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Number : 5450 Date : 2003-09-01 Author : Kan Yabumoto Subject : Re: Freeware usage warning Size(KB) : 3
Anthony wrote: >The point I'm trying to make is that this is a bug. The first time I >used that /@vip command was one month ago. About a month before that, >I had completely uninstalled and re-installed the latest version of >xxcopy. So my current xxcopy installation has only existed for ~60 >days, but the error message says I've been using it for 157 days. Yes, this is painfully familiar problem. It seems that the XXCOPY is seeing something "unexpected" inside the computer. We've heard a few users reporting a rather incorrect value in the number of days since the program was installed (we've been scratching our head how this happen in the first place)... Have you ever installed XXCOPY-Pro (by signing up for the "Test-Drive") ? >Furthermore, it changes xxcopy from freeware into nagware. I shouldn't be >forced to upgrade to a new version every month, >especially when -- aside from this bug, which doesn't seem to be getting >fixed -- the current version works fine for me. We understand the user's desire to stick to just one version. But, we have slightly different view on this issue. I think many of the members here have seen an exchange which typically goes like... ------------------------------------------------- User: I have problem ... blah blah blah... Tech: What version are you running? User: I have XXCOPY v.2.40.0 Tech: The problem was fixed some time ago. Please download the latest version. User: That fixed the problem. Thanx ------------------------------------------------- Our release activities have been such that we always update new version within 3 months. We want *ALL* users to use a version which is less than 12 months old. Microsoft stopped supporting Win 95 some years ago and it was not freeware. Our paid customers (with the license file (XXCOPY.LIC) does not see any complaints by how old the version is). We try to cut down our tech support load for freeware users by encouraging the use of recent versions. XXCOPY freeware version has the following designed behavior. 1. generates a first warning after 60 days just once. 2. generates a periodic warning every 30 days. The above pattern continues unless the user installs a Windows version which is newer than XXCOPY itself. (In that case, we strongly urge the user to download the latest version.) On the other hand, XXCOPY-Pro which is obtained by signing up for a 60-day "Test drive" has a different behavior. Obviously, we do not want the test driver to repeat the 60 day trials. XXCOPY-Pro will show a warning (with a different wording) in the following schedule: 1. shows the number of days left in the trial period in every 10 days (50, 40, 30, 20, 10). 2. count down once a day for the final ten days (9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) --- Needless to say, this is the time many customers place their order. 3. once it reaches 0. XXCOPY-Pro will become just a trial demo version. Every time XXCOPY-Pro is invoked, it will inform the user that the 60-day period is over (but, still let the user run the program after the user response). We suspect some (if not all) of the funny # of days reported by XXCOPY may be due to the difference in the programmed behaviors between the two distinct versions of XXCOPY (freeware vs. Pro) --- but we were not successful in reproducing the condition on our machines... Kan Yabumoto
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