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Posted: 28 Nov 2007 13:46
by admin
PeterH wrote:Sorry, a little bit late, as XY-Free is out already. But I wanted to play a bit around with this - and have a problem with non-distinguishable icons for the normal and the free version. And I think for persons using the free version it would be fine to show this on the icons in any way? Maybe another color, or something like that? Or, for big icons, a small "free" above XY, for small icons just a line?
Just be be sure, a question: could there be any problems opening XY and XY-Free at the same time? (I don't think so, but...)
And: I plan to use XY-Free at work - maybe one or the other could be interested on seeing this...
1) Would be an idea, but OTOH, XYF = XY minus pay. Everything else is identical, so why have a different icon?
2) No problem.
3) No problem.
Posted: 28 Nov 2007 13:49
by admin
TheQwerty wrote:Eh...
It would be nice if it worked out that people downloaded the free version (because that's more attractive than a 30-day trial), fell in love and bought lifetime licenses for themselves, their friends, their families, their pets, their enemies, their pets' enemies, etc. But I think the reality is going to be that people will view them as two separate programs, instead of XY and the free leaner and younger XY.
No matter how many times you say there will be no support on the page, people are still going to expect updates to the free version. If not feature upgrades they'll expect bug upgrades.
In addition, people will be making requests for features and reporting bugs that exist in it, which have already been implemented or fixed.
My opinion is that you'd be better off implementing a way of activating features through registration and then you could offer a crippled, er rather, lite version that was free and use the feature enhancements to entice people to pay..
Maybe, maybe not... hard to tell, we'll see. If it increases XY publicity, it's worth a little pain.
Posted: 29 Nov 2007 03:21
by serendipity
Posted: 29 Nov 2007 07:51
by admin
Posted: 29 Nov 2007 10:52
by lukescammell
Wow Don! You really *ARE* crazy!
This is incredible, as 5.5 wasn't exactly bad, let's face it!
Let's hope this gets you some more publicity
Posted: 11 Dec 2007 19:29
by serendipity
A suggestion:
In XYplorerFree the config setting "check existence of subfolders for tree nodes" in checked. To keep it faster and maybe you can uncheck this option so that users have a good first impression of the free XY?
Posted: 11 Dec 2007 20:12
by admin
serendipity wrote:A suggestion:
In XYplorerFree the config setting "check existence of subfolders for tree nodes" in checked. To keep it faster and maybe you can uncheck this option so that users have a good first impression of the free XY?
But then you have plus-icons all over...
Posted: 11 Dec 2007 20:24
by serendipity
admin wrote:serendipity wrote:A suggestion:
In XYplorerFree the config setting "check existence of subfolders for tree nodes" in checked. To keep it faster and maybe you can uncheck this option so that users have a good first impression of the free XY?
But then you have plus-icons all over...
Hmmm true, thats misleading.
Posted: 04 Jan 2008 10:50
by bergfex
I just saw that the link to
XYplorerFree is no longer on your homepage, but
http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php is still online. Did you remove the link intentionally or is it just the victim of some website redesign?
Posted: 04 Jan 2008 10:54
by admin
bergfex wrote:I just saw that the link to
XYplorerFree is no longer on your homepage, but
http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php is still online. Did you remove the link intentionally or is it just the victim of some website redesign?
intentionally. I had to make the free version less visible to reduce extra work resulting from support requests from free version users. They did not take my "No email support" statement as serious as I meant it...
Posted: 04 Jan 2008 18:29
by j_c_hallgren
Maybe you'd need to somehow put it (download) behind a "click to accept terms" about no email support, as one gets when you register for a forum?
Except the terms would be very plain and simple, unlike those loooooooong EULA type things...
I've seen that done on a couple of sites...they also have the freeware available but you have to really look for it...
Maybe also have the freeware "Help>XY on Web>Support" lead to a slightly different page on web that is customized for that? Like NO email listed, and a msg there instead about NO support?
Just a couple of ideas...
Posted: 04 Jan 2008 19:33
by mwb1100
I think what you should do is have a polite boilerplate response that includes a brief explanation of why there's no support for the freeware, a suggestion to try the latest trial (with a link to the download) to see if it fixes the problems and a link to the buy page to get a fully supported version.
Bind it to some hotkey, and zip off responses with next to no thought.
I'm sure that'll generate anger in some freeware users, but it may also generate a few sales.
Posted: 04 Jan 2008 20:28
by j_c_hallgren
mwb1100 wrote:Bind it to some hotkey, and zip off responses with next to no thought.
I'm sure that'll generate anger in some freeware users, but it may also generate a few sales.
The potential problem with this handling is that Don first has to determine which email is from paid vs free users, and that process may be what takes the most time...some software requires that any email come from a registered address, but that can be problematic for users who have changed email providers and/or use another legit addr...
The solution to that could involve a XY + web based form submission that would be only method to "email" support, and which could generate the version involved plus the registration status...now that can get complicated real quickly, but also could reduce the amount of junk mail that ends up in Don's inbox.
That's why I suggested making the free vers harder to get, and to try and block submissions before they occur.
Posted: 04 Jan 2008 23:11
by mwb1100
j_c_hallgren wrote:The potential problem with this handling is that Don first has to determine which email is from paid vs free users, and that process may be what takes the most time...
Of course. In hindsight, I should have realized that these support requests probably do not generally start out with "I'm using your free, unsupported version and..."
Posted: 05 Jan 2008 15:20
by admin
mwb1100 wrote:j_c_hallgren wrote:The potential problem with this handling is that Don first has to determine which email is from paid vs free users, and that process may be what takes the most time...
Of course. In hindsight, I should have realized that these support requests probably do not generally start out with "I'm using your free, unsupported version and..."
Exactly!
Thanks for all your ideas, but not for nothing I'm the internationally acknowledged grandmaster flash of high-speed support for years, so my answering system (mostly brain-based + a little copy+paste for those FAQs) is quite in shape. However, what I don't need is more work from the free version.
Removing the links already proved to solve the problem to a satisfying extent, so everything is fine now.