gareth Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Hmph. Just requested my WYG R17 CD from AC Lighting, only to be informed that Cast Software are no longer letting WYG dealers have installation CDs to send out to customers. You can still get the CDs, but you now have to order them directly from Cast. And they'll charge you 10 dollars for the privilege of having one. That's on top of the hefty annual subscription that a WYG user has to pay to keep their product up to date. AC Lighting tell me that this policy is one with which they don't agree, but that their hands are tied. How cr@p is that? The local dealer wants to send CDs to their customers as before, but Cast Softeare won't let them because they've come up with a way to make a fast buck (or ten) out of their loyal customers and don't want the dealers undermining that by sending out CDs for free. Well, I won't be renewing my WYG subscription next year (I was in two minds as to whether to do so this year, but ended up paying for another 12 months). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I get the feeling that Capture might become popular all of a sudden... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willdean Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 I get the feeling that Capture might become popular all of a sudden... I have only played with the Capture evaluation, but does anyone else think they've got a bit of a way to go on illumination/shadows? The beams look lovely, but once they strike something you get all kinds of bizarre effects. I've heard that they have a new rendering system in development, but I don't know what the timeframe is for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 The beams look lovely, but once they strike something you get all kinds of bizarre effects. You're right, you can get some really odd polygon shapes in the previous release (Capture v3). However, things are much better in the new Capture 2005 software versions, although you can still get some odd clipping effects. I still think that it's a better software than WYG, and in some ways a lot easier to use. You can download a demo version of the 2005 software from their webiste for free (www.capturesweden.com), but you have to enter your email address for a link to the download. Barney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boac Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 It's still possible for anyone to download the software from their website isn't it? Or is the installation CD you mention necessary in order to update your dongle? Surely they could figure out a way that legit customers could download everything they need from the web. Plenty of other software makers do it that way, with the alternative of a CD in the post for a small fee to cover costs/delivery etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stupod Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Hi all, Everything you need to update to R17 is available on-line from the Cast website http://www.cast-soft.com/cast/software/dow...D=5021&DID=4050 There are in place updates if you are updating from R15, or R16 to save you re-installing the whole package, and a separate texture download. While it's good to have a CD in your hand really in this day and age there is no need, as everything is available to you online, and with even a 1MB connection the download time is minimal. I have to ask why really do you want a CD with a software update on? To use it as a beer mat?! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willdean Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 However, things are much better in the new Capture 2005 software versions, although you can still get some odd clipping effects. It was actually the latest 1.11 version of 2005 I'd been looking at. I didn't know it was worse in 3! I still think it's usable, though, despite the artifacts, and they seem to release updates pretty frequently - if I was genuinely in the market for a visualiser, I think it's the one I'd get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SceneMaster Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 While it's good to have a CD in your hand really in this day and age there is no need, as everything is available to you online, and with even a 1MB connection the download time is minimal. Or even a 512k connection (when I had a subscription (student report), which ran out last month and hasn't been renewed) I didn't find it too much of problem to download updates. I think it is worth having a CD if you not just using it for plans like I do but if you are using perform on a gig/event then it would certainly be useful if the software became corrupt and you needed to reinstall and have no internet access. However there is nothing to stop you making you own backup CDs. So from an economic and environmental point of view it makes more sense to do it all online. However it does seem as if they are trying to make a bit of money out of it :), unless they are deliberately trying to deter people from using the CDs for the above reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willdean Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 However it does seem as if they are trying to make a bit of money out of it :), unless they are deliberately trying to deter people from using the CDs for the above reasons. At the kinds of volumes we're talking about (tiny), I very much doubt that anyone is making any money charging $10 to send out a CD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin24 Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 At the kinds of volumes we're talking about (tiny), I very much doubt that anyone is making any money charging $10 to send out a CD! You'd be surprised at how many users WANT CD's. We are talking Hundreds...... Trust me I know!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 At the kinds of volumes we're talking about (tiny), I very much doubt that anyone is making any money charging $10 to send out a CD! You'd be surprised at how many users WANT CD's. We are talking Hundreds...... Trust me I know!!And that's the pozzling thing. The demand is clearly there. I understand that AC Lighting, who distribute WYG in the UK, would be happy to continue distributing CDs if they were allowed to. But they're not, because Cast want to make their extra $10 per CD on top of what they already charge customers for licence purchases and subscription renewals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willdean Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 And that's the pozzling thing. The demand is clearly there. I understand that AC Lighting, who distribute WYG in the UK, would be happy to continue distributing CDs if they were allowed to. But they're not, because Cast want to make their extra $10 per CD on top of what they already charge customers for licence purchases and subscription renewals. They almost certainly want to get away from distributing physical media altogether - as this is now a realistic option for most modern software being distributed in most developed companies, who can blame them? Do you really think they'd go after AC if they downloaded a copy on behalf of a customer and burnt it onto a disk for them? And don't forget the cost of all the out-of-date CDs they need to throw away every time there's an update of anything - that's probably one of the reasons for not wanting to have physical disks sitting around in their distribution chain. Coming to this naively, as someone who has never had one of their CDs, it doesn't seem unreasonable for them to say 'download it for free or pay a nominal charge for us to send you a disk'. I understand that the transition to the new rules seems painful, but in absolute terms it doesn't seem unusual or particularly mean. I wouldn't expect a distributor to like it, but then the writing is clearly on the wall for software resellers and that's just something they're going to have to live with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin24 Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 Please remove this post. Thankyou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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