Make this site private.

[Synchro]

I think that this site should be made private to genuine Actinic owners only. There should be a public area, pre-sales, where non Actinic users can access.
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[wjcampbe]

I would disagree. The level of support available on this forum will often tip the balance when a prospective purchaser is teetering between Actinic and an alternative.

Unless non-owner posts became a hindrance to the operation of the peer support element of this forum, I would just rely on the efforts of the moderators to close/remove inappropriate posts (and volunteer to help if I saw it becoming a problem).

[pinbrook]

private to genuine Actinic owners only

why do you think this?

[steveaich]

The developers section already is private. The rest should remain public, with non actinic users encouraged to use the 'ecommerce business issues' and 'other discussion' sections.

[Synchro]

Other software forums use private support only. Why should we pay for software when others can get it for free (I assume people are using actinic illegaly) and they come here and get free support. I say that all support should be behind a confirmation of genuine purchase. I feel quite strongly about this. It would not be hard to set up.

[wjcampbe]

(I assume people are using actinic illegaly) and they come here

another good reason to leave the sites open - 'come into my parlour'.

[Synchro]

If Actinic are spending time crawling this forum, looking for people who are poaching free support, then they are wasting a lot of time.

I say, that your activation/licience key should be used to get access to main support forums here.

Pres sales forums would be extremely popular for people asking questions. I've seen illegal users of software come into support forums and try and get support. Moderators/Admins or anyone who cares about the software will then politely ask them to register them selves with the forums admin, so that they can get access. if they don't do this, or kick up a stick, then chances are they have never paid for it.

IMO anyone who is willing to spend large amonts of money on software will use "official" information to make their decision on whether to buy it.

IMO the manuals and technical documents should also be beind authentication. Why give out any information on how to use software without making sure people have paid for it first?
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[Synchro]

I don't know about you, but it would annoy me to think people here have not paid for anything and are skimming useful info.
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[wjcampbe]

On the contrary, I willingly come here and do my best to give good advice free of charge, and would be offended if someone forced me to accept payment.

I trust the people at Actinic to have sufficient protective measures in place to identify illegal use of their software without needing to 'crawl' the forum, but also consider them smart enough to recognise when a burst of questions come from an IP not associated with a registered owner and act accordingly.

[chris ashdown]

I totaly agree with Bill on this one

From my own experience I started with a legal copy of catalog from Actinic which was fine but soon found reason to start another site and therefore purchased a second copy and then a copy of developer, When V8 comes out i will upgrade and the same again for V9

Whilst £300 odd pounds is a lot for someone starting a shop online you must ask how serious they are if they find this to expensive, after all; if you were to take a lease on a backstreet trading position in my town, you would be tied into a 3 year contract with rent of a min of £3000 plus per year and rates of £1500.and 6 months up front

My point is that as soon as they see the real potential of e trading they will want to become legit and purchase a licence

Most people on the forum just want to help all who want to, or do trade online. we are all in the same boat and seem to run smoother than most companies without directors, managers, and others just Chris and nadeem keeping an eye on things

[pinbrook]

Yep I agree, keep it open, i simply don't see any benefit in closing access. There are plenty of free ecommerce packages out there, aswell as illegal copies of Actinic - I don't see this as a reason to restrict access. I use a couple of pieces of software that do have closed access forums and to be honest they are a pain - I'm always losing my access key.

I strongly beleive in the concept of open source and sharing of information. It makes me feel good about the world!!

I have no problem sharing what I know, I also get alot back in return - in life this is known as give and take.

[Synchro]

I guess my opinions on this are very much in the minority. I also believe in the concept of open source (unfortunately I've become so bogged down in bought software, that I don't get to use much "free software". If only I had more time ).

I believe that a few simple changes would stop freeloaders on this site. I don't like free loaders. Is that crime?
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[pinbrook]

Fortunately the open source movement is currently going from strength to strength, there are some excellent programs out there.

I've got open office, firefox, thunderbird, filezilla, gimp amonght others on my PC, and i'm running a low spec notebook with a linux distro (ubuntu).

If only Actinic would release its software to work on a linux pc my life would be complete and I could ditch windows all together.

[Buzby]

I started using an illegal version of Actinic which I purchased from Ebay. I was unaware of the issues regarding the license of 2nd hand copies at the time and I first traded with 2nd hand software that had been used before.

Once I had been made aware of this I Purchased Version 6 Catalog, then Version 7. Earlier this year I upgraded to Developer 7 and will certainly upgrade to Developer 8 next year.

Had I not purchased 2nd hand software and joined this forum I would not have paid the original purchase price of over £300 and would now be using some inferior product.

Actinic have also received a lot of money from me in the last 18 months as a result of this open forum allowing free use without proof of purchase.

[Synchro]

The very fact that you were able to come here and get support, without owning a legitimate copy of Actinic, is exactly my point. I bet the amount of people who have continued to use illegal copies, without being decent and switching to a paid, fully legal version is greater.
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