v8.2 wont register

grabla
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v8.2 wont register

Postby grabla » Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:49 pm

No direct internet access, as I'm sat behind a proxy server, the latest v8.2 fails to register on the internet.

Selecting "30 day trial" also fails, with a message saying its a 7 day trial, and then all the menus bar Help are disabled, so I still cant use the software.

Scuppered

Greg Amy
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:59 pm

Re: v8.2 wont register

Postby Greg Amy » Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:42 pm

Ditto. Sent a note to R-T sales (their support email isn't working), got no response.

Pretty egregious oversight, IMO.
Greg Amy
FastTech Limited, http://www.fasttechlimited.com/
Data Acquisition, Driver Consultation

osborni
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Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:08 pm
Location: USA, Michigan

Postby osborni » Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:51 pm

I installed it twice and it worked on #2. Still isn't right though.

Ar, actually the 1st time I installed it, windows and the installer didn't agree with each other and failed to register a .dll (or something - sorry didn't write it down.

Once V8 was running it needed to get out to the web, but at work I'm behind a proxy server, so that isn't happening anyway.
BMW 2000 M Coupe

Support

Postby Support » Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:22 am

Hi,
Apologies for the problems with the registration on V8. Unfortunately we won't be able to do anything about this for the next week as the person who needs to look at it is on holiday until the 1st August. I can assure you all that it will be dealt with swiftly once he is back in the office.

Regards,
Support

Turby
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Postby Turby » Thu Jul 21, 2011 11:46 am

Let hope he doesn't get run over whilst on holiday!

Greg Amy
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Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:59 pm

Postby Greg Amy » Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:53 pm

Has anyone bothered to ask why "free" software needs to be made into crippleware? What's the point, other than to force gathering of users' private information?

Why do the customers, who have already purchased the product and are only asking to download the appropriate support software for their purchased product, being forced to register to be able to use the product? After all, I do believe that forcing someone to register with a company in order to get the warranty is already illegal in the United States; how is this any different?

What is Race Technology planning on doing with that information? Will that information be re-sold to other companies? Is there an opt-out provision? Can someone provide a link to their Privacy Policy and opt-out procedures?

Needless to say, I'm not particularly pleased about being forced to provide to the company my personal information just to be able to properly use a device that I've already paid for (assuming R-T is going to eventually phase out support for v7, which will force me to eventually go to v8 and their registration procedure).

I sincerely hope that R-T has thought this whole requirement through...food for thought. - GA
Greg Amy
FastTech Limited, http://www.fasttechlimited.com/
Data Acquisition, Driver Consultation

rallyfan555
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Location: North America

Postby rallyfan555 » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:10 am

I'm just curious if updates will continue to be available to us or if R-T is planning to charge for them. The registration window says something about "free updates for the next 6 months". What happens after 6 months?

-Chris

grabla
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Postby grabla » Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:06 am

Two reasons, firstly so that we can inform people of when the new software is released and what new upgrades are available. The second reason is the future software versions may be chargeable, so when hardware is purchased you will get free upgrades for a year or so and then there will be a small yearly fee payable for upgrades. We are spending so much money on software development that either we cut back on it and restrict features or we start charging for upgrades. We decided on the latter.



Martin



The response i had from Dr Hill on the same topic.

Its a tough call. Cant say I'm that enamoured with paying for software, or firmware updates, but then I'm a fan of opensource for that very reason.

Greg Amy
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:59 pm

Postby Greg Amy » Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:01 pm

Hoo-boy...this ought to be fun to see how the racer market takes to that.

I can tell you that one of R-T's big selling points - at least in the amateur club racing market - has been their software. Racers are willing to pay a high price for the hardware, with the knowledge that the vendor will continue to support the product at no additional charge. Ergo, there's value to that support as part of the initial hardware charge. So on the one hand I can see how charging for it may work.

On the other hand, R-T's playing in a market space where no one else (at this level) charges for their software, and customers are purchasing a hardware product and expect software support for it. Remember, we're dealing with a lot of lower-end club racers here (myself included).

So the business strategy that R-T is headed to is very much like the (IMO) most-hated aviation GPS market (or any kind of SatNav or SatRadio), where you have to initially pay for the hardware, and to be able to use the product effectively you have to pay ongoing costs for the database/service, otherwise the device(s) evolve eventually into an ineffective hardware product. In the end, people quickly learn that without that follow-through support the product loses value, so they either don't buy it initially or in the end many deal with it crippled, and eventually become bitter about their purchase (and tell all their friends about it).

So is it a hardware product with software support, is it a software product that requires a hardware purchase, or is it both a hardware product with a high buy-in price coupled to a requirement for purchase ongoing support?

Personally, I think the racer market won't stand for it. Sirius SatRadio, cellphones/smartphones, and a lot of other subscription-based services have to subsidize the initial purchase of the hardware to get the ongoing revenues. Remember, Gillette gave away the razor to get the blade sales...I predict a helluva lot of continued installs of V7 going forward...just an opinion.

GA
Greg Amy
FastTech Limited, http://www.fasttechlimited.com/
Data Acquisition, Driver Consultation

grabla
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Postby grabla » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:27 am

Turby wrote:Let hope he doesn't get run over whilst on holiday!


One suspects that it must have been a very big truck - no one has gotten back to me yet. :?

osborni
Posts: 497
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:08 pm
Location: USA, Michigan

Postby osborni » Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:01 pm

I called yesterday. The guy said it would be a couple more days for them to sort it out.
BMW 2000 M Coupe

924RACR
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Postby 924RACR » Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:55 pm

Yeah, I'm fighting this now too, on a different computer... Grr.

Worked fine all weekend at the track, in "demo" mode, now I can't even open a single file thanks to being behind a proxy.

Does it make sense to completely be unable to use the software if I can't register it??? :shock:

Sucks, I was all ready to recommend to my teammate to get a DL1 and we could share data... now I'm rather concerned...

osborni
Posts: 497
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:08 pm
Location: USA, Michigan

Postby osborni » Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:55 pm

It wouldn't let me register at work, but it worked fine from home. Of course, not behind a proxy at home....
BMW 2000 M Coupe


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