Hello, Chris!
Post by Oxygen SoftwareChris, could you please name any similar software that is not
pirated/cracked in several days from release? I don't know any.
Pirated version of Logomanager or MobiMB are usually available right
the day after they released.
CB> That may be true, but those guilty people who are pirating the
CB> software are not your customers. Your customers have paid you for
CB> the software, so why punish them for somebody else's crime by making
CB> them pay for anti-piracy measures that benefit only you?
Of course they are not our customers, and I didn't write this. We both
understand that the task of anti-piracy protection is always the selection
between more convenience and stronger protection. We're developing Oxygen
Phone Manager since March, 2000 and our protection scheme we use now seems
to be the happy medium between "comfortable but easy cracking" and
"strongest but very hard to use". We minimized customers' inconvenience when
registering phones by reducing of their actions to several mouse clicks. But
we understand that there are some small inconveniences in other aspect we
can't overcome without making the protection poor.
Post by Oxygen SoftwareAbout Logomanager and its update policy - I think you've found a bad
example. Yes you keep receiving new versions, but please compare the
dynamics of adding new features to Logomanager and OPM2. Oxygen Phone
Manager II is just less than 1.5 years old, but it has *much* more
features than LM. Logomanager is almost dead now, it stopped in its
evolution a long time ago. And Mike (btw, I think he is a great
programmer!) understood it and created three(!) new products to
continue earning his living.
So there is a simple choice between purchasing next product every
time the previous become antiquated and paying small fixed free
yearly and be sure you will receive all the new features in regular
updates. We choose the second way.
And we are not going to change our policy, because I consider it's
more fair than, for example, charging for every update of MobiMB.
CB> Oleg, in all your responses you keep talking about the benefits of
CB> receiving upgraded software when that is not the real issue being
CB> questioned here. What people dislike is being forced to pay again
CB> for using the *same* version of OPM with another phone, even of the
CB> *same* model.
It's hard to make the license policy that satisfies all. I agree that this
situation is not foreseen in our updates policy, but as I said before:
1. It's a very infrequent situation when somebody *purchases* the same model
that he used a year ago. Actually I know few models that were issued by
Nokia for more than 1 year, but the most of them were supported less than
year.
2. If the previous phone was dead and replaced by service center, you always
can contact us with a scancopy of the document confirming this replacement
and we'll try to help.
3. Personally I don't understand the "problem" of registration renewal at
all, because I can't imagine a person who bought a phone and said: "It's my
last phone model. I won't need any new models anymore for all the rest of my
life". But... It's only my opinion and maybe these people are living among
us, and maybe they consider the question of 12.95Euro renewal is adequate to
this huge polemics ;-)
Post by Oxygen SoftwareBy the way our registered customers who bought Nokia 7650 or 3650
phones are very happy now that they can get Symbian phones support
*absolutely free*, despite of the fact that we worked on it almost 1
year and were forced to make a separate program for this - Oxygen
Phone Manager for
Symbian OS phones, and it has only about 10% common code with OPM2.
It's more fair than if we would charge an additional fee for it.
CB> Perhaps I can suggest a compromise solution that you could consider.
CB> Let's say that when you buy OPM, you get a registration code which
CB> allows you to use *any* currently released phone, plus any new
CB> models which are released during the next 12 months. You would be
CB> able to identify the model of the phone being used just as you can
CB> now identify the IMEI. That would allow more flexibility in case
CB> people lose their phones, change them for another model or upgrade
CB> them soon after buying your software.
This solution has (at least) two weak places:
1. We don't know ID's of "any new models which are released during the next
12 months".
2. Every time the new Nokia model is released we don't know its "internal"
name (and we can't identify it) until either we buy and test it or (e.g. if
the model is not for Europe market) our betatesters try it and send us all
the required data. Storing "allowed" model names will result in
impossibility to detect the new model by our betatesters.
But we'll think about this scheme.
Anyhow right now the problem of dead/lost phones replacement can be solved
by contacting us as I wrote before.
CB> Then, at any time after the expiry of his license, the customer has
CB> the option of buying an additional license from you which would
CB> enable his software to be used with an extended range of phones,
CB> including any currently available phone plus any new models released
CB> in the next 12 months. That additional license would be your payment
CB> for the additional development work you had done to support new
CB> phones.
This suggestion looks quite reasonable. We'll think about implementing it.
CB> There would then be no need to obtain new codes every time you
CB> changed your phone for a current model. Customers could still
CB> download the latest version of OPM in order to fix any bugs, but
CB> will not have the ability to use the software with the latest models
CB> unless they buy another license.
It's not a good idea, because the registration key that has no information
about the specified phone becomes applicable to every phone of allowed
models. So it would be very easy to make this registration key available for
all.
If you will have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact
us.
Best regards, Oleg Fyodorov.
Oxygen Software - tools for your Nokia.
Oxygen Phone Manager II - all you want from your Nokia.
***@oxygensoftware.com
http://www.oxygensoftware.com
http://www.oxygensoftware.co.uk