Comments on Crisatunity: So Long DOT.TUNES

UPDATE: Jeff did confirm his identity today, howev...

2008-05-18T11:54:00.000-05:00

UPDATE: Jeff did confirm his identity today, however I'm not at all sure he "gets it" on how irritating the software expiry issue is.

He seemed to indicate that the expiry "feature" would be a thing of the past, but he did not offer particulars. Let's hope so. I'm subscribed to the blog - http://blog.dottunes.net/ - and I'll keep up with any relevant announcements.

I received no confirmation (or denial) using the e...

2008-05-06T08:59:00.000-05:00

I received no confirmation (or denial) using the e-mail Jeff provieded one way or the other that Jeff is, in fact, representing dottunes.net in any way.

Why bother posting in your company's name and then fail to confirm your identity in any way?

So, either ignore Jeff's post as a spoof or add that to the heap of impressive feats of business self-destruction for dottunes.net.

Disclaimer: I haven't yet received confirmation th...

2008-05-05T14:40:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: I haven't yet received confirmation that Jeff is in fact from dottunes.net, but it seems likely that he is despite the private Blogger profile used.

I would like to respond to Jeff's thoughtful comment.

I'm glad to hear my perception that DOT.TUNES Version 4 being available without cost was wrong. You may wish to consider your domains landing page to stop treating the no cost version like a red-headed stepchild - or have the "your software is broken" link reference a product specific page.

Why put all that effort into the whole weak and always flawed symetrical key architecture for no cost software in the first place?

It seems to me you put it in place primarily for marketing purposes (again) - forcing people to give up an e-mail address. Which, of course, is your preogative - but still doesn't explain why it is hardwired for expiration without any sort of warning or disclaimer at any time. Your users just wake up with broken software some morning. If you don't see how totally shitty that is, God help you.

The amount of folks writing or seeking piracy hacks for no cost software is very insignificant, don't you think?

If new releases have new features and bug fixes, you MUST expose at least at a high level what they are to motivate someone to upgrade. Otherwise you open yourself up to my original post's primary complaint: sheistism.

So, I accept your apology because I believe that you are an honest person looking to carve out your place on the Internet without malice.

Accepting your apology doesn't mean I understand why your firm operates as it does, nor will I be interested in using DOT.TUNES any version as long as your methods remain the same.

As far as "making it up to me", I don't think trinkets of swag are going make any difference. I think at this point all you can do is open source your no cost product for me to be feel any meaningful change has taken place.

DOT.TUNES Version 4 is inherently anti-consumer; and your bottom line will always suffer for it.

Heya,Jeff here from DOT.TUNES.Firstly I'm sorry th...

2008-05-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

Heya,

Jeff here from DOT.TUNES.

Firstly I'm sorry that you had a bad experience during our upgrade process and I have certainly taken your comments on board and will make changes accordingly.

I wont go right through your comments and defend each point but I would like to make two brief comments.

1) We have no plans to change from our FREE software model with optional plugins to add specific functionality. Anyone can download DOT.TUNES and enjoy all the free features. Nothing has changed.

2) The reason for our software expiring is not to have you return to our site for marketing purposes. You could just as easily download the latest build from any of the major software download sites without returning to dottunes.net at all. The issue is software piracy and the need to protect ourselves from applications and web sites which hack and crack software and then release serial numbers, or cracking techniques. We have experienced this in the past and found it to have a serious impact on our bottom line. For this reason our software is set to expire at a date in the future just incase a crack is released. This gives us time to prepare a new version which is always available before the current version expires. Each new release always contains new features, bug fixes and optimizations.

So, I hear you - I take all your comments on board and thanks for letting us know how you feel. To be honest this is the first time anyone has ever mentioned a concern about this issue but now that it has been raised we'll discuss our options.

If you are able to accept our apology then please feel free to drop me an email at team@dottunes.net as I would like to make it up to you.

Take care,

Jeff
DOT.TUNES