paying for it's use on the Librarian's PC.

Oliver too expensive to jump ship now, but if there's something better out there then let me know!

[MLS]

Hi Again All,

 

We are making some head way here with investigations. Thank you to you all for sharing your issues and especially to those of you who have allowed us to work directly with you. I think we are in touch with enough live cases to work towards a resolution but you are all very welcome to contact me.

I'll keep you posted and thanks again.

 

[email protected]

[BarriedaleNick]

What would have been good would have to have been notified that you were not going to ship html 5 versions for self hosted customers. No wonder I have had about 30 calls about moving to hosted before someone had the guts to tell me that I wasn't going to get it. Now we are stuck on Silverlight with no upgrade path other than hosted. Seriously unhappy.

[round2it]

If the company does not sort out the issues soon (stop badgering me to go hosted its getting really annoying) then they are going to struggle to stay afloat all it takes is one good open source product and we will all jump ship.

 

The self hosted people have got the short end of the stick ( who came up with that business model )

 

so your not getting my schools money anymore for a product that is not going to be updated.

 

Just going to snapshot the VM and take a DB backup each DAY no support required.

[localzuk]

I'm going to push to move our school with MLS over to Softlink Oliver hosted. We've had nothing but good support in our other school with them.

[round2it]

Another point already raised in this thread stop ringing the librarians bypassing network managers it feels so underhand. These tactics dont wash with me.

 

Sorry if my comments seem a little raw but it gets old real quick.

[Sylv3r]

We have also decided to remain on the self-hosted version after serveral telephone calls and e-mails 'selling' the benefits of the hosted solution. We wouldn't use any of the benefits of the hosted solution and have this year decided against the support also and buy more books for the library with the money.

[round2it]

yes I am going to do this also.

[lmgtfy]

@MLS our librarians are complaining our MLS website is very slow this lunch time and is occasionally timing out or coming up with "Server Error In "/" application" runtime error

 

I have checked on Micro Librarian Systems Ltd Status and there are no known errors can you confirm if you are having issues at your end?

 

Thanks

[MLS]

Hi,

 

I have just had it confirmed that there was a brief break in service. It was fixed rapidly hence no notification. I will inquire about logging histories on there as its very useful for everyone.

How is your system now. If you need anything just drop me an email:

 

[email protected]

[lmgtfy]

Hi,

 

I have just had it confirmed that there was a brief break in service. It was fixed rapidly hence no notification. I will inquire about logging histories on there as its very useful for everyone.

How is your system now. If you need anything just drop me an email:

 

[email protected]

 

Thanks it seems better now. According to the librarians it was completely down for around 30 minutes then very slow for around 20 minutes and now back to "normal"

 

As you say it would be useful to log these on the status page so end users can make an informed decision before moving to hosted for the so called improved reliability of the system.

[bennz]

ClearlyMLS doesn't think enough of its customers to let them know there is an issue. Even if it was a small issue (which doesn't seem to be the case) you should let us know so we don't waste time investigating. Very poor service with a clear intention to cover up an unstable platform. Service from this company has gone downhill so much over the past few years.

[MLS]

Bennz, I agree with you regards reporting issues, and I'll be looking to make sure that all service disruptions are logged on the status site. Its there to provide convenience and keep us all informed.

 

 

While I am here can I ask for anyone who still has any problems with the speed of the hosted service to drop me an email. I have had 3 direct responses regards this issue from this forum so far but I am assuming we may already been in touch via other channels, with some of you. We have had 18 accounts in total so far, with ongoing speed issues and have had successful feedback from most. We await feedback from the others and continue to contact them.

 

Can I also say thank you to those of you who have taken your time to work with us, on these issues, its truly appreciated.

[round2it]

what about us on self hosted.

 

do we get a mention oh forgot we have been ditched.

Edited May 24, 2017 by round2it