I do not think all has been said regarding TDS-3

That's great. You found that missing "s" in my post but I don't think that is going to redirect attention form the main message in my post. By It's funny that you found it and took that as a point of contention.

Your posts have been anything other than light hearted. The fact that you continue to post the same message over and over with nothing more than a slight change in the wording shows an obsession that goes well beyond light hearted.

As for your cousin, well gee. The phrase I chose was not original but it fit the thread and its state of existence at this point perfectly. That and I didn't grab it from the post right before me and alter it's content.

As for the Wolverine and Irish football game, Don't think that touchdown Jesus helped out the Irish. We felt so bad for you guys that we didn't want to see another coach get fired so we gave you one. How about those Spartans.

As for Wayne calling his customer names, I was unaware that you still were one. If that's the case it shouldn't make a difference should it?

 

Point taken.

I won't pick at missing letters this time...the expression that you meant to say is "anything but" not "anything other." I'm sensing a pattern here. You use big words (sign of intellect), but make gramatical errors. You are an undergraduate student at U of M aren't you? What's your field of study?

I'm a customer in that I own a copy of everything he's made and that makes all the difference.

 

You got me on one point. It's coming up on 1AM here and I am getting a tad tired so errors will occur. (You spelled "gramatical" wrong. It should be "grammatical")

That aside, the fact that you own all of the products that DCS has to offer does not make you any different that the majority of us. I also was blindsided by what happened but at certain point in life you learn that there are only two things you can count on happening. Taxes and death. Everything else is a crap shoot and you just have to roll with the punches.

You appear to be quite reasonably chapped about this whole situation but the things you are typing on a public domain forum are not going to alleviate the problem as you see it or make it go away. Instead of a genuine complaint at this point to be taken seriously, some of your post, content taken into account are starting to seem more like ravings than anything else.

I'm not sure if it's to late at this point or not to get back the credibility you had in a lot of posts in the past that you made. But It's worth a try. The ball is in the DCS side of the court and until they make a play we can't do anything but wait. Ranting won't help. It can only make things worse.

I'm sure if you look back on your school or sports day when younger you can bring to mind people who did nothing but whine. I bet they got on your nerves and for all the effort they put into it, never reached the goals they set out to achieve by whining to begin with.

Why not just kick back and relax. Let's see what DCS has in store. Gavin is making some posts with bits of info and there is nothing that I am aware of that compels them at this point to divulge their plans for the future of the company.

I waited through the past couple of years of TDS-4 talk right along with the rest of you. I was disappointed but that's the way life is. It's ups and downs. Nothing you or I can say will change what has happened or what they have in store for the company. It's their move and we would look a lot better letting them make that move without heckling.

Once they make that play go ahead and fire off your round. But the current round of play is over. There is no game. You can't keep up the attacks on them after all of this time without looking like a disgruntled apparent whose child is sitting on the bench because the coach wants to win the game and the child does not have the skill to carry the team to that goal.

As for my major, it's in networking. My typos are not essentially a bad thing. In my line of work I can correct errors in a split second. Number matter.

 

I'll reconsider my position and rethink my approach. You have a good night and good luck with your studies. It was nice "talkin'" with you.

 

Leaving a thread open or closing it outright is a moderating decision, not subject to the immediate whims of posters.

If you've said your piece, and have nothing further to contribute, I'd recommend that the best course of action is to let it go and move on.

Regards,

Blue

 

Before this thread is closed, I would like to report I am now 2 for 2. DCS has chosen not to answer ANY of my email or private messages, and I was looking to BUY a DCS product. Like others,I am moving on. At least I can get my money back.

 

I have been hanging out here for a number of years....i can tell you that mods know what they are doing........sometimes this will mean they have a clearer view then most of us... if we the members don't like what is going on in any given thread, then we can always stay away.......simply put..the closing of a thread, is really none of our business..

 

Exactly RainWalker! It's pointless closing this thread anyway since people will just create another if they want to say more on the subject, as was done before.

 

Like this one https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=95017 .

 

I emailed my TDS3 details on 21/09 and had a gracious repy from Gavin and a new licence for Port Explorer made out to my son within 24 hours. So someone's on the ball there: it might be worth trying again.

 

Hi Dallen,

Haven't you been told over and over again for years to just 'be patient' and that everything's 'just around the corner'?? LOL

Seriously mate, I wonder if any Guiness Book of Records have been broken here for the longest 'just around the corner' ever? On the subject of TDS 4, we're gonna get TDS 4 'technology' anyway so we're still getting TDS 4 engine driven software albeit in another commercial form right?

You and I outta join forces mate. You can do the stirring and I'll shake in the Tabasco sauce to spice things up a bit. LOL

I was right that TDS 4 wouldn't be released by the Bejing Olympics and the US elections but I reckon we'll definitely see something well before Christmas thanks to all the excellent cartoons you've published here

It's no good flogging a dead horse because you'll have the RSPCA hunting you down but there's no law against kicking ass so why don't you adjust your cartoon to reflect what is really being done?? LOL

Dave

 

No posts for 7 days, maybe all HAS been said!

 

You just HAD to do it. You just HAD to add yet another post to this thread. Someone will always come along and add yet another post. But entropy does seem to be increasing...

 

You beat me to it. I wasn't going to let it go beyond ten.

 

I'm still waiting for a free license.

 

I think where all customers have a right to a good and proper bitch is with regards to continual promises of 'just around the corner' which seem to extend into months instead of just a few days which the term infers.

No-one is holding a gun to DCS's head and forcing them to make these promises. I understand the term 'just around the corner' to be no longer than a week at the very most so the term seems highly inappropriate when months go by and still no new site or new software.

DCS themselves are creating this criticism by making such announcements (which infer days) and nothing happens for months. Wayne and Co would take a lot of pressure off themselves by just saying something like 'we're working on new programs' and leave it at that and not committing to a time frame or making statements which have led many customers to believe that something was imminent a couple of months ago. The result is a lot of disappointment is created, triggering criticism as time passes and nothing turns up.

It appears they aren't learning from the TDS 4 saga by falling into the same trap of making a promise and then we wait and wait and wait. It's the same DCS tune all over again.

It would be far better if we were told that new programs were a long way off and they arrived early (a surprise) rather than being told 'just around the corner' and then months pass and people start to get disappointed. Don't build up peoples hopes & expectations and people will move on!!

Dave

 

I have been [politely] asked not to make negative comments in the TDS forum. Wow! My reply was when they give us something positive to talk about, then maybe I will.

It is a sad day when Moderators/Forum Administrators start removing negative postings that don't violate their own TOS. I have a legitimate question (I hope that you don't start removing questions to, kinda defeats the purpose of the forum). Why is the TDS section of the forum open? The product is gone, shouldn't the forum go with it?

 

You forgot to include that you personally attacked me and called me names, "uncivilized" and "indecent" in a private message. LowWaterMark, you've got your analysis right, but you are analyzing the wrong statements. That's why your comments below are in err. I guess that the method here is if you screw up...deny it and cover it up. Sound familiar?

 

I think the entire point about this forum is the way in which the TDS 3/4 saga had been handled and I think it should be suggested to DCS to handle their customer support a bit differently here.

For myself personally I have basically moved on with regards to TDS3/4 but I would very much like to see DCS not build up our expectations about the imminent release of a product/products/website only to be let down by an extended waiting period.

If I were DCS I would tell my customers that any new stuff was 'quite a long time down the track' and then they would be pleasantly surprised and happy with me when I released the product earlier than expected. Also I would have taken a whole lot of pressure off myself. A bit of a change of strategy can really change all the negativeness and sharp criticism and make things better again.

The backlash with TDS3/4 was not so much that the product was discontinued as it was high expectations were built up for an imminent release only for people to be extremely let down in the end. It's better and WISER not to build up any expectations of imminent releases whatsoever if you want a calmer atmosphere.

Dave

 

Summary of my saga with TDS... (warning: Long Post)

(First of all if you are just trolling for a fight then please ignore the rest of this post, as it will only upset you. You have been warned.)

I purchased TDS-3 late last year (9/8/04 to be exact) after trying the demo version and reading many positive comments from other users here on Wilders. I must say it was mostly the user comments that convinced me to open my wallet -- nothing convinces me more than positive feedback from knowledgeable users, which I consider most everyone on these forums to be.

Now, when I tried TDS-3 for myself, I was happy with the size of its trojan database and removal capabilities however I was more or less appalled with the user interface. To me (as someone who among other things, designs GUIs for a living) this was just atrocious. It seemed like a program that had suffered from "feature-creep" over the years and was badly in need of an overhaul. Many features were simply antiquated or no longer relevant, and many options were hidden or buried deep in a series of difficult to find options dialogs and sub-dialogs. YES the program did its job but I found it was daunting to use and I consider myself a veteran user.

So it was with reluctance that I purchased the product, I did so ONLY to support DCS and to SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF TDS-4 which was promised as a FREE UPGRADE and which was claimed by DCS to be in development and "close to release". I absolutely never would have purchased this product if it were not for this fact. As a matter of fact I did actually un-install the product within 2 weeks of installation because I was having difficulty with the realtime protection and rather than fight with it I simply moved to another AT product and was content to happily wait until the forthcoming TDS-4 to realize the return on my investment.

I could have asked for a refund right then and there but I chose to trust DCS and support the development of what I considered to be an important product so I did not ask for my money back and in fact purchased Port Explorer and ProcessGuard as well!

Well fast-forward to a few months ago when I read with horror that DCS decided to pull the plug on this free offer and rename the existing TDS codebase to something else and sell it as a "new product". The offers were sent out for the free cross-grade to Port Explorer or ProcessGuard but honestly these were useless to me as I would not recommend them to my very novice userbase-- ProcessGuard while an extremely powerful program is quite beyond most user's realm of understanding and unless carefully configured by me and checked often (which most users will not pay for) then it can range anywhere from somewhat useless to extremely interfering with people's work.

So I politely wrote back requesting instead a refund for my TDS-3 purchase. Mind you, this refund was specifically offered by DCS as an alternate option for people who did not wish to receive a cross-grade license to another product so I was well within my rights to ask for it. In addition, I offered to receive only HALF of my original purchase price in return, since so much time had passed since my original purchase, even though for the vast majority of that time I did not even have TDS-3 installed on my hard drive. And this does not even take into account the strength of the Australian dollar vs. the US dollar over that time, which mitigates this even further in DCS's favor.

What happened next will come as little surprise to many people on here who have followed the various TDS threads-- absolutely nothing. No reply, no response. I waited a week. Sent another email. Again, nothing. Waited another week, sent another request, and heard nothing back. I checked my mail server logs to make sure the messages were not being dumped by my spam filter, etc. No such luck. I sent yet another message pleading for a response-- and heard nothing. Total of 5 emails were sent over the course of a month-and-a-half period with not a single peep heard back from DCS, a company which I had put my trust in by purchasing their entire suite of security products and believing that the TDS-4 vaporware would be included.

In my last email I wrote to DCS that if I did not hear back I would have no choice but to pursue my remedies via my credit card company. I figured this would have at least gotten a reply but it did not. After contacting my credit card company I learned that they have a 45-day limit on such actions so I was completely out of luck. Guess I am just writing it off.

So I am not trying to start another war here just wanted to post my experience and express my sadness and disappointment with how DCS handled it- in what I consider a very unprofessional manner. To add insult to injury, by not responding to my emails they have just made matters worse. I have expressed all of this in my emails to them so this is not news to anyone, but I will never recommend or purchase any other DiamondCS products again.

I can only assume this is what DCS wanted when they chose to ignore their customers in this way. I know it is not easy running a small software company and I do not believe that DCS genuinely wished to harm any of their customers (hope not!) however where I DO find fault is how they are DEALING with the backlash. I do NOT feel that canceling TDS-4 was the wrong decision, in fact I would have probably made the same decision as the business manager of that company, HOWEVER in doing so I would have offered the current TDS customers either a free upgrade to the "new" product or a SIGNIFICANT discount on it. Additionally I would have made it a point to be OPEN and HONEST about the fate of this program rather than keeping everyone in the dark for many months and then choosing to ignore the paying customers who essentially FUNDED the development of whatever this new program turns out to be. THAT is where the problem lies and I believe THAT is what has everyone so upset-- the customers were basically duped, tricked and lied to and that does NOT sit well.

Thankfully there have been a lot of exciting new HIPS and AT products released in the last year to fill in the void left behind by TDS and I do wish these new startups the best of luck. Hopefully they can learn from the mistakes made by DCS and keep the customer as their primary priority.