Announcement: E-Initiative(tm) Initiative Tracking Tool Website

[Frylock]

New Features

Some new features have been added to the evaluation copy, ready for download at http://www.e-init.com/.

 

[Frylock]

It's Ready!

Version 1.0 of E-Initiative is now ready to go. You can download it at http://www.e-init.com/.

 

[Hackmaster]

From the website

In order to avoid piracy, registering the product involves sending an email, generated by the application, that identifies the specific hard drive on which you’re installing the software. The registration code you receive, therefore, will be based on that computer. The unfortunate consequence of that process is that if you change hard drives, you’ll need to purchase another license in order to install the program on the new computer.

You had me hooked until this part. I've been looking for a good gaming software program to help track things during combat, but not with this type of anti-piracy scam going.

I was hoping to get a new laptop sometime within the next year, and according to the information provided on the website, I'll have to buy another license to get the program to work on my new computer.

No thanks.

Treating customers like criminals = no customers.

 

[Frylock]

You had me hooked until this part. I've been looking for a good gaming software program to help track things during combat, but not with this type of anti-piracy scam going. . . . Treating customers like criminals = no customers.

That's funny. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[andargor]

That's funny. Thanks for the laugh.

Are you serious?

I agree with Hackmaster: no Big Brother software on my machine, thanks.

I am also disappointed in your attitude towards potential customer feedback.

 

[Frylock]

Are you serious?

I agree with Hackmaster: no Big Brother software on my machine, thanks.

I am also disappointed in your attitude towards potential customer feedback.

Requiring registration of software is Big Brother-esque? That's just as funny.

One of these days, you're going to get a job, try to sell a product, and have people try to steal it from you. Then, you're going to, let's say, install video cameras to protect your store front. Then someone's going to say you're treating all your customers like criminals, and he's going to refuse to deal with you (and, presumably, every other business in the universe) commercially. If you get angry everytime someone does that, the stress will assure that you won't live to see 50. If you take the appropriate approach to the statement and laugh at it, you'll live happily ever after.

 

[BarakO]

Requiring registration of software is Big Brother-esque? That's just as funny.

Not really. It's the "if you change hard drives, you’ll need to purchase another license" that's remonding everyone of Big Brother.

But for me it's not even that part that will prevent me from even trying the app, it's the fact that it's a major PITA, and a tad (ok, a whole whopping lot IMO) greedy on your part.

I update my hard drives routinely (I swap out or get a new one every 6 months or so, and new computers somewhere in the 12-18 month range). So I'm constantly moving things around and re-arranging and reinstalling. According to your scheme I'd be re-buying your program every time. Thanks, but no thanks. I bought the license, I should *not* have to re-buy it every time I upgrade or get a new computer. *No* software is worth that, especially a hobby app. Even the most pirated software on earth (MS Windows) is not that draconian.

Your policy might protect you from piracy, but it's also going to protect you from customers like me (and Andargor and Hackmaster too it sounds like).

 

[Frylock]

But for me it's not even that part that will prevent me from even trying the app, it's the fact that it's a major PITA, and a tad (ok, a whole whopping lot IMO) greedy on your part.

I update my hard drives routinely (I swap out or get a new one every 6 months or so, and new computers somewhere in the 12-18 month range). So I'm constantly moving things around and re-arranging and reinstalling. According to your scheme I'd be re-buying your program every time. Thanks, but no thanks. I bought the license, I should *not* have to re-buy it every time I upgrade or get a new computer. *No* software is worth that, especially a hobby app. Even the most pirated software on earth (MS Windows) is not that draconian.

Your policy might protect you from piracy, but it's also going to protect you from customers like me (and Andargor and Hackmaster too it sounds like).

Well, I'm not really worried about them, nor am I worried about you, although not because I think you're being unfair. First, the app has a great deal of functionality even when unregistered. If you choose not to register it, it still might be worth your while, especially if you use E-Tools (or any product that will be supported in the future).

Second, the one issue I'll take with you is that it's not greedy to come up with an extremely effective means to prevent piracy; it's clever and practical (although the mechanism wasn't my idea). If your financial and/or logical circumstances don't allow you to pay a small "change of harddrive" fee, fair enough, but considering every software license you've accepted has this term in it, I find it bizarre that you'd complain. The only real difference here is that I can enforce it.

Ergo, I won't be changing the policy. I've noticed that a lot of people on these boards (WotC and others included) insist on getting something for nothing, and act as if they're entitled to it (see, e.g., the discussion on the digital initiative). I don't get that impression from you, but I'm not going to allow unregisterable copies to float around out there. If it's not good enough for you to pay for it, then it's not good enough to be out there (so I don't see why people even care).

Last, before people throw around the term "Big Brother," they really should read George Orwell's 1984. It's just not an appropriate analogy. I'm not practicing surveillance on your harddrives, nor am I controlling them. None of Big Brother's characteristics apply to this discussion. As I said, I'm just able to enforce a term that's in every single software license out there.

 

[Mercule]

Your policy might protect you from piracy, but it's also going to protect you from customers like me (and Andargor and Hackmaster too it sounds like).

And me. Something similar has me not even considering HeroLab.

I'm a professional programmer. I don't use pirated software -- at all. I will not, however, purchase software that makes it a pain to move to a different machine. Or to reinstall. Or upgrade my current hardware.

Talk with Anurien. He's got a pretty tough anti-piracy model for RPGX. But, it's fair and he acknowledges his customers' concerns about it.

 

[trevorscroft]

I expect, frylock, that you probably would get a lot more paying customers with a liberal licensing than you will with your draconian method. Like others, I change hard drives all the time (due to changing laptops, rebuilding my desktop, or a hdd failure). With a liberal license, I could easily justify paying the small fee for the extra features, but there's no way I could justify the "change of hdd" fee. I've tried that road as a consumer, and the moment my hdd crashed, I left that product and never looked back. Just food for thought.

I also think you'd attract more sympathetic customers if you had a less insulting tone in your response to criticism