Starting to feel short changed...

[Vasquez]

Hi,

I would be interested to see what other people think about this...

The quote below is from another thread on the promised support (in PE 8) for Firefox (that we are now told will be in PE 9).

-{ Quote: "The release of Acronis Privacy Expert Suite 9.0 is scheduled for autumn. But we can't give you the exact date of the new version release. Please also note that Firefox support will be available only in the next version (9.0)." }-
This talk of a new version surprised me as I have not had PE8 that long (and I was an early adopter) so I checked their website and found the following press release on the 22nd Feb 2005...

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/pr/2005/pr02-22.html

This basically means that Acronis is planning another major release (that we will have to pay for) roughly 8-10 months after PE 8 was released.

Given the almost total lack of updates for PE 8 since it's release (functionality wise, not Spyware database) the fact that (as far as I am aware) twelve months 'subscription' to the Spyware database was included and the fact that we have had to put up with MANY false positives whilst Acronis developed and stabilised their Spyware engine, and I am starting to feel like I am being short changed.

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect a constant stream of new or enhanced functionality updates (and I do appreciate that Acronis is a business that needs to make money) but 8-10 months between major releases (with almost no updates in-between) is not going to keep customers happy.

Acronis... the 'feature request' threads are FULL of simple ideas that could have quite easily made it into PE 8 (and TI 8). Sure, you push out releases every few months (on average) but these are almost always 'UI fixes' or 'support for new hardware', not enhancements.

Maybe this is a policy that you need change to keep customers happy and to keep them coming back...

[werne]

You don't have to worry about feeling shortchanged; if [a big if since they haven't said what their policy is going to be] they charge owners of PE 8.0 for the upgrade to 9.0 then you are going to be shortchanged. They publicly have many times stated in this forum that version 8.0 of PE would contain support for Firefox. I bought PE 8.0 in in reliance on their statements that PE 8.0 would support Firefox. It actually did support Firefox in the first few days after the release of PE 8.0 but was soon pulled for unknown technical reasons. It could be argued that is not only wrong but illegal for them to charge current owners of PE 8.0 for the upgrade to PE 9.0 based on their public statements.

[Acronis Support]

Hello all,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Internet Privacy and Antispyware Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/privacyexpert/).

We are really sorry for the inconvinience. Please contact support@acronis.com concerning this matter. We will certainly provide you with the detailed information as soon as possible.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

[mark7]

I'm willing to forgo all the "feature requests" and the "nice to haves", as I am still waiting for fixes to BASIC FUNCTIONALITY in PE 8.

Reference thread "Exactly what does PES 8.0 wipe?-will we ever know?" http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=74453, in particular the INCOMPLETE wiping of MFT directory entries - already implemented for quite some time now in several alternative, competitive products.

Also reference thread "Hang on: Internet Explorer Cache Garbage Data" http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=87794

I would hope that outstanding v8 issues are corrected before new functionalities are added in a major "version 9" release. My s/w license is good until March 2006, so I guess I can wait it out till then.

I believe as long as your s/w license is current you are able to d/l and install any updates, including new version numbers. <- edit: this may not be correct, as I think each major version needs a new serial number to register?

[Vasquez]

-{ Quote: "We are really sorry for the inconvinience. Please contact support@acronis.com concerning this matter. We will certainly provide you with the detailed information as soon as possible." }-Hi Ilya,

Why do we need to contact support?

I was merely making an observation and hoping to get a (public) response from Acronis...

[mark7]

Unfortunately, due to marketing and what-other reasons, the practice of not releasing a new build (no new dollars from exisiting customer base) and instead going to a major version update (new dollars) is becoming more commonplace.

Case in point is Acronis Privacy Expert. I got a free upgrade to v8 because v7 still had issues when Acronis decided to release the next "build" as v8 rather than a new v7 build. Now we've learned that PE v8 development will not address these issues either (specifically, see my references in my post of August 16th, 2005 11:00 AM in this thread), and a new PE v9 is due out by the end of October. Will PE v9 address the outstanding issues of PE v7 & v8?

Your guess is as good as mine, but a year is enough time I think, and my engineering support division (my time testing the product) and my marketing division (my wallet) have told me to move on...