I understand that it is complicated. I am a programmer myself. Nobody was holding a gun to your head and forcing you to improve Windows menus. It was your free choice to do so. It was also your choice to sell this software. You could have made it an open source project. It was your decision to do so. So it is also your duty to do the updates and adaptations. You can't make such decisions first and then complain all the time in the forum that Microsoft is so evil. Make the project open source and you will certainly have support in solving the problems. Leaving customers hanging all the time with a broken program is not the way to go here. My last update is from July, 8th 2022. It is now April 2023! You have known about this problem since December 2022! It always takes months until something is added or fixed.

You don't know much about business policy, do you? Otherwise you wouldn't tell me that I shouldn't pay anything for it... Very stupid statement! And above all, damaging to your business!

And yes, I know who is programming the software here. But you decided to be the mouthpiece here, so you have to be able to take the criticism. I am not saying that the program is bad. In fact, it is the best program in this field. It's all the sadder that it takes so long to get a bug fix.

You said nobody is forcing me? Website Info:
A Commercial license is the standard licensing option for organizations and business entities. Licenses are purchased by the company and can be used by any single person within this organization.

Order now and receive:

One link to download, install and use the software immediately
One link to download and install a collection of over 1,000 beautiful dock tile bitmaps
Free lifetime product upgrades
Premium support

I am a business user. That's why I have to buy. But like I told you. I pay to support this project because it is good. But please fix this problem!

As Nexter just told me via PN, I'm not allowed to say something like that here. So I'll just say it where people make decisions about downloading software. Thanks for the "nice" help here in the forum! I think writing something here is probably just as undesirable as buying the software! This is what Nexter has taught me now. So I will use other software in the future!

Apparently a customer is not king here!

In view of the unusual behaviour of this user and his threatening behaviour/PMs, I see myself forced to take the highly unusual and unprecedented step of not only leaving his aggressive/abusive, factually inaccurate posts in situ despite a ban having had to be imposed, but also to append his equally aggressive/abusive and factually inaccurate PMs and my own reply, as well as the text of my official warning.


My official warning :

The following warning was issued to this user
» Read the Board Rules and Guideline etc. - arguing with staff, esp. in an aggressive/abusive manner, is not tolerated on any board! You're being let off lightly with a warning, but any further transgressions will result in a ban. So familiarise yourself with the rules etc, and also with the forum itself which among many other things would have informed you that the beta forum has been defunct for several years and beta matters are discussed in 'General Discussion'.


PM No1 from user DracoC2M :

Previous PM in history | Previous PM | Next PM
Message subject: Re: Board warning issued
From: DracoC2M
Sent: Mon Apr 03, 2023 4:13 pm
To: nexter
Message
Ah, so I'm not allowed to have an opinion or I'll get in trouble! I expect an immediate refund of my payments to you. I reserve the right to take legal action against you!


Delete message
Profile
Reply with quote Reply to message
Print view | Forward PM


My reply to above :

Message subject: Re: Board warning issued
From: nexter
Sent: Mon Apr 03, 2023 4:26 pm
To: DracoC2M
Message
DracoC2M wrote:
Ah, so I'm not allowed to have an opinion or I'll get in trouble! I expect an immediate refund of my payments to you. I reserve the right to take legal action against you!

You are perfectly free to have an opinion as long as you do not infringe Board Rules etc. and keep a civil tongue, and as long as you do not argue with forum staff.

However, you seem to insist on being some sort of teenage delinquent with anger issues, so you are forcing me to consider a ban. Re-read the 'Warning' notice!

As for a refund - on what grounds, exactly? There are none. Legal action? Against whom? In the first place, I am not in any way connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, nor am I in any way any kind of representative of it. I am merely an unpaid volunteer moderator giving up some of my scarce spare time, somebody who keeps order in the forums and even tries to help with queries, and you don't even appreciate it! Furthermore, you would very quickly be laughed out of a Portuguese court or any other European court.

_________________
nexter - so, what's next?

Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits

Delete message
Profile
Reply with quote Reply to message


PM No2 from user DracoC2M :

Message subject: Re: Board warning issued
From: DracoC2M
Sent: Mon Apr 03, 2023 4:35 pm
To: nexter
Message
Damn now you won! Ohh wait you do this without any payment. This means Jorge was lieing on his webpage with the support? Hmm thank you for this information! It weill be very helpful!

Well until your warning I was a friend. You don't want someone like me to be you foe! Well tu argue with a "free helper" is not the right way! Let's get it to another level!

Farwell!


Delete message
Profile
Reply with quote Reply to message
Print view | Forward PM


My reply to above : None. (I do not engage in aggressive/abusive arguments.)


:/End of appended texts.:

Such behaviour as shown by this user is completely unacceptable and has no place on this board. I was going to be lenient and leave things at the warning, which was designed to help him behave properly, and would have replied in an orderly, civil manner to his initial post, but instead he chose to take things further with his aggressive/abusive and factually completely inaccurate post and thereby forced me to impose a ban and to post here.

As a moderator, I am here to keep order and to keep the board running smoothly and in a civilised manner, and I'm guided by the Board Rules and Guidelines, which incidentally are far more liberal than any that I have ever encountered. If somebody feels they have an issue to discuss and they do so in a factually accurate and relevant manner, as well as in a courteous or at least polite manner, then fine, I am always open to a civilised discussion. What I will not tolerate is abusive or aggressive behaviour, gross factual inaccuracies, false accusations against the project and/or its creator Jorge Coelho (user 'Winstep') or against forum staff in general, or other violations of the Board Rules and Guidelines.

And yet another - newbie - user of this board felt the need to resort to being abusive and insulting, and posting utter nonsense. Post deleted as it did not yet warrant a ban or even a warning.

Read the Board Rules and Guidelines etc. people before posting in these forums. Conduct yourselves accordingly and all will be fine.

Same newbie user felt disinclined to to read let alone follow the rules and argued with staff in forum, hence no alternative but to ban him to avoid protracting such unacceptable conduct.

This board really is just a great big PITA to moderate. While I'm sure the majority of users conduct themselves in a perfectly reasonable and sensible manner, this board seems to attract mainly newbies of the infantile and juvenile types who like to post abuse, be aggressive, and/or argue with staff in forum and PMs in a completely unacceptable manner.

Is it really surprising that as a moderator I have to moderate with an iron fist!? Hardly. And even so I often lean towards leniency, though I rarely receive thanks for that.

I have never encountered such excesses of what is plain bad behaviour in any other of the many boards that I have used in the past or those that I still use. The odd bit here or there on very rare occasions, usually almost instantly resulting in a ban and in some very rare cases notification of their ISP in the past.

This is not the US American 'Wild West'. I will have order, decency and good conduct on this board as it is on most others.

The funny thing is that I can keep creating new accounts .....

:Moderator's note - further arguing redacted - nexter:

Aww.... Sad isn't it, like a spoilt brat throwing all its toys out of the pram. And he has to continue arguing in forum and PM. Ad infinitum?

Hello Nexter,

I'm not sure if this question is right placed in this thread. But I didn't want to create a new thread. I was contacted by an friend of mine, to whom I had recommended the Nexus Dock, that there was a problem with the program. After a short conversation, it turned out to be the same problem, which is already known.

So here's my question: Could you post some information on the download page about which Windows update (KBxxxxxx) causes this problem, so that new customers don't immediately uninstall the program and think it's broken? Or maybe in the news on the website? That would prevent new customers from being dissatisfied with the software. Perhaps you could refer to the forum and write that you are already working on a solution. It would be a pity if this good software were to be deleted by interested parties only because of this problem. These are all potential customers who will never come back!

Most people don't read in forums. So they don't learn that the problem is known and that a solution is already being sought. They also don't find out that Microsoft messed up!

Kind regards,

LoneWolf

Will that be fixed soon? The effect is lasting quite while already and it is very anoying.
I am now inclined to classify the software as abandonware meanwhile and to look for alternatives.
Thanks in advance for hopefully constructive answers.

@ANDREBIEDERMANN As stated in this thread previously the software is still being worked on, with the main problem on fixing the System Tray issue being that Microsoft(hereafter MS) does not provide any api hooks to third party developers for security reasons, nor their code changes due to it being a proprietary closed source software.
  Jeorge (?sp) being the only programmer for the software has to figure out creative ways to snag hooks to provide the OS integration he does, and with the changes MS has been making they are purposefully making this process harder, with their end goal of not allowing anything other than authorized programs as those found in the Windows store to access the core OS and thus mod it.
  In order to get this program authorized it would require an expensive recurring license, and in the case of a replacer such as this software they would require full access to the source code of the project, which they will explain as a security measure.
  Of course, any software developer should have complete faith in MS having their source code, as since they are paying to have the privilege of having their software in the MS store and there is no way anyone working for MS would steal code, right?

  On a side note, I understand why it could be difficult to find all the information provided in this thread that would have covered your concerns as there is quite a bit of off topic posting. A system such as the spoiler tag one that hides the information unless the tag is clicked on but labeled off topic would help with that issue, but as I do not have access to the forums backend I do not know if this is possible.

TL/DR: Please have patience, for without it you are more likely to get health issues than the results you desire.

Hi LW, I moved your post into the main thread concerned with the Windows 11 / System Tray issue.

You do raise some very interesting and valid points which I shall endeavour to answer as best I can.

Indeed, there really ought to be a notice of some sort concerning the issue and not just on the download page but in the general 'News' column and on all pages concerned with downloading and buying all Winstep apps (as the sys tray issue affects Xtreme, Nexus Ultimate, as well as free Nexus). However, I am just a moderator of the forums and do not have any access to the source of the website, which is required to accomplish this. Only Jorge himself could do so, and I shall pass this matter on to him. With the added information to refer users to the forum, and to also create and official 'sticky' post in this forum stating as much detail as possible. (As a mod I also can't create 'stickies' on this board - not sure whether that is the way it is in phpBB2, or whether it's just not configured as enabled. I suspect the latter, as it is available under phpBB3.x.)

One more point - your post might give the - erroneous - impression that I might be involved in the actual coding of Winstep software. Clearly, as I am neither connected to nor affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies in any way, shape, or form, but am merely an unpaid volunteer moderator, that too is not within my orbit.

Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention. I maybe should have thought of suggesting something like that to Jorge already.

Abandonware is generally accepted as software that has not been updated for a year or two at the least, and/or where the developer has not been heard from for that period, or, more commonly still, where the developer has announced that although the software may continue to be available it will not be developed any more. In any event, most commonly this tends to apply to 'freeware'. None of these apply to Winstep applications, as you would have known if you had taken the trouble to read this thread through before posting such an inaccurate statement.

Thank you for clarifying that for the benefit of the named user, and anyone else not clear about things, Solamain. Not sure I would have had the patience, or the time.

I've been a user of winstep for a long time,

ive been dealing with this issue of system tray icons foir over a month and as a paying customer i believe its not too much to ask to have some level of transperency as to

1. if this issue is actively being worked on?

2. has there been any progress and eta towards having a solution/update to address this major issue?

3. provide at the bear minimum a "projected timeline goal" towards solving this issue "THAT IS IF THIS ISSUE IS ACTIVELY BEING WORKED ON"

Having this minimum level of transperency will be ultimately helpful in allowing us to make an informed desision as to whether well wait for a solution/update to the software. or if this project has been put on hold and does not have anyone actively working on a solution, then we can start searching for an alternate solution to which this software had initially solved.

Thank you

As a volunteer moderator not connected to Winstep Software Technologies in any way, shape, or form, I am here principally to keep the board running smoothly, eliminate spam, abuse, and the like, and to keep things as friendly as possible. Your aggressive, adversarial attitude and tone are hardly conducive to the last.

All your points have already been answered in this thread if you'd care to do a little reading. I am therefore not going to repeat them.

As for the "As a paying customer...." bit, well, as a paying customer you are entitled to use the software in perpetuity and, during the active validity of your license, to receive any updates as, when and *if* they become available as a free bonus.