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 Post subject: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:21 am 
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Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:10 am
Posts: 5
Hi all,

it has been almost a year that Winstep does not provide any support. All my emails did not get any answer.

It is UNETHICAL to sell and even ask for subscription renewal for a non existing company.

Now I ask:

I. to refund my last subscription

2. to shout down the website explaining that you are out of business or leave the website up and running with the freeware piece of your software available for download CLEARLY EXPLAINING that it is not supported.

Please act and be ETHICAL in your way of doing business.

Thanks

Massimo
Italy


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:45 am 
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While I have to admit that the Winstep support email hasn't been up to par lately, that is as far as it goes.

1. You clearly knew about this forum, given you posting here now. Your choice not to ask for help here, as instructed in case you get no reply from Winstep support after 48 hours.

2. Users are NOT required to renew. You do NOT have to renew when the application reminds you to and the application will keep on working regardless.

This is CLEARLY stated in the Winstep Xtreme and Nexus Ultimate Upgrade Policy FAQs. I urge you to give that one a read over.

3. The reason I do not sell lifetime license keys or multi-year update keys even when users request me is precisely because of situations like this, so I do not HAVE to issue an update unless I can/want to.

When you paid for your application you got EXACTLY what you paid for. As a BONUS, you also got free updates (if any) for a year - but that is not what you paid for, it is a bonus, thrown in for free - what you paid for was what you got.

In fact, you got MUCH MORE than users who purchased the application 5 years ago did, for instance. You benefited from 5 years new features for free over them (and all in all, you actually benefited from 20 years of continuous development of Winstep applications).

When you renew, you are also not paying for another year of free updates, you are paying for ONE particular update. The fact that renewing gives you another year of free updates is, again, a BONUS. When you make the purchase there is no obligation for Winstep to keep churning out new updates.

So, you can ask for whatever you want - it is still a free society after all - but that does not mean you are going to get it. Especially not when your very first post in this forum is calling me unethical and making demands for the web site to be shutdown, rather than asking for an explanation (which can actually also be found here had you even bothered searching for it).

Now, since you are here, how may I help you, other than the demands you made above? What issue are you having with the software?

P.S. The news of my death have been greatly exaggerated - Mark Twain

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Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:14 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:10 am
Posts: 5
Happy to know you are alive, first of all and thanks to your polite reaction to my not so friendly post.

I understand your point of view. Let's talk. I have installed the latest Nexus version available which is 20.10 over a year ago. My license for all upgrades has expired on the 5th of January 2022 and the app asked me to renew. Question: renew and pay for what exactly? To potentially enjoy no upgrades and no support for another year? The app should ask to renew ONLY IF a new version is available: the user pay to get the latest and greatest version (value for money) and hopefully additional upgrades and support for a year. In this case it's fine. Anyway, support should be provided if the business is up and running.

Nexus works greatly and I like it 100 times more than the Windows 11 taskbar (which has been designed without taking care of user productivity) as it is more productive. I cannot even imagine my laptop without Nexus.

Regarding issues, the issue I have been facing is with Google Drive (since released to replace Backup & Sync) as the icon in the System Tray does not open its menu when right click on it. I have to exit Nexus Ultimate if I want to access Google Drive icon menu and then lunch Nexus again.

Thanks

Massimo
Italy


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:45 pm 
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Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:46 am
Posts: 568
is there a way to search trough my own posts? cant fiond it. i seem to remeber posting something about one or two programs not responding to rihght click while Jorge was away


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:26 am 
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Max53473 wrote:
Hi all,

it has been almost a year that Winstep does not provide any support. All my emails did not get any answer.

It is UNETHICAL to sell and even ask for subscription renewal for a non existing company.

Now I ask:

I. to refund my last subscription

2. to shout down the website explaining that you are out of business or leave the website up and running with the freeware piece of your software available for download CLEARLY EXPLAINING that it is not supported.

Please act and be ETHICAL in your way of doing business.

Thanks

Massimo
Italy

Before you become abusive here, maybe you should have studied the forum a little, and also made an effort a) to get you facts straight, and b) to study the Board Rules and Guidelines?

Most admins and mods that I know would have deemed the tone of your post offensive and abusive and at the very least would have given you an official warning, myself included. It is very lucky for you that the admin here and sole coder and proprietor of Winstep is a much more lenient and even kindly man.

As for the facts in this matter, they are as follows and most would have been perfectly clear and obvious to you if you had studied the forum :

1) I has been not fully nine months that "Mr. Winstep" Jorge Coelho had to take a temporary leave of absence until the beginning of last month. That is hardly "almost a year".

2) while email support couldn't be provided during this period, support was still available in this forum.

3) Winstep Software is very much a going concern - rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. ;)

4) As regards what your purchase or renewal of the software buy precisely, there is plenty of information on this on the website. And you are not forced to renew and in fact, you are perfectly at liberty to turn renewal reminders off at any time.

Please do not presume to lecture anyone here what is ethical and what is not, least of all Jorge.

And just what exactly made you think that you ought to be entitled to a refund? (See also 4) above.) As I said, get the facts right. First. And maybe think before throwing a wobbly?


NB - Opinions are my own and mine alone and have nothing to do with Winstep Software Tchnologies.

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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


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:57 am 
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Max53473 wrote:
I have installed the latest Nexus version available which is 20.10 over a year ago. My license for all upgrades has expired on the 5th of January 2022 and the app asked me to renew. Question: renew and pay for what exactly? To potentially enjoy no upgrades and no support for another year? The app should ask to renew ONLY IF a new version is available: the user pay to get the latest and greatest version (value for money) and hopefully additional upgrades and support for a year. In this case it's fine. Anyway, support should be provided if the business is up and running.

Please read Jorge's reply again - you evidently didn't read it properly before. In it he explained exactly what your purchase or renewal buys and what what it does not buy. And as I pointed out in my first reply to you, you can turn off renewal reminders at any time. End of. And support has been available through this forum continuously.

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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


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:04 am 
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seeker wrote:
is there a way to search trough my own posts? cant fiond it. i seem to remeber posting something about one or two programs not responding to rihght click while Jorge was away

Go to the board index page, and at top right you'll find a 'View Your Posts' link. Click on that and all your own posts are listed, and you can do a search there. :)

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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


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:54 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:46 am
Posts: 568
ty nexter

seeker wrote:
app https://github.com/D4koon/WhatsappTray/releases doesn't react when pressed in nextart systray or systray showing in a shelf. icon is there but nothing happens when you click it


not sure if its connected though


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:03 am 
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Max53473 wrote:
The app should ask to renew ONLY IF a new version is available


Ah, but you are looking at it wrong: the application is only WARNING you that your one year of FREE UPGRADES is over. This is an automatic prompt based on the date embedded into your license key, and it facilitates things by having a renew button.

The fact remains that you do not HAVE TO renew, EVEN if there are new updates.

Obviously, that prompt is most definitely also a **nudge** for the user to renew - this is a business, after all, and without the revenue from returning customers (like any other shop) Winstep would probably have closed doors long ago.

Without that prompt MOST users - although certainly not all - would probably run the version they already have until the wheels fell off. Basic human psychology after all: if it works, why fix it? Plus you can't miss what you didn't try yet (e.g. new features). :D

This is therefore the ONLY situation where I allow a minor inconvenience to the user at the start of the application in the name of maintaining revenue - and it is highly effective.

Other than that, if you read the Upgrade FAQs I think you will most certainly find the upgrade mechanism in place to be the MOST fair to BOTH Winstep and its users.

Max53473 wrote:
the issue I have been facing is with Google Drive (since released to replace Backup & Sync) as the icon in the System Tray does not open its menu when right click on it.


As you can imagine, the systray in the Winstep application is not "the real thing" but kind of an emulation based on "the real thing". I have to be very careful not to break B while trying to fix A.

Anyway, in all these years I remember one application that had this problem (which I fixed) and I think it was due to Microsoft changing things under the hood, IIRC - it's possible they have made further changes I am still not aware of.

The problem is, not only do I not have Google Drive installed here to test what is (not) happening, as you are running it on Windows 11. If you read THIS THREAD HERE you will realize that I am in the process of getting a new Windows 11 system to investigate and try to fix the issues that I am aware of in this new OS version.

Should be here by next week, thanks to my fantastic hardware dealer, a man known to often perform miracles even in the face of global hardware shortages (and pandemics).

Microsoft did not make it easy with their idiotic TPM 2.0, etc, requirements. Anyway, I understand your frustration and the patience required to wait for a solution, of course.

Max53473 wrote:
I have to exit Nexus Ultimate if I want to access Google Drive icon menu and then lunch Nexus again.


Consumer warning: you're going to get VERY fat if you keep eating Nexus for lunch. :D

Best regards,

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Jorge Coelho
Winstep Xtreme - Xtreme Power!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies


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 Post subject: Re: Unethical behaviour
PostPosted: Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:43 pm 
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winstep wrote:
Consumer warning: you're going to get VERY fat if you keep eating Nexus for lunch. :D

Consumer warning : You'll get old, your hair turns grey, and you'll keep pulling it out until none is left if you keep running Windows 11! Very quickly! :P

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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


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