Real Shimadzu EZChrom (aka Class VP) Bugs and Experiences
....the Shimadzu name is synonymous with bugs and bad experiences guaranteed!
We received the following unsolicited email on 14 May 1999:
To: shimadzu-sux@bigfoot.com
From: identity withheld
Subject: EZChrom software OQ violation
"I remember using EZ-Chrom with the newly presented Shimadzu PDA [photo diode
array detector] around 1993 for UDL laboratories [now Mylan Labs] in Florida. I don't
remember the actual model numbers [probably SPD-M6A or SPD-M10A] and have lost track with
Shimadzu since I haven't purchased any more of their "products." I consider the
term product to be quite generous in this case!
EZChrom was designed under Windows 3.1 (sic) to be a "time share" acquisition
system. Designing such a system under [Windows] 3.1 tells you how much they understood
about their computer platform. During acquisition and conversion of analog data, if a
lengthy disk access was being made by another program, EZChrom would miss the signal and a
flat line would occur on the chromatogram [and contour plot] during the time of the disk
access. I experienced this problem while trying to manually quantitate data [from a
previous run] while acquiring [new] data.
Working under strict FDA guidelines, this totally violated the operational qualification
[OQ] of the software. Shimadzu denied this problem for 3 months continuously only to claim
[that] we were using the system incorrectly. They later said it was a Windows problem! I
am curious if the problem has been corrected; especially with the availability of Windows
NT and [Windows] 95 versions. Our sales rep was the only person who seemed to care. (He
later became a little disturbed; was fired by Shimadzu and somehow managed to set the
Shimadzu travel van on fire intentionally - but that's another story!)
I suggest all customers and consumers using any type of data acquisition software to
perform their own operational qualifications before you purchase the equipment. Make [the]
purchase contingent upon passing your IQ/OQ/PQ specifications; not the manufacturer's.
Don't let the manufacturer of the equipment/software do it for you!
To perform the test properly - especially with multiple instruments being configured on a
single computer - all instruments should be turned on at the same time and forced to
acquire data at their highest [acquisition] rates. Examine the chromatograms/output of
each of the instruments for signal drops. If the system can't do this, make sure the
manufacturer has told you so before performing the test.
It is a good idea to acquire data on the instrument first with no other background
processes or instruments operating. Compare the signals from the multi-operation to the
signal of the single instrument operation. Do they look the same? If they don't, you have
a problem! Perform the test with a familiar analyte."
Sincerely,
Director of Analytical Services
n.b. To answer the writer's query: "I am curious if the
problem has been corrected; especially with the availability of Windows NT and [Windows]
95 versions," one only needs to consider the robust observations that were posted to
the sci.chem newsgroup last year and which we highlighted in Shimadzu
HPLC Battles & GC-MS Crashes.
n.b. We will state emphatically that there were similar accounts of EZChrom OQ problems
(like those disclosed at UDL Laboratories) reported in other labs around the US (and
probably around the world) but Shimadzu in-house product managers were perpetually mum.
The field personnel at Shimadzu were not even served formal notice of this pervasive
chromatography data acquisition problem. What does that tell you?
n.b. It bears repeating that a Director of Analytical Services at a major domestic
corporation recounted that "Shimadzu denied this problem for 3 months." And when
Shimadzu finally admitted that there was a problem, then they blamed it on Microsoft
Windows! How does that grab you? Guess who many times Shimadzu customers were stiffed and
told to call Microsoft Corporation instead! (This director has agreed to answer any
specific questions regarding his observations if they are forwarded to: shimadzu-sux@bigfoot.com
with "EZChrom software OQ violation" in the subject line.)
n.b. Terry L. Adams, who coined the term "Sleazy-Chrom," witnessed nearly
identical problems (to those reported at UDL Laboratories in Florida) with a
EZChrom/SPD-M6A detector which he sold to A.L. Pharma Labs in Baltimore, MD. How
widespread do you think this vexing problem really was? Do you think the problem was ever
totally solved? Would you want this "rugged and reliable" rubbish in YOUR lab?
n.b. Shimadzu changed the name of their EZChrom software product to Class VP in 1996.
Scientific Software (Pleasanton, CA) writes the source code for Shimadzu's Class VP (aka
Class Crap or *Class VD) software and uses the EZChrom Elite name exclusively in it's own
marketing campaign of the chromatography software product. (ThermoQuest also uses the data
integration source code from EZChrom and then adds their own instrument control code....
the resulting product is privately-labelled as ChromQuest.)
*Class VD is most appropriate since Shimadzu Scientific (Columbia, MD) is right down the
road from the veneral disease capital of
the US (aka The City That Breeds!)
Questions: What kind of rugged in-depth testing did this combo software
(EZChrom)/hardware (PDA) product receive before it was released for sale to the consuming
public? Would you be generous enough to call it a product? How many other so-called
Shimadzu products (including Class VD) have made their way to market complete with
software bugs and/or hardware glitches still intact.... you don't even want to know! Can
you say SHIT-MADZU? Why would you trust anyone from Shimadzu to tell you the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Take Your Productivity to Low Levels With
Shimadzu Class VD Software
(Don't bring this unreliable and defective rubbish into your lab!)
For more information about Shimadzu, call 1-800-LIARS
This page was last 
12/31/00