Mike Chaney's Tech Corner
March 29, 2024, 03:58:04 PM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
News: Qimage registration expired? New lifetime licenses are only $59.99!
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  

Professional Photo Printing Software for Windows
Print with
Qimage and see what you've been missing!
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 5
  Print  
Author Topic: Some grumbling going on over here...  (Read 75861 times)
ChasP505
Newbie
*
Posts: 46



View Profile
« on: July 25, 2010, 03:44:29 PM »

Just noticed this thread discussing Qimage Ultimate.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=35878372
Logged

Chas
Terry-M
The Honourable Metric Mann
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 3247



View Profile WWW
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2010, 04:41:27 PM »

What a load of rubbish!
No one seems to grumble on DP about those really expensive programs that charge huge amounts for upgrades. Also, it's not true that existing users are not supported, Mike has made that quite clear.
I can't join DP forums as they don't like Yahoo addresses; I hope someone from here puts that guy right - and why doesn't he post here, is he just a stirrer?
I'm into Ultimate already, I particularly appreciate the exif data transfer and the new (extra) white balance adjustment.
The pop-out print size box size box just take a little getting used to, but it works very well.
Terry
Logged
Fred A
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 5644



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2010, 05:32:54 PM »

Terry,
Some people just don't get it.
This is win/win
Anyone that bought Studio in the past has already got his money's worth of value.
Mike made provision for very recent purchases to get some compensation, but no one lost.

All the versions (LPS) still get lifetime upgrades of camera raw and bug fixes for lifetime.
The Ultimate is the new Qimage with a totally new approach to working on RAW images.
It will be sold with a year of free upgrades and updates adding new innovations and features as they become developed.

Mike has earned his reputation over the past 12 years as being the shining example of what a software developer should be.
Anyone that has spent a dime with ddisoftware has never regretted any purchase for a moment.

I think much of the silliness will abate after people sit down and read the information that Mike provided as well as what they get for the price.

Oh that White Balance slider and dropper in REFINE is unreal to use.!!

Fred
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4111



View Profile Email
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2010, 07:09:32 PM »

I replied to that thread with some personal thoughts but from a business perspective.  Hopefully it will throw some light on the subject and hopefully it is seen as tactful.  If not, there will always be some who grumble.  I've spent far too long at the impossible task of trying to make everyone happy and it's time to move forward and face reality of doing business.  Apple is still selling a defective (and marginally innovative) product in the iPhone 4 and people are still eating it up.  Perhaps they have faith in Apple.  I think the vast majority of my customers have faith in me too... and my product isn't even defective!  Wink  Anyway, my response on dpreview is the only response that I plan to make, but it might be worth a read for those interested in my "deepest thoughts".  Cheesy

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=35881442

Mike
Logged
rayw
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 440


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2010, 07:17:41 PM »

I'm not a member of dpreview forums, but read the posts. I think most of them are quite valid. They are folks opinions, each person having there own priorities wrt cash expenditure, photography, etc. The most useful customer, is one who complains. I think there is a feeling of 'betrayal/broken promises' wrt the apparent change in direction of updates, etc., even if it is not so.

fwiw, I uninstalled the ultimate demo this morning - it offers little advantage wrt printing over the studio edition for me, and I didn't want to get confused by the slightly improved gui. If Mike fixes the remaining studio bugs, then that will be fine for me, and many others. Of course, if he only fixes them in the 'ultimate version', then that will be something else. I can see trying to maintain four versions of basically the same software will eventually be a real pita. Personally, I am not interested in new features wrt raw/editing, and similar, I'm more interested in reliability, consistency, and simplicity/conformity of the printing interface.

Best wishes,

Ray
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4111



View Profile Email
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2010, 07:54:29 PM »

I'm not a member of dpreview forums, but read the posts. I think most of them are quite valid. They are folks opinions, each person having there own priorities wrt cash expenditure, photography, etc. The most useful customer, is one who complains. I think there is a feeling of 'betrayal/broken promises' wrt the apparent change in direction of updates, etc., even if it is not so.

Like you say, everyone is going to have an opinion.  I in turn feel betrayed by customers who would call themselves "a loyal customer of many years", yet they not only expect what they bought to be free, but also everything I do from that point forward.  And what are they "loyal" for?  They "loyally" downloaded every version I offered for the past 10 years... for free?  They mentioned me on some forum (they like the software, why wouldn't they)?  They identified a bug (which I fixed in 8 hours) or they gave me an idea for a new feature (which I implemented and they are now using to their benefit)?  I'm sorry, but the real loyalty is with me and my company toward my customers and no, I am certainly not ashamed to say it!  The real problem is the pampering over the years and the fact that I've never taken a bold step to say "wait a minute... this isn't Qimage any more!"  Most people I think are just expressing an opinion and it's even usually one that I understand.  In a (very) few though, there's a sense of entitlement these days that is really quite ridiculous.  They think they can dictate the course of your business indefinitely because they paid 50 bucks in 2001.  This is a new product and just as you said, if it doesn't fit the bill for you, don't buy it!

Mike
Logged
atodzia
Full Member
***
Posts: 121


View Profile
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2010, 09:56:24 PM »

Do you think that the priority for enhancements to Ultimate will be Raw, etc. and not so much the printing? I am just as reliant on Qimage to print as I am on Photoshop to edit and enhance. I may find the other capabilities useful, but for me printing is the deal breaker at this point in time. If enhancements would continue for printing I would be more inclined to jump into Ultimate sooner rather than later. I may change may mind after experimenting with the Raw capabilities.

Andy
Logged
Fred A
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 5644



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2010, 10:08:45 PM »

Quote
Do you think that the priority for enhancements to Ultimate will be Raw, etc. and not so much the printing? I am just as reliant on Qimage to print as I am on Photoshop to edit and enhance. I may find the other capabilities useful, but for me printing is the deal breaker at this point in time. If enhancements would continue for printing I would be more inclined to jump into Ultimate sooner rather than later. I may change may mind after experimenting with the Raw capabilities.

Andy,
I happen to one who knows Mike for a long time, and I can assure you that there will be no better printing program or printing routine ever.
Mike is top of the line when it comes to digital printing, and his weight of effort will be channeled into Ultimate.
His enhancements into the realm of Raw editing will be in Ultimate.
You cannot go wrong.

Best to you and hope you can be part of the growth and perfection of Q/Ultimate.

Fred
Logged
MelW
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 357


View Profile Email
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2010, 10:18:13 PM »

Unbelievable.  I have actually been wondering how Mike and Qimage have survived financially this long. So for me this is good news. If spending $90 plus a nominal annual fee assures me continued attention to improving and supporting Qimage, it's still a bargain.  And Mike hasn't abandoned anybody. If you have one of the other Qimages, you can still keep it forever and never pay him another cent. I will dork around with the demo for a few days and then buy Qimage ultimate.  And where else can you get the kind of support with individual attention to questions, fixes, and feature requests.  - Mel W.  Columbia Md.
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4111



View Profile Email
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2010, 02:55:54 AM »

I fear I haven't done as well as I could on the explanation of what the future holds for Qimage versus Qimage Ultimate.  I think the biggest fear among users is that Qimage is dead and Qimage Ultimate is the "new thing".  That's not the plan but I think people might think that due to my inability to really explain the business plan in a small space.  I'll try to update the web page with better info on that in the next day or so.  In the mean time I'll do the best I can here.  I'm trying not to over complicate so here it is put as simply as I can word it at the moment...

We recently did a business review of where we've been, where we are now, and where we want to be in the future as ddisoftware, Inc..  It soon became apparent that we could not continue with an "open ended" plan like Qimage where everyone expects everything we do to be provided for free regardless of how much it differs from the original concept.  The conclusion among the panel (and yes, this involved much more than just me and my say) was that "Qimage" had become known as a catch-all for everything we do at ddisoftware and in no way did it represent the product that we introduced in 1998 with free lifetime upgrades nor even the product of three years ago.  It was also obvious that we needed a more sustainable plan because we (ok, that one is mainly I) wanted to move faster and do more to stay competitive.  The market is a much different place now.  The only way to do that was to define Qimage as, well, basically what it is in Lite, Pro, and Studio and design a different product with a much different update approach where we have a platform to move forward without the limitations of the "Qimage umbrella".  Only problem was, I wanted to keep the Qimage name as it is a recognized entity in the industry.

So here we are with Qimage Ultimate.  It's a new product that has a whole new approach to development.  I'm still the lead programmer but we do have other programmers contributing now, speeding up development but also obviously draining more resources at the same time.  Qimage Ultimate will be on a faster development cycle than you have seen before with Qimage, yet Qimage LPS (Lite, Pro, and Studio) will remain active and will continue to be updated to keep with current technology.  That means that Qimage Lite, Pro, and Studio will get updates to support new cameras, updates to keep pace with new operating systems, printers, and so on.  This ensures that the product you bought will be around for a long time.  As you know, we are one of the first companies to support new MS operating systems and that will continue in both Qimage and Qimage Ultimate!  That said, most of the new innovations will happen in Qimage Ultimate and a few of them will likely make it to Qimage Lite, Pro, and Studio as well, particularly those that "fit" well into the coding structure of both programs.  For example, if we find a way to bolster print quality, you'll see that first in Qimage Ultimate and if we decide that code is easily adapted into Qimage Lite, Pro, and Studio it will likely go there as well because it doesn't involve adding new features and expanding the product functionality.  It would, however, strengthen the Lite, Pro, and Studio products in that they will do what they do now, only better.  And that's what we want.

That's the best way I can figure to explain it right now.  Simply put, we will continue to make Lite, Pro, and Studio a strong and reliable product with needed updates but we don't plan to expand its features to cover new ground.  That will be done in Qimage Ultimate.  As to our users, it makes it pretty simple to decide.  If you are happy with what Qimage Lite, Pro, and Studio do as far as features and UI, there is little incentive to move to Qimage Ultimate.  We feel a lot of customers want to move forward with a bold new product that will break new ground in multiple areas as far as simplicity (UI) and functionality.  That, in a nutshell, is Qimage Ultimate.

Mike
Logged
msadat
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 66


View Profile
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2010, 07:05:47 AM »

as a retired software developer/vendor, i am glad mike has changed his philosophy/policy. it only makes sense, frankly i was waiting for this change for a long time. the prices and the upgrade/upkeep are reasonable but when u give something for free for a long time it is very hard to change. if the policy still has room for some change, i would add an upgrade period/discount price to move people over from the old train. ddisoftware/ mike are really at fault here for doing it wrong for such a long time






ps
we charged 18% to 25% a yr for support and it did not include any product upgrades. discount on new products were negotiable. our client were corporate a little different than qiamage but none the less we were in to make money. we went from 12 to a 1000!
Logged
Marc D
Newbie
*
Posts: 3


View Profile
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2010, 08:03:44 AM »

Hi Mike,

As a Qimage Studio user for a couple of years now I want to give my feedback as well:

I have no problem with the yearly maintenance fee. I, too, was feeling that a free upgrade forever policy is not sustainable and I would be happy to pay a bit for keeping current and development active. While the maintenance fee is on the high end of what seems to be usual with the competition when seen as % of purchase cost, $20 a year is cheap enough that I would not think twice about paying it.

What rubs me really the wrong way is the non-existing upgrade path for existing users. While it is certainly true that I got my money痴 worth, it just does not feel right to me. The whole thing is certainly more of a marketing and psychological matter, than a purely rational one. As a long term customer I simply do not feel appreciated.

And the fact for me is: Like others, I use Qimage for printing. But since Lightroom 3 is finally up to speed in this area, I use it for most of my standard printing tasks. So Qimage got less and less use recently, although I still may use it on occasion when the quality difference is noticeable.

If there would have been a good upgrade deal, say 50% off for existing users, I would have updated yesterday, right after getting the announcement without thinking twice; if only to support the developer and stay on the cutting edge. That was the reason I got the Studio edition as well. For my needs one of the cheaper versions would have been fine, but I wanted to support the development and the price differential was cheap enough for me to get the top tier version.

But now that I知 treated like a first-time customer, I知 in turn going to treat this like a new purchase instead of an update. And when I evaluate the program under this premise, it does not seem to be a useful product for my needs. So I知 not going to buy it.

I think you are making a mistake by not offering an incentive for your existing customers to upgrade. Avoiding the risk of many of them feeling unappreciated alone seems to be worth it to me. I also think financially this would make sense as the higher number of people upgrading would, in my opinion, probably make up for the discounted rate. And a lot of these upgrade customers would probably pay the maintenance fee after the first year, so the broader customer base would help in the long run even more. But then again I知 no expert in these matters.

I知 wishing you all the best and that your business plan works out for you. If you ever change you mind and decide on a special upgrade sale for existing users, let us know.

Best regards,
Marc
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4111



View Profile Email
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2010, 01:54:58 PM »

But now that I知 treated like a first-time customer, I知 in turn going to treat this like a new purchase instead of an update. And when I evaluate the program under this premise, it does not seem to be a useful product for my needs. So I知 not going to buy it.

That is exactly how you should be looking at this!  You are a first time customer of this brand new product.  Qimage is no longer an open ended project where everyone gets everything we ever decide to do for free.  Qimage is a well defined (and unbelievably feature rich) photo printing application.  It will continue to be updated from a performance and compatibility standpoint, getting all the needed updates for new cameras, drivers, and operating systems, and even a few baseline innovations that bolster things like print quality.  It's time to admit that "Qimage" is not a catch-all term for all future work done at ddisoftware.  At some point, we need to get paid for our NEW work, else you won't have Qimage anything!  No one guaranteed (nor should they have even thought) that all new features related to photo printing or batch processing must go into Qimage, for free, and not a new product.  That's simply unreasonable.  So Qimage won't get the new features or innovations: it'll just continue to be improved in the realm of what it does now.  Qimage Ultimate gets the new stuff because it is a NEW product.

And let's talk about "unappreciated" for a moment.  You feel unappreciated?  Step into another mans shoes for a moment: mine to be specific.  I've supported customers for 12 years, providing free updates, stellar support, and even help in areas not Qimage: I've been known to help people with camera/printer decisions personally, not just in the helpful articles here, and even with other programs!  I've taken many suggestions and implemented them, fixed bugs in a matter of hours, and until recently, resent unlock codes for free sometimes up to a dozen times in one year for one customer when they are too lazy to save their own registration information.  I've helped people diagnose bugs in OTHER software like Adobe products, video drivers, printer drivers, problems with anti-virus programs, and have seen them through MANY operating system upgrades where most other companies would have left you high and dry.  Even WITH lifetime upgrades, most companies would have stopped at Vista saying "We're sorry, this product has reached the end of its useful life (hence no more LIFEtime upgrades) and we have no plans to update it for Vista support.  We'd be glad to sell you this new product that IS compatible, however..."  And then... they would do it again for Windows 7!

So now we have a vocal few (customers) who have obtained years of support and hundreds of free bug fixes and brand new features, yet when we come out with Qimage Ultimate, they say "You can't do that!  You can't come out with a new product!".  I think some people are just so spoiled that a dose of reality is way past due!  Did people storm Adobe headquarters when they came out with Lightroom, saying "That should have been a part of Photoshop Camera Raw"?  Did Adobe give you 50% off Lightroom just because you owned Photoshop?  And they don't even provide real support!  I realize that people have come to expect more of me than they would say, Adobe, but some of the expectations are grossly unreasonable... and they have been for quite some time.  Qimage Ultimate is how we attain a sustainable business model at ddisoftware.  In this economy, I think most people will be happy to see that.  The alternative is, you wake up one morning and find that there IS no more ddisoftware, and no more Qimage.

Mike
Logged
atodzia
Full Member
***
Posts: 121


View Profile
« Reply #13 on: July 26, 2010, 02:32:14 PM »

If you had named it something else you probably wouldn't have to be discussing this. Something like "DDI Ultimate" or whatever but I know you wanted to keep the Qimage name. I was more concerned that you would sell Qimage to a large software company and then who knows what direction the product would go in. Were you thinking of publishing a priority list of first year enhancements you were planning to add to Ultimate?

Andy
Logged
UltraChrome
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 56


View Profile
« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2010, 03:00:57 PM »

Sorry, I just can't let this pass...

re: "but some of the expectations are grossly unreasonable... and they have been for quite some time"

It seems to me that you, Mike, are the one who set up these expectations. I bought the product with the promise of free, lifetime upgrades. So please, don't accuse me of "grossly unreasonable" expectations - I expect to receive what I purchased and to this point I have.

re: "And let's talk about "unappreciated" for a moment.  You feel unappreciated?  Step into another mans shoes for a moment: mine to be specific.  I've supported customers for 12 years, providing free updates, stellar support, and even help in areas not Qimage...."

Again, YOU are the one who sold the product with the promise of unlimited upgrades forever for free. You're acting like you gave us a gift and now want one in return. Sorry - that's not how it works. I purchased a product with a guarantee, it wasn't given to me. So quit whining -- it's unprofessional...

As for the new product, I certainly agree that you have the right to offer it as a stand-alone program, apparently not related to the Qimage promise of free upgrades and charge whatever you wish for both the program and updates. I think I would have named it something other that Qimage Ultimate to avoid just what we are talking about at this point but that's your choice. I'll be giving it a try, but if the RAW conversion can't hold up to what I get with Nikon Capture NX2 , I won't be buying. FWIW, had I been given a 50% off deal, I probably would have upgraded without looking. I bought Qimage primarily as a printing program and have been very pleased with it. Features for editing and RAW conversion are just icing on the cake but we all know cake can be eaten without icing.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 5
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Security updates 2022 by ddisoftware, Inc.