You've been heard. Response re: 4.9 and Encryption
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Right so then we do "own" it in the sense that we got what we paid for with the terms we paid for it and that cannot later be changed on you (unless you are breaking the terms yourself of course.)
And encryption takes that guarantee away. Yeah... no. That sort of content really isn't worth much to me. I buy my products because I want the licence to use them. Not to hope that nothing ever changes and I don't some day stop being able to use them. The only exception would be if I actually really needed an asset right now for a project, and paid for it knowing I was renting it while I did that project with no expectation to keep it.
The words that strike absolute terror in the heart of any marketing people
.
DRM does not limit those who don't pay, but it limits those who do pay. I have a certain way to sort my files. The DRM files make a mess of that which plays havoc with my OCD.
I'll be watching for now what happens but I will not buy anything else that is just available as DRM files.
Even before connect I had given up on organising my content files directly - I just treated the whole real DS content directory as like the Data folder, asset files that needed to be left in place - and was isntead creating shortcut scripts that could be moved arounbd in a separate folder and tagged with the data type. The .djl shortcuts to the files installed using Connect work in exactly the same way (except that, unlike my scripts, they keep the content-type tag when moved). I yield to no-one in the CD department, but I think Connect is manageable - and will be more so if I manage to script the creation of .djl links already in folders, rather than having to drag and drop (which script I will, if it's reliable, make available).
Indeed, but the result of the no DRM is like owning - we can use however we wish (bearing in ming the EULA).
Now despite the EULA allowing us to use it, the DRM system may decide we cant because something has changed. The DRM takes presedence in this case and so in effect it is a rental system with efforced terms of rental.
Indeed.
I tried to get a refund on a partially used gift card; I couldn't, which wasn't a surprise (as I'd started using it), so once its gone; bye bye platinum club. Which will save me more money still. My PC membership expires in march, but not stressed about the last month.
DRM is like the giant wasteful sealed plastic placed around many products to reduce shoplifting. In essence it punishes (and with sharp plastic) sometimes injures loyal customers. It doesn't stop shoplifting at all. I've seen that shoplifters simply palm a razor blade and cut through the plastic in seconds. I only caught the criminal in the act because I happened to be moving through an isle on my way to the office. Seeing elderly customers who've gotten home with plasticed sealed products (these were family and older friends) struggle to open their purchases and sometimes get cut (if I didn't interrupt and help). In video games it's a death blow to big budget titles. Today you've lost sales from me (on the new content) as even though the items have manual install, I was unsure if they'd work in Daz 4.8 (given the poor wording). Here's a tip to vendors, if your products work in earlier versions of D/S, please have them listed on the product page. It'll help sales of said items. Five seconds of work to type under software Daz 4.9, Daz 4.8 and better sales. If Daz won't let you call for the listing, tell them you want it. Many users will stick with D/S 4.8 for as long as they can due to the encryption. I purchased a couple of non-encrypted items that were leaving the store. But $30 plus dollar sale gone due to poor wording and encryption.
I'm having issues seeing the motivation in adopting a system I don't want that doesn't help me that I can "manage to mitigate the effects of" vs. a perfectly logical system that worked fine. And while developed with all good intentions for new users, the rest of us have to put up with it while knowing that such a system being developed can only mean the old system will eventually go away (because having two systems is dumb, too confusing, and too much work) so sooner or later we'll all be at the mercy of whether Studio decides to remember it has some metadata or not.
Sure you can make it not as bad to use, but why would you want to put yourself in a position to have to do that? Using Studio shouldn't be about learning to deal with the program controlling everything and overwriting/losing metadata.
It'd have been a lot better to just standardise all products with the same file sorting rules so that once you learned one product you learned them all, instead of fishing around for whatever new way the PA decided to arrange their content this time (and take away file move commands within Studio so that people who didn't know what they were doing wouldn't drag files around, breaking other scripts.)
Thanks khory... for now it's not the problem to find the stuff I recently bought, but I'd really prefer to have all my content available through the Content Library since I prefer the sorting method in "My Library" (stuff sorted by figure) instead of the sorting method in Smart Content... besides there seems to be only the stuff in it that I had to install after I installed 4.9 ... all my other stuff doesn't show up in smart content. which surely is mendable, but... heck I'd just like to be able to use the Content Library tab for everything :)
The trouible is, it wasn't working for a lot of users. We don't have to rely on what CS reports to tbe the most common issue in tickets, we can see a lot of people having issuse in the forum. Connect, with the nice big (open by default I hope) Installation pane seems a good bet. I wouldn't necessarily write DIM off for (unencrypted) new content - I suspect that theer are tools which produce both connect and DIM packages in one go, so the complexity should be limited.
I suppose it all depends how it's presented to new users. Right now it's confusing for those changing over. When I started using Studio, Smart Content was really helpful in learning what files went with what (i.e. that a model had material settings, etc.) but after a day or so I wanted to organise things myself. IF everything new gets orgnaised in a standardised way (Daz figures being different from PA figures for material locations doesn't help) then I can see it working well for new users. But I suspect older content will always be a pain unless it gets a huge overhaul. I dunno, I see the point of Connect; I just think there were simpler solutions. Not to mention that if they want to shop elsewhere, new users have to learn a whole new system of installing that has all the old issues that you pointed out.
I've seen quite a few people having issues with 4.9 and Connect in the forums these last few days.
Another factor is that the cost of DRM isn't just inconvenience, it's the cost of development and maintenance. Every hour some coder or software engineer spent working on Encryption was an hour they weren't spending on stuff we've wanted for a long time.
That's another point of resentment, because you know what else encourages customers to give vendors hard-earned money to put food on their tables? A better core product.
Yup... I've lost track of how much music I lost to DRM-only services and ended up buying again as mp3 files, audio-books that won't play because the server is down, trying to access them on a different device and being told "you've already downloaded this". Yeah-yeah, it could be somebody's else phone but it's annoying because I really wanted it on my phone, not my desktop. I'm disappointed that I won't be continuing to use DAZ Studio after rediscovering it with DS4.8. I love Genesis 3 and IRay. But not enough to accept DRM. So back to Poser I go and an occassional render in 4.8.
Yes, the basic idea is good (though I admit I'm still mostly using DIM until I figure out a good back-up strategy) but it is a bit too unobvious coming in cold - that's why I said the Instalaltion pane mentioned in Steve's post was going to be needed.
Ah - I mis-read your comment. Sorry.
+1
And this, in the end, is the bottom line for me. I've gone over and on about this whole Connect thing with myself (don't judge
) and even with finding out there is a way to manage my files even if I decide to use Connect (thanks to a very smart Bee 
) it came down to this.
Why should I have to?!
And the answer to myself (again, don't judge LOL) was: I don't!
The new system is great for the new people? Cool! Bravo! I really mean that. But we should be allowed to make that choice. My problems with 4.9 started long before the encryption part. I got stuck at the whole Connect premise so the rest was put aside.
So as I said in another thread, I stay with DIM, happily managing my files, 4.8 and 4.9 programs and plug ins backed up as well as all files and folders and go back to making pictures.
That's the bottom line folks... we don't have to move to their new system. Daz is hearing but not really and so be it.
PS: Let's stop firing shots at Daz_Steve. He's doing his job and jobs are hard to come by. He's getting the scripts from the PTB and he's just the unlucky one who's name is on these posts.
I don't think anyone's firing shots at DAZ_Steve. There was one issue with one person a day or two ago and that was resolved by both of them. Without wishing to become one who speculates, I doubt DAZ_Steve has much say in this overarching plan to save us all from these terrible losses incurred by those pirating scallywags.
Wow, and people were complaining about Daz's corporate-speak. That's an interview, in the same way the New York Times’ sponsored content are articles.
I mean didn't the game dev version have a whole thing where it had to periodically phone home?
Remember SM do make some money from content sales via Content Paradise (assuming this is still owned by SM, I believe it is). How much those sales are compared to the money made on Poser, and its other software programs, I have absolutely no idea.
One more thing. This should be an exciting time for us all! Iray in DS, a character randomizer, texture convertors and down the road a new dynamics system.
Let's get on with the good things! And if it means not moving past 4.8 or 4.9 without connect it's ok.
new dynamics system?? Where have you seen that mentioned?
+1
I'm having a blast with these new toys :)
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/69686/interested-in-a-new-cloth-sim-plug-in-for-daz-studio-and-carrara#latest
The escrow company is a great idea to reduce one area of concern. In addition to the content deencryption, could that same company also in some way handle the DAZ Studio and plugin activation keys (or is there even a need to do that... I can't remember if the key simply needs to be entered for activation or if it requires connecting to DAZ during activation.)
LOL. Well, the DAZ response has been read and also completely ignored. I will never purchase encrypted content and neither will a lot of others on here. Don't worry about what the marketing VP says--vote "NO" with your wallet.
Deleted due double post. Wonder if we will ever be able to do this ourselves in these forums.
I doubt it, because nothing is ever actually deleted, it is simply moved elsewhere.
You just need your serial number to activate DS itself and Daz plug-ins - the ones with more complex activation methods are not Daz products. I would always advise keeping a record of serial numbers. I don't think the escrow could help as it will, from what I am gathering, have a genric decryption tool - it won't havea ccount details per user, so no way to give serials.