business ethics

toyL

toyL

Member
...I've had several recent contacts with the steinberg people (concerning failed copy protect devices) and they're very quick to state that vst is a "discontinued product"--what ever that means...does it mean they intend to quit supplying vst dongles on an as needed basis?...does it mean they'll no longer offer tech-support?...I understand the concept that vst is now a "completed project", one that requires no more development...but, if they intend to eventually ignore vst users needs, they should sell their intellectual ownership/patent and copy rights to the highest bidder so they can truly focus on SX...better yet, they could simply "abandon" vst like so many old cars left along the road side...they could let vst users/owners support the program in the same we "eat cake"...if they have neither the resources nor the motivation ($) to maintain the responsibilities of ownership then they should forfeit their ownership rights in a fair and equitable manner...
as it is, however, us vst owners are faced with the dilemna of owning a great program that will eventually crash due to a failed dongle--a dongle that neither steinberg nor syncrosoft are positioned to support...there should be laws governing these events, and perhaps there are, but who among us is willing to hire a lawyer to oversee the legalities of a moderately-priced “obsolete” software program?...
I am currently faced with a 2d failed dongle delimna...my original failed shortly after I installed directx 9.0a and the replacement failed immediately after I installed directx 9.0b--a simple "web-browser security" fix that microsoft insists is necessary for winME ...now I'm at the "mercy" of steinberg and syncrosoft--the designer/manufacturer of the dongles...
I spoke with a steinberg manager yesterday (the same manager who ensured the "fairly" prompt delivery of the replacement dongle after I posted a short/polite voice-mail in his box) and
he said--"let me do some research and I'll call you back in twenty minutes"...haven't heard from him yet...like everyone else I've talked with at steinberg he seemed to have a hard time understanding why I would want my vst program up and running after I've purchased sx...it's as if they all expect me to simply throw vst in the trash once I'm using sx...yeh, right!--no need to have a cadilac in the driveway if you own a mercedes?...with all the happy and expert-vst-users around it's obvious to me that we don't really need steinberg tech-support for vst, except in the case of failed dongles...something needs to give here folks...steinberg needs to come up off the "keys" if they're not willing to drive.
 
if steinberg screws you over by not providing a replacement dongle, why not just use one of the many cracks out there for the program?
if they're screwing you by not letting you use a program you paid hard-earned money for, screw them back.
it's not like there's any moral ramifications involved... you already bought it, anyway.
 
Our corporate world

This seems to be the Status Quo for large corporations. They develop some software and then strongarm you into following thier upgrade path. Instead of just building a better product they just stop supporting previous versions. You would think that a product that costs this much would carry on support as long as there are people using it. You would also think that by using a dongle that they would feel much more responsible to the client to make sure that the product works every time. But the sad truth boils down to manpower and the money it takes to support something. In an effort to cut costs they stop supporting legacy product. I can understand that. What I cant understand is why they themselves dont issue a software dongle crack for people who have the licence instead of shipping another hardware dongle. Thier support would have far less to deal with if they did that. They have made thier money off of it...so why not?
 
Probably because then people could copy and release the crack that they made.

Their support site still supports VST, in all it's forms. I am not sure where this idea started that they do not support it anymore. It's just that with the release of 5.2 they are saying that it is a complete product, a finished work of art, no more of those annoying upgrades. On one hand people you guys seem to complain about upgrades, on the other it seems your upset that they aren't upgrading VST anymore.

VST is a great program.
 
...ok, this will hopefully be the last time I direct my attention to this issue......I hear ya bleyrad...sooner or later I'll have a “reliable” backup in place...sorry BassMasterK, but each time I've called steinberg lately regarding vst/32 they IMMEDIATELY whine about how they're “not supporting it” because it's a “discontinued product”—“obsolete” etc.--their words, not mine...obviously, most support issues can be handled through various archives, existing users, and documentation…yet, steinberg is very quick to state that vst is a “discontinued product”—what ever that means...does it mean they intend to quit supplying vst dongles on an as needed basis?...does it mean they'll no longer offer tech-support?...I understand the concept that vst is now a “completed project”, one that requires no more development...I hardly need a tech to inform me…but, if they intend to eventually ignore vst users needs, they should sell their intellectual ownership/patent and copy rights to the highest bidder so they can truly focus on SX...better yet, they could simply “abandon” vst like so much old furniture set out for disposal...they could let vst users/owners support the program in the same way we “eat cake”...if they have neither the resources nor the motivation ($) to maintain the responsibilities of ownership then they should forfeit their ownership rights in a fair and equitable manner...as it is, however, vst owners are faced with the dilemna of owning a great program that will eventually fail due to a failed dongle…and who among us is willing to hire a lawyer to oversee the legalities of this moderately-priced “obsolete” software?... what amazes me is the short life-expectancy of various programs that are at least “works of art” if not “masterpieces”...I realize, of course, this in itself is hard to complain about when more often than not the latest developments do in fact surpass the functionality and quality of their predecessors...satisfied customers, however, are not born only out of the initial-satisfaction of “possessing” a bigger, better, faster, loopty-loop; nor are they born only out of the satisfaction of “learning” and “attaining proficiency” in, and perhaps even some “mastery” over, a sophisticated, excitingly creative, and powerfully useful tool or service...it takes time for a customer to become truly satisfied; time to have the experience of getting his money’s worth, minus any unexpected expenses and other hassles; a customer becomes satisfied only after he has, for a certain period of time, experienced at least a fair and amicable relationship, if not an entirely positive one, with the product/service and provider...I’m not sure that I need a “better” toaster, but I went ahead and bought sx—mainly so I can get some respect on the phone…eventually I’ll add some memory and upgrade to xp…it’s hard to keep up...I mean after a couple yrs of using vst32, wavelab, midi, dozens of plugins like RCwaves, freefilter, TCNative Reverb, the Interactive Phrase Synth, I barely had time to scratch surfaces...now I'm looking forward (?) to learning and working with sx????...but I was just starting to appreciate vst32...in fact, I really like the program...I have to wonder exactly what their plans are for vst dongle support... at one point steinberg north america politely informed me that they “no longer support Cubase VST/32”, because they're “devoting their time to Cubase SX”...there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t have a vst contingency available to registered users...on another occasion a tech stated plainly that he hadn't “even looked at vst in over a yr and a half” as he dismissed himself from any responsibility to help...fine, the guy could have at least tried to direct me to another tech—someone whose memory wasn’t failing...it's not my fault that steinberg has made no effort to ensure their techs are up to speed on vst...that effort would require an amount of integrity that I’m sure any corporation would advocate in principle...
...at least one individual in the steinberg corporation has demonstrated that integrity...I left a polite voice-mail for one of the “managers” at chatsworth on the 14th and less than 24 hrs later I received the replacement dongle...bravo!...maybe I shouldn't complain but this was still 4 days longer than they had promised...if this was the end of the story I'd be a happy camper...so I install the new dongle and immediately get the “no copy protection device found” error...after reinstalling the pos1370 driver a few times I finally got cubase to open & run ok...this lasted maybe 2 weeks…then, for no apparent reason, I encountered these errors—

Protection device(s) contain(s) no valid license for this application.
&
There is no way to recover from this...
&
Device error Invert (The physical device is lost)
&
No protection device connected
&
A required .DLL file, TIMEBANDIT.DLL was not found.
&
Valid Protection Device not found. Connect device and start application again.
&
DCOM connection to program "Synsopos.exe" failed
Error: A null reference pointer was passed to the stub.
There is no way to recover from this error.

...I've resigned myself to accept the fact that I simply don't know whether a dongle is “good or bad”...obviously, I have no bench-test or any other technical criteria for that matter...I only know when the dongle "appears" to be working properly, when I receive no cpd errors such as—no valid license for this application, and—no valid protection device found...after wiping my hd clean and reinstalling nearly everything (sans any “extra” syncrosoft code such as pos1370, and sans directx8.1, thru 9.0b) the dongle has worked flawlessly...the dongle itself may very well be bad—if it has problems/conflicts with the directx 8.1, 9.0a, 9.0b environment(s)...it's still questionable—is it a directx problem or a cpd problem?...for now it’s working...I’m not even gonna worry about installing directx updates—at least for the time being…yeh, I did buy sx, but I’m not pitchin vst into the trash.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top