dkieffer said:
Your comments, attitude and presumptions couldn't be more incorrect and misdirected.
OK. To clarify, I'm a paying customer that actually likes the core of what the product can accomplish that merely said a 24/7 internet connection policy to combat piracy was irrational, especially given the massive reliability recording concerns it would cause. Beyong paying for the product, I even stretch 50 feet of ethernet wire accross two rooms of my house just to get this to work, because wireless connectivity (B, G and A) is so spotty with many users in my area.
Just to let you know from a paying customer's perspective (and this is echo'd on the board), there is virtually no way to come even marginally close to reliable recordings with 24/7 internet connection to TT's home servers required. A wide vareity of things can interrupt that for long periods of time. Such as TT's home servers having issues (which just happened again last night), ISP technical issues (or an ISP just going down for upgrades), problems with a home router or NIC card, software issues with other applications re internet access, other computers on a home LAN using up the bandwidth for other activities, etc. And forget wireless if many others closeby have wireless routers (constant cut outs).
With the 24/7 connectivity requirement, an otherwise very reliabile product becomes extremely unreliable, such that it cannot be trusted to consistently record. The product goes from one where people can expect that recordings occurred consistentlly, to one where its a dicey proposition, and iits a "bonus" if everything worked out OK.
dkieffer said:
First and foremost, the requirement for internet access is not predicated, nor was included in the software for the primary purpose of security.
I don't want to get into a tit-for-tar about this, but on this thread re the continuing registration requirements that need such connectivity, you said
"The continuing registration verifications were implemented after the big security incident. It was part of a larger plan that involved lots of other changes to quickly regain control over unregistered versions that were out there."
It doesn't really matter whether its the "primary purpose" or not?
Again, to clarify, I'm not the enemy. I'm a paying customer that loves the product concept and many things it does, but am just baffled by a self-imposed restriction that essentially anhilate reliability implemented for reasons entierly unneeded to maximize product utility. That's all.
dkieffer said:
That being said, it is, and will remain one part of our larger strategy to ensure an effective and
reasonable effort to prevent piracy.
Yes. This is what I said above that was characterized as "incorrect" and "misdirected."
dkieffer said:
A general accusation of "paranoia" about piracy is false. Paranoia is a "disorder characterized by delusions of persecution." In the 3 months ending 12/31, Time Trax logged 482 significant security events that required action. Those ranged from extensive continuing efforts to circumvent registration requiring payment as well as disabling and denial of service attacks aimed at preventing anyone from learning about, purchasing, downloading, contacting or using our products to work the way that they are designed. So many resources have had to be dedicated to protecting our rights to produce and sell our products and your rights to use them, that it will continue to be a challenge to fund those efforts. I would say that a huge effort to protect the company, software, employees and customers is warranted and far from paranoia. . .
Hundreds of thousands of customers use Recast, and we hope to provide a great product, great customer service and ultimately a product that our customers are completely satisified with.
First of all, I don't want to sound like a insensitive, but I think you just reinforced the "paranoia" aspect yourself.
Hundreds of thousands of these have been sold (understandable, as the core of the product is pretty cool), but only 482 total "significant security events" occurred in a quarter, and these even included non-piracy events, like denial of service attacks?
The 24./7 intrernet connectivity issue isn't going to help with Denial of Service attacks. And it sounds like the total number of attempts at piracy is, if you'll excuse me, not particularly overwhelming given that this occurs with all software.
And certainly not enough to warrant the introduction of a shaky unreliable 24/7 internet connectivity requirement to an otherwise reliable product.
dkieffer said:
Finally, as I've communicated, we have aknowledged and recognized that users have had issues with the dependency on being able to 'see' the Time Trax home servers. As always, we have taken those comments seriously. As a matter-of-fact, some major steps have indeed been taken in the most recent version of Recast to mitigate and hopefully minimize the problems that users are experiencing. Based on our tests, and working directly with a group of customers that reported related problems, the adjustments have seemed to completely solve the problems in 100% of these cases.
Please note, that the changes by no means eliminate the requirement for an internet connection. Larger and more involved changes are planned for the future that will provide users even more options and flexibility.
Now that sounds interesting. I'd really like to hear some more details.
What was done to mitigate the problems associated with the connectivity in the lastest version? What are the larger and more involved changes?
For example, from my perspective, reliability could be increased close to 100% again with, say, just requiring internet connectivity every time you start the Recast application (even though this still seems like overikill). That way, one could be around to personally shepherd startups with connections to the home servers. Later as the product operates and the user is not present , if internet connectivity lapses occurred during usage, recording would still continue reliabiy, until the next time the application was started and needed to connect again.
Finally, I would like to add that, while TT did miss some recordings this weekend becuase of the this 24/7 requirement (and also in the past), it did record the Stern show this mroning for me.