To whom it may concern...

dueyftw · Post by **dueyftw** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:49 pm

The last piece of software I bought was TweenMaker. Not that I have 55 dollars to just throw away, but I see it as contribution to get the program improved. Money always helps. And if there is an up grade I should get it at a much reduced cost than just buying new. eFronter has been going the way of Adobe and many other companies where the software they offer for the next version is nothing but eye candy. Most of Adobe’s products have been finished and complete years ago and this is the way they make money from them. eFronter’s software is still evolving and I’m willing to pay for a new version if I see some real improvements.

One way to send eFronter a message is to compile all the free scripts that can, post them on Lulu for a 5 dollar download (sending any money made to charity) then once a month give them an up date on how much money they lost by not dealing with you in an honest manner.

Dale

slice11217 · Post by **slice11217** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:23 pm

heyvern wrote:
Everyone be on the lookout in case Vern has a quiet disappearance from the forum at the hands of the e-frontier folks....
That would be foolish.

I have no plans to let this experience have ANY effect on my love of the application or my POSITIVE contributions to the AS community. That is just cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Hey, I was joking yanno? Like, the e-frontier version of the cigarette smoking man and Alex Krichek were conspiring to silence any detractors...

-Ah! Maybe it's not so funny after all.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:06 pm

Hey, I was joking yanno? Like, the e-frontier version of the cigarette smoking man

Okay... yes that is funny.

I would think efrontier's version of the "Smoking Man" would be more like "Chad Vader" though.

-vern

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:42 pm

Hey! Vern!

I'm so sorry about your corrupted file and the bad answer that e-frontier have given to you asking for $15 for a new download. That answer would not be give to any user but to a person like you it would be the last!

I wan to tell you my experience when I started to be a Beta tester of Anime Sutidio for linux.
Once I signed out my Non Disclosure Agreement I maintained some emails with Fahim and finally he give me a link to a ftp server to download the zip file of the Beta version. What was my surprise that the serial number he emailed me did not work... I emailed him wondering if there is any problem with MY downloaded file and asking for a MD5SUM number to checkout if the file was sane. He sent me the MD5SUM and also another serial number. After three trials (:roll:) I could obtain a working serial number. By the way, thanks to the MD5SUM file I was sure that the file was not corrupt and the problem was in the serial number.

What I want you to notice is that there is a common way to be completely sure that the file is sane and it is the md5sum value of a file. I'm completely sure that there is an application in Mac that calculates that number.
If ANY serious software company want to give support to its customers it must provide the md5sum number with their files. ANY downloaded file can be corrupted even if it is zipped!.
It would be as easy that they send you the md5sum of your file and then you can check if the file is sane or not. If the file is not sane then you must can download it again!!!. It is not a question of maintain the downloadable file for every customer!!! I'm sure that is possible create a custom file for every serial number that it exists (or they plan to sell only a limited number of copies of Anime Studio?)

So please e-Fontier!, Mark! Steve! (*) put your ears here! Are you going to support this guy or not?!

(*) Fahim emailed me (and I'm sure to some of you also) with a generic goodbye... Here is an extract:

Should you have any questions regarding my products, Manga Studio, Anime Studio, MotionArtist or Vue please contact Mark Leitch (mark@e-frontier.com - 831-480-2050) and Steve Yatson (steve@e-frontier.com – 831-480-2099).

I'm sure those guys are going to answer your emails.
I support you, Vern.
-G

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:30 am

Thanks for the support Gente.

I learned all about that number for verifying the download. Trouble was my original download was total garbage and I didn't know it. Didn't bother to check.

I also learned that on the Mac there are two types of .dmg compression. One that only Tiger can open. If a developer has used that one for a program that CAN work in Panther and the customer is not aware of this they won't know why the file won't open. They may assume it is corrupted or assume it is for Tiger only.

I made the incorrect assumption that was the case. I WRONGLY assumed it was for Tiger only (I've encountered this before).

It was all along my stupid idiotic mistake. I just didn't see why I had to pay $15 for an honest mistake.

-vern

Rhoel · Post by **Rhoel** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:38 pm

I have to be honest with this - this kind of company policy which encourages torrent downloading. It's very short sighted.

This is not the first time I have heard of purchasing problems at eFrontier: I tried to buy something online from their online store only to be told "sorry, we don't sell software to your country".

Customers are left with Catch-22 - eFrontier won't sell stuff to Thailand (Haven't tried from Cambodia) because of the well known software piracy problem there - as a result, those people who try to buy a legal version can't and have no option but to go to the pirates because that's the omly way they can get the program.

Hopefully Mark or someone will now take on reading the forum in Fahim's absence and take on board the comments made here.

Rhoel

DarthFurby · Post by **DarthFurby** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:01 pm

The download fee is extremely weird since you can download the pro version demo for free(I think it's 120mb.)