I hope this is not too critical a post but I just received a message from SmithMicro that has me floored..  The message read as such :

**"Dear ****,

Please note the purchase you made on 10/02/2008 is no longer available for download.
If you would like to extend your download access to safeguard your purchase you may extend the period in which you can download by clicking here  

This service allows you to re-download the software in the event that your computer crashes or you purchase a new one.

QUESTIONS?
If you have questions about your order or the download process, please contact our customer service center at www.findmyorder.com."

The item I purchased was Poser Pro and I paid HUNDREDS of dollars for it..  now they don't want to support my purchase unless I give them more money..  I feel this type of treatment is most unfair.  NO OTHER SITE I have done business has tried to squeeze me for more money..  Besides having paid for this Poser Pro at full Price I find that Poser 6,  is now selling for Twenty some odd dollars just a few months after I had purchased it as well...  I guess instead of paying them more money to get a copy of an already purchased item I may wait till Poser Pro drops to 20 some odd dollars and then buy it on a CD..  Better yet I may just change to Daz Studio which is free.....

I would never print anything critical about any company except I feel betrayed by a company I have been loyal to for a number of years now... This one HURT !!

Are you sure it's not a scam? Cause when I place my cursor over the link it says it goes to somewhere called bluehornet, that don't sound like S/M

SmithMicro and CP have had limited download windows for large files for quite some time.
It's very clearly stated that this is the case at time of ordering.

You get offered this "Download Protection" and a "Backup CD" at time of purchase, so you probably removed one or other of these options from your cart when buying.

All that the message you received is doing is offering you another chance to obtain an extended download window, just like a lot of retailers try to sell you an extended guarentee around the time the original is coming to an end.

Quote - Are you sure it's not a scam? Cause when I place my cursor over the link it says it goes to somewhere called bluehornet, that don't sound like S/M

Bluehornet are a bulk mailing company, SM use them for this type of mailing, or rather Digital River (who actually run the SM store) do as evidenced by the "dr" at the beginning of the URL.

So what are you not able to download?

the program itself?

did you buy Poser Pro and just not download it  yet?

or are you saying that, after install, P Pro has continuous updates that can be downloaded , and they have ended your updates window.

cuz if it is the second thing,  that is BULLSH***T

If it is the first thing, I can kinda see them not keeping it there for you forever.

Quote - So what are you not able to download?

the program itself?

did you buy Poser Pro and just not download it  yet?

or are you saying that, after install, P Pro has continuous updates that can be downloaded , and they have ended your updates window.

cuz if it is the second thing,  that is BULLSH***T

If it is the first thing, I can kinda see them not keeping it there for you forever.

Free Updates

http://my.smithmicro.com/downloads/index.html

http://my.smithmicro.com/win/poser/updates.html

http://my.smithmicro.com/win/poserpro/updates.html

Generally they give you three (3) Downloads for retail items and ten (10) for Freebies.
You can also request a Download reset from them.

Dont assume that any store will continue to make available a new download of stuff purchased. Its not that expensive these days to burn a cd or dvd as an archive copy.

Daz charges (or has a market item) for activating downloads after they expire, and its not unreasonable for smith-micro or CP to do so.

Quote - Daz charges (or has a market item) for activating downloads after they expire, and its not unreasonable for smith-micro or CP to do so.

DAZ offer an account burn to CD or DVD which is paid for, download resets are free (only limit is that you can only reset an item a few times per month).

Back up your original download to another drive or disk, then you shouldn't need to redownload it.

nruddock is right, DAZ downloads never expire, you just go to your account and reset them.

Coldrake**
**

Now that I think about it, this policy was in place under EFrontier since at least from the time of the P7 release 2 years ago.

I have to admit I was wrong on Daz , I do have a support email that seems to say 3 resets in a 3 month period or a charge applies, but the site does say per product.   

a) You are extremely unlikely to ever need to re-download if you keep adequate backups, and keep at least one off-site, (which everyone who uses a computer for anything significant should do).

b) Personally I believe it is likely that the longer the download period is extended the greater is the chance that someone will find a way through their security and download their software for free (pretending to be you), so (if true) can you really blame them if they want additional remuneration for taking that additional risk?

c) SmithMicro, or any other company, has every right to spell out the terms of your purchase and what services they will provide, and how long they intend to provide them.

d) The fact that the download period is limited after the purchase is stated plainly at the time of your purchase, or at least it was the last time I purchased.

e) The charge for the extended download service is nominal.

f) Me thinks, genefleeman, you're all worked up over nothing.

 It was Poser Pro and it was FULL price.. I DID make a backup but DVD's even if you never use them do tend to have errors..

 I didn't download it but once and I got it through E-Frontier's site and now SmithMicro has it..  My wife and I do business (our own business) with a few of the employees and officials at E-Frontier but SmithMicro has taken over Poser and they CHANGED (at least to my knowledge) the policy..

As for someone breaking the site at SmithMicro and stealing the program does not mean they are stealing MY issue of PoserPro does it?

 I now, at this point, have a useless DVD I burned myself and when I bought it I PRE-ORDERED it.. the hard copies were not even out at the time..  only the download copies...  if I had wanted to pay again for a hard copy I could have paid for it then (OR NOW it seems..) at this late a date I can have a hard copy if I want to BUY it all over again...doesn't seem quite fair to me but hey, it's only $240 some odd dollars and money grows on trees, right?  

As for it saying that it would only be a limited time download I assure you, at preorder time NO such thing was EVER expressed.. it was all sweet and nicey-nice to get folks to order ahead of time..

also donquixote, I fail to see why you add that they could be impersonating me to steal a copy.. I assure you there are enough copies floating around on the pirate sites and torrent sites that to have to hack smithmicro would be the hardest way to get it.. so that excuse does not hold water .. unless they had my serial number they can't pretend to be me..

and to markschum.. this site HERE allows you to download your purchases and I have on quite a few occasions... some of which add to be at LEAST this amount, as does Daz and 3DCommune and Content Paradise as I still download items I bought there YEARS ago( or at least I could till SmithMicro took over....  as a matter of fact I have YET to do business with any site that has not backed up the purchase with a download if I needed it..  

Even when CP quit doing business with a few sites, THOSE sites supported my purchases on their own sites including this one and RuntimeDNA...  Their is NO purchase I have made that I can not get a copy of at THIS time except this one item on that ONE site..  THAT is a FACT.. unless of course the item was discontinued altogether..

I ONLY wanted to know if anyone BESIDES myself had been sent this letter to see if it was only me or had others been sent this same message.. If others that bought PoserPro have received this message then it is NOT just me but if no one else has got a message of this type I can't figure why I have received one of these..  If I am the only one then this REALLY WOULD BE unfair..

I really wasn't asking if anyone else finds it unfair as everyone will have their own opinion on this issue and as I have seen no two people on just about any site can agree completely on any issue, so it was a purely informational item for me to see to what extent this has been done...   

I figured some would be appalled at this and some would think it normal and some would think me an idiot for even bringing it up( as this is usually how it is when one askes for a judgement about a moral issue.. it is not a moral issue but a technical one..)

Did you or did you not receive one of these.. not "how do you feel about what happened to me" type of issue..  I know how I feel and that would be the only morality issue I would concern myself with.. I am not asking anyone to feel sorry for me.. that would be a total waste of everyones time and a waste of bandwidth I feel.. It is the reason the Header on the thread says "Has anyone else received this message" and not "everyone hate this company and feel sorry for genefleeman"  

So far even though you all say you read this at the time of purchase none of you say you got this message like I did.. so I guess my question remains unanswered so far..  but thanks for the input just the same (not sarcasm-- which I must put here or you might well think it is, as you can't hear the inflection in my voice or see the friendly smile .. See smile here  -->   :)

PS... I apologize for the long post but there was a lot of questions and issues that were brought up here and I wanted to answer them all..

I always copy to DVD, But I read somewhere that DVD's are actually only reliable for a couple years, true? I dont know.

 you're right phantom3D.. the time they last depends on the DVD brand and I have had some that went bad in a months time.. I used the PoserPro backup I made 3 times, as I had a few issues with my system and also learned that, on a Mac at least, DiskWarrior can really scr*w up PoserPro for some reason...

if worse comes to worse I can get a copy and just use my own Serial number as a I have a paid for license (after all, it is all you really own on any software or you could sell anyones software to anybody.. as pirates seem to do) and though you can not transfer a license you can have one backup and as of yet I have seen no restriction concerning where it came from as long as the license is one you paid for yourself..

I don't condone any type of piracy but this would seem to be in keeping with the spirit of the law.. so I am not worried about losing my ability to use PoserPro, as I stated above.. not the issue but one of fairness in treating everyone equal.. as I see the problem anyway.. but I do thank you for your concern as I do everyone who has answered this thread.

I never recieved a letter like that, but I only have Poser 7 so maybe that's different. (though don't know why it would be.)

Have Poser Pro and have not as yet received a letter.

I've never recieved any such letter but then I never signed up for extended downloads and I only purchased PoserPro in the past month or so during the Turkey Day sale.

Quote - also donquixote, I fail to see why you add that they could be impersonating me to steal a copy.. I assure you there are enough copies floating around on the pirate sites and torrent sites that to have to hack smithmicro would be the hardest way to get it.. so that excuse does not hold water .. unless they had my serial number they can't pretend to be me..

A valid enough point. You are correct. However, that does not necessarily mean that SmithMicro sees it that way. In my experience, companies perceive all sorts of threats and do all sorts of things to try to protect themselves whether it makes any real-world sense or not.

Quote - t this late a date I can have a hard copy if I want to BUY it all over again...doesn't seem quite fair to me but hey, it's only $240 some odd dollars and money grows on trees, right?

I have been screwed over so very, very much more more than this, by one company or another and more than once, so maybe that colors my judgment. If I sounded harsh, please forgive. It is not that I don't sympathize a little. But your original post did not mention a lot of your concerns. It only mentioned that you would have to pay for the extended download period. Further, why do you need a hard copy? Contrary to your experience, I have used DVDs for backups for years and years. In all that time, out of hundreds, I have had only 3 or 4 go bad on me. Maybe I've just been extraordinarily lucky. Or perhaps you might benefit by further investigation into the quality of your media, your drive or your software? Finally, being probably one of the poorer members of Renderosity, especially these days, the last thing I would ever suggest is that money grows on trees.

Hope you get this issue resolved to your satisfaction. Good luck.

Ever had to deal with Autodesk (Maya)?  They make every other software company I've wver delt with a pleasure by comparison!  Even Adobe can be a pain in the behind.

I, too, bought the Poser Pro upgrade during the recent Thanksgiving sale.  But, I bought the delivered boxed version, figuring I could go ahead and download it and use it.  But, no.  There was no download option available - it was either/or.

That ticked me off - had to wait about 10 days (counting weekends) for delivery.

Quote - Ever had to deal with Autodesk (Maya)?

Yep.

And about a year ago I purchased a new application for several hundred dollars that was touted as compatible with Vista. It never worked at all in Vista, and it never worked properly in XP. I was told I could not return it because, although I bought it from an authorized dealer, the dealer had not been authorized to sell it to me at a discount, which he had done. I was also told a free update, to make it compatible with Vista, would be forthcoming in a month or two.

About 10 months later, they came out with the update, and guess what? Not free. They want another $300 for it. I complained and was told whoever told me it would be free was not authorized to do that and that the promise would not be honored.

So here I still am with a relatively expensive, still-buggy application that I still cannot use in my OS of choice, even though it was originally promoted as being fully compatible with that OS.

Needless to say, I am not eager to do much business with them these days. Further, I will never again purchase a software product when it is first released. I will wait, and wait and wait, just as long as I can stand it, and then read and read as much as I have time and energy for to see what other users' experience has been.

And even then, I may still not purchase, because, frankly, I'm tempted to stop buying software altogether.

Over many years, I have put out $1000's only to see those same products become free, or discounted to the point that they might as well have been made free.

Yes, I had use of them all that time before they became free, or nearly so, but in some cases, I'd just bought the darn things shortly (a couple of times less than 2 weeks) before they became free, or nearly free. And in all but one case I was not offered any kind of compensation.

I won't go into any more detail than that, but it does not seem a very good way to reward loyal, long-time customers, and/or paying customers, and I think I am now about done with it.

I'm not saying I'm ready to become a pirate, but considering how they operate, I am starting to wonder if some of the management in these companies don't deserve to have their intellectual property stolen (not that their lowly employees likely deserve it), and I'm also looking a lot longer and harder at open source solutions these days.

Oops. Sorry for the rant.

Norton does this. I think a few other companies as well. Maybe Corel? I think it's a new "fad." Heck,...the first time I encountered, I had updated my Norton Internet Security online. They automatically installed it. Didn't allow you to save it and download it. If you didn't pay the extra ten dollars, you couldn't download it again even if your computer crashed. I saw some people complain. They said if you needed a disk then you should have bought one. I always bought the disk after that.