Re: filmscanners: Re: filmscanners: VueScan 7.1.7 Available

[Terry Carroll <carroll@tjc.com>]

On Thu, 2 Aug 2001, [iso-8859-1] Rob Geraghty wrote:

> David wrote:
> > Yeah, me too. I had expected rather more professional
> > commitment - just glad I was only taken for $40.
> 
> Presumably this is the sort of invective that made Ed want to drop support
> for the Mac.  I can't see how it helps the cause.

I don't want to gang up on David, as I've noticed that two people have now
commented on this.

What I'd like to point out is that shareware is usually pretty
inexpensive, at least relative to a traditionally distributed and marketed
product, and you get a product for your money.  Not necessarily free
upgrades in the future, but you get a product.

I'm not a Vuescan user (I read this list so I can select a filmscanner one
of these days), but as I understand it, Ed offers a trial product that can
be fully tested prior to purchase.  If you think that that product is
worth the money, you can buy it.  If you don't think it's worth the money,
you don't have to.  The point is, you're given the opportunity to make a
very informed decision on whether to buy.

I have several shareware programs.  In one case, the developer
dropped the product with no further enhancements beyond my purchase.  In
another, the developer, after a few upgrades, brought out a new version of
the product that it denoted as a new product, and I don't get the
upgrade.  In yet another, the developer came out with a second product
that was similar to the one I had registered, that happened to be
targeted exactly for the application I was using the first for; I didn't
get those updates.  Another developer has constantly updated his product,
but never added the one simple thing I've asked for for 4 years now.

But you know what?  I don't feel taken.  I got a chance to check out the
products first and decide whether they were worth  my money.  I decided
they were, and paid, and got exactly what I paid for.

I am still a registered VuePrint user, and have always been pleased with
Ed's support.  At some point, I found that another image viewer better met
my needs, and switched to it.  I don't feel taken by Ed.  I feel that I
got value from the product, and, when I found something that matched my
needs better, I registered that, too.

If Ed were never to develop another line of Mac code, it's not like all
the already distributed copies of the Mac version of Vuescan would cease
to operate.  Those products would continue to work, as you have a right to
expect them to; after all, that is the product you paid for.

But it's a mistake to approach any product purchase as though you're
somehow purchasing more than that product.



-- 
Terry Carroll    \ "But at the end of the day, even if you put a calico
Santa Clara, CA   \ dress on it and call it Florence, a pig is still a
carroll@tjc.com    \ pig." Bradshaw v. Unity Marine Corp., no. 00-558,
Modell delendus est \ 2001 US Dist. Lexis 8962 (S.D. Texas, June 26, 2001)