Request to GOTD to allow activation even after day of Giveaway!

Back to Giveaway of the Day

Giveaway of the Day Forums » Installation and activation problems

Request to GOTD to allow activation even after day of Giveaway!

(14 posts) (5 voices)

Started 6 years ago by xprt007
Latest reply from ChrisS

xprt007
Member

Hi there

I am long time guest of GOTD and have profited a lot from software offered here.
One really big problem with offers, though is the fact that one has to install and activate the day of the Giveaway. This means if for some reason you have to restore your PC to a point before installation or re-install Windows, etc, the software is gone.
I was reminded about making this request, after seeing today's Giveaway of the Day – Inpaint 7.1. I got one a couple of years and was using it a lot for my projects when disaster struck on my PC, requiring re-installation and I lost it.

It's true, that's what has been negotiated with the software vendors, but I am quite sure you could get a better deal for your GOTD users.

On at least 2 other Giveaway sites, both not small, where I regularly get software, this strict limitation is not there, at least for most of the software. The key thing is downloading within the given period and getting the license.
This means that whatever problem you get with your PC, you can always re-install, as long as the license is valid.
Exactly some of the same software offered there is often offered on GOTD, so its not that it's unique. I can name a number of programs that have been offered there and here at GOTD, including a whole selection in graphic, audio/video, utilities and other categories.

I do request you to look into this and would appreciate some feedback!

Regards

Posted 6 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

While I know it doesn't directly address your post [apologies], and I can't speak for the GOTD crew, I would like to suggest backing up your PC, so that you never have to completely reinstall Windows -- after a major hardware change you might have to run a repair install for Windows versions prior to 10, but your software should remain in place. Yes, there is a cost, though it can be minimal, in the $20-$30 range for a hard drive to store a backup [or backups] & maybe some sort of external housing if it can't be mounted internally, or you could use a USB -> SATA adapter. For software several companies offer disk/partition image backup apps free, e.g. Paragon & Macrium Reflect.

FWIW, the copy of win7 I'm using as I type this was installed in July, 2009, and has been used with 3 or 4 motherboard/CPU combos, & on 3 or 4 hard drives. I have had to restore backups from time to time -- stuff happens -- but years worth of GOTD software is still intact.

As far as software companies &/or developers go, I think one of their main concerns is often piracy. I doubt that most would have any concern whether you reinstalled their software as many times as you needed over a span of years, but they're not worried about you -- they're worried about keys getting out & thousands of people using those keys rather than buying the software, ever. It's happened. So one of the things they commonly do is make sure that the keys aren't going to do anyone any good later on if they do get widely published.

Posted 6 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

If GOTD adopted your desired outcome then you wouldn't find any software worth downloading on the site for 363 days of the year and you'd miss the other days because you gave up on the site the week before.

The developers offer the software in the hopes that people who find it useful will buy it. They don't have any incentive to alter the GOTD license terms to allow future re-installations. Note, however, that several developers do allow re-installation by downloading from the "member" area of their websites using your registration info.

In addition to the backup that Mikiem suggested, you can install the programs in a VM and then access them from your new PC. It's also possible to install some of them as a portable app using Cameyo.

Posted 6 years ago #
gergn
Member

In the section "For Developers", GOTD writes "We guarantee, that the offer will be available for the limited time only, agreed by our company and software publisher, and the registration offer will expire once this agreed period is over."

This "agreed period" is almost always 24 hours. Personally I make Cameyo portables, like ChrisS suggests, to use the software at a later moment. But if the giveaway has limited lifetime, ie six months, the Cameyo portable also is useless after that lifetime.

Sometimes users lose their licence because they try to update, either by free will, or because they did not uncheck the automatic update feature. In that case the original registered Cameyo can be re-activated. provided you kept a backup of the original Cameyo. I use 7z to make those backups and store them in my 1 TB DropBox.

Next to a VM and Cameyo, I sometimes install the giveaway in a separate sandbox, controlled by SandboxIE, and save that sandbox for a rainy day. But if the registration checks the specific hardware properties of your PC, it is quite possible the Cameyo and/or the sandbox cannot be re-used after changing mayor components of your PC. But really good giveaways are given away almost yearly, like today's Inpaint. If you have lost your registered copy, just wait for it to re-appear.

Posted 6 years ago #
xprt007
Member

Hi there

Thank you for your responses & suggestions.

I need to make it clear I know something about backing-up Windows and do so now & then on external drives.
Back-ups have saved me in some critical situations like when some botched installation of Kaspersky for some unknown reason, that even Kaspersky support could not identify led to a total strike of the keyboard, even in safe mode. No way to even use restoration point, etc
In the process of trying to retrieve data by connecting the drive to another PC via an adapter, something went wrong that killed the HDD. A back-up saved me after having to buy a new HDD, though I lost data that was not updated to back-up external HDD.

There are less dramatic situations however when one needs to make a fresh installation because of some issues. I'm a regular visitor to Microsoft Answers and know there are lots of problems whose only solution is a fresh installation recommended by support, because everything else fails. Also once in a while, one just needs some clean Windows, which runs faster.
Also depending on one's situation, if you are for some reason always installing & uninstalling a large number of programs & gadgets, which are not always perfect, sometimes one needs fresh Windows because of their effects.

My laptop was originally Windows 8 based. I upgraded it to Windows 10. That for example made all back-ups of Win 8 useless. Just trying to say there are situations and believe me lots you may have not thought about where your suggested solutions (VM, Cameo) may not help. I have Virtual Box, but it's not practical or always appropriate in my case to use to for most video/graphic programs, which involve lots of multitasking.

Sometimes users lose their license because they try to update, either by free will, or because they did not uncheck the automatic update feature. In that case the original registered Cameyo can be re-activated. provided you kept a backup of the original Cameyo. I use 7z to make those backups and store them in my 1 TB DropBox.

Having profited from GOTD for years now, I'm quite aware of that possible problem of automatic updates and it's certainly not an issue for me. I may have last had such a problem 3 years ago.

In the section "For Developers", GOTD writes "We guarantee, that the offer will be available for the limited time only, agreed by our company and software publisher, and the registration offer will expire once this agreed period is over."

The developers offer the software in the hopes that people who find it useful will buy it. They don't have any incentive to alter the GOTD license terms to allow future re-installations. Note, however, that several developers do allow re-installation by downloading from the "member" area of their websites using your registration info.

You are right and I appreciate those facts.
That's why I mentioned that there are other existing Giveaway sites I will not mention, since I'm not sure it's appropriate, where a slightly different model seems to be used. Most downloads are actually offered for more than a day. You provide an email to which they send a download link and key or you get both on the respective site.
The most important thing is downloading the program in time. Most can always be installed & activated even after the Giveaway day as long as you have the license key, which they provide.
I never have a problem after a clean installation of Windows re-installing them, except those mostly from GOTD that required immediate activation.
These sites do not seem to lack developers offering software. One almost always has more than one Giveaway per day.
As said, lots of software they offer, soon or later turns up at GOTD or before, including stuff from Reallusion (Crazytalk, etc), iObit, Cyberlink, Ashampoo, SoftOrbits, Auslogics, ... lots of pdf/document converters, diverse audio/video converters, etc. I'm aware Cyberlink & Ashampoo require extra registration on their sites where you download files from, etc. It's just that they are the ones I can quickly think of that are often offered there and at GOTD.

By the way whereas some Giveaways have licenses for 6 months (like iObit, mostly), some a year, on the specific sites I am referring it, somehow, a good fraction DO NOT.

I was merely suggesting may be GOTD could consider negotiating a different arrangement with developers that allows activation not being tied to the day of the Giveaway, at least not for all or almost all programs offered there. I'm not talking about length of license. It's fine if they want to offer 6 months or a year or unlimited. Just make it possible to activate, for as long as the license is valid, beginning from the Giveaway day.

If I did not know these specific 3 or so sites, I would not be aware a different arrangement was possible as I came to know about GOTD long before them.

If the arrangement at GOTD is for some reason cast in stone and cannot be changed, ever, that's OK. ;)

Regards

Posted 6 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

I think that any developer &/or company selling software has to look out for their own best interest, which is selling software, hopefully more rather than less or whatever status quo. To do that, to sell more software, sellers use several marketing techniques. Some, like Cyberlink, Ashampoo, Reallusion etc. give away older &/or limited versions of their products, based on the idea that some of those users will pay to upgrade. Some companies sell hardware, making versions of their software free, again with the idea that some of those users will someday be paying customers, e.g. Blackmagic & Avid. Spurred on by the success of Android apps/games with in-app/in-game purchases, some companies are moving to the freemium model. And some companies engage in very limited time giveaways, getting folks who wouldn't download their shareware trial to try their products, which again usually means increased sales.

The one thing that these companies &/or developers, with their various marketing practices have in common, is that they maintain full control over their products, how they're offered, & usually how they're sold, and for how much. They are the ones that ultimately set any giveaway terms & conditions. Those with a new product, without much if any customer base, can be more anxious, offering more generous terms, same as those whose product isn't selling.

To convince a seller to offer more generous terms IMHO is less negotiation & more just plain selling them on the idea that it would be good for their business. It's possible that someone could come up with a way, a sales pitch that at least seems plausible, but myself, I just don't see how it would be to their benefit to allow more than the very limited time period of activation for full version software that's common today. Yes, it might make some users happier, but the bottom line is how would that extended period of activation increase their sales? I don't think anyone's come up with an answer so far, or those limited activations would be the exception rather than the rule. That's Not BTW saying there's anything wrong with anyone asking about it.

As far as VMs, sandbox apps, virtualization apps, & image backups go, those all can be used to go back to the way it was before you installed whatever software. I use VMs for example to determine if I want to install whatever software in my regular copies of Windows -- whether I think it will be worth it or not. And to keep the VMs smaller & uncluttered, I restore them to the way they were beforehand. That helps keep Windows bloat from becoming a problem.

As far as reinstalling Windows etc., most of that stuff's moot I think because you're running 10. Every 6 months you get a new install. It's not perfect, but upgrading to the new version will not bring along every bit of garbage that's collected from uninstalled apps. With a win8 laptop I would not recommend installing new versions fresh, as in wiping the old copy of win10 off your disk. Yes, it's generally a better, faster upgrade process, & the results are often a bit better too, but there's a risk if your device uses uncommon components, & many laptops & tablets do use stuff that was only produced in limited production runs. Nowadays Microsoft says to install different or new copies of 10 over the old copies, so if needed win10's setup routine can find and reuse your current drivers. If those drivers don't exist because you're installing fresh on a clean drive, and setup doesn't find those exact drivers in the Windows Update database, something is not going to work.

Posted 6 years ago #
xprt007
Member

Hi
Thank you for sharing your opinion.

On the last point though, I do not know if I get you right.

I upgraded my Win 8.1 the time upgrading was offered for free. That happened once. The existing Win 8.1-based back-ups were forever obsolete, since the upgrade for me was a one-way move.
Although Samsung stopped producing notebooks or PCs before this & did not provide Win 10 software & drivers for then existing gadgets, basically Win 10 has not failed to work with anything (program or driver-related) on the gadget.
I had a brief issue the day I upgraded with the WLAN driver, but it was solved and having used XP, Win 7 & Win 8, I'm sure Win 10 is the best of them in a number of ways, after the original teething problems. Booting & shutdown are for example considerably faster.

Every 6 months you get a new install. ...

Not quite sure what you mean, but as far as I'm concerned, these Falls Creator Update & co are mere upgrades or updates, which change a good bit of the system, add functionality, etc but are certainly no "new installs", because the whole system, installed programs, etc remain intact. One can of course choose at the time of the update to make a "fresh" installation of Windows.

A new/fresh/clean install means all programs/apps are basically deleted and you have to re-install all of them. That's the type of fresh/re-installation of Windows I was referring to that would affect GOTD programs and the like.
I think there's also an option to install Windows over an existing installation (not connected to the above updates/upgrades), which is supposed to help solve some issues. I ever had some problem, which that did not resolve and had to go for a clean installation.

Posted 6 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

It seems to me that you're looking for a software migration tool that will copy your programs and data from one installation to another installation without losing the registration data. In your case, you'd need to transfer to a VM (P2V), re-install the OS, and then transfer back to the physical drive (V2P).

There was a good bit of interest in such programs a number of years ago but I think most of that interest died when Windows 10 installed over prior installations without requiring that the vast majority of programs be re-installed. Perhaps re-registered but not re-installed. A pressing need for that type of a home-level time-saving tool just doesn't exist. But there may still be an affordable business-oriented tool somewhere that will do what you want. If you find one, I'd certainly be interested in learning about it but I'm not interested enough to spend time researching the topic.

Posted 6 years ago #
xprt007
Member

@ChrisS

Hi,

No, not looking for anything like that, but thanks. :)
Your responses to my original request =>

I was merely suggesting may be GOTD could consider negotiating a different arrangement with developers that allows activation not being tied to the day of the Giveaway, at least not for all or almost all programs offered there.

... are clear, that it does not come into question.

I can live with the status quo.
If I have to re-install Windows 10, something I do now & then for various reasons, I can always also re-install almost all Giveaways, except some from GOTD that are not from Cyberlink & co (since one can re-download from the site/has the insraller or at least one has a lifetime license), that one loses.
It's not a big deal & it was just a simple suggestion.

In any case, if one loses some program, it's always mostly a matter of time, before a similar program is offered somewhere. Also if one has programs like GIMP or some Video editor, one can do most stuff with images/video that some Giveaways do, but may be specialized in some areas. Same with utilities. There are so many alternatives that a loss is not that tragic.

My response to mikiem2 in last post was only to what he says in the last paragraph "As far as reinstalling Windows etc., ...".
I was merely clarifying what I technically understand by "re-installing Windows", etc & its consequences for third party programs, and so on.

Posted 6 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

I may be old-fashioned (considering I have refused Windows 10 so far -- I'll get it ONLY when I get a new machine as I have never upgraded the OS in any machine). BTW - NO, I'm not a novice, I just don't like playing that low. I'm an upper-level person. I want something to work and I don't really care how it works.

I also admit I haven't gotten any new GOTD apps recently (games or otherwise). However, it has always been my policy to make a direct copy of the product after install. It's what I call a "guts backup" as just a backup of the folder that is installed as well as text files of any registration keys that are given (very very rarely on this point). With the next machine, or install, of the program, I just copy it over and make a shortcut. I know I have about a 50-50 chance it will work.

If it works, great! If not, I then decide if I really want/need the program. If so, I first look to see if there are any true free versions/variations of the program available and try that. If not, I then BUY the version so I have the transferability of it the next time.

Other than the guts-backup, this more meets the spirit of GOTD. If you like it - buy it for more reliable long term use of it.

Posted 6 years ago #
xprt007
Member

@Dragonlair

If one were to look at a number of German PC/Internet technology-related sites and the subject of a problem of Windows OS comes up, like some exploitation, it's like a magnet for Linux & MAC users who come to the respective forums and describe Windows in the most frightening terms, as extremely unreliable, vulnerable, how unpractical it is & so on.

You hear all sorts of horror stories of things I have never experienced in 20 years or anyone in my region, in which I have helped lots of people with PC issues. :)

Then there is Windows 10. I did help lots of folks upgrade before I upgraded my Win 8 laptop, bought beginning 2013. It's only one not really old HP desktop with Win 7, that though it was considered eligible that somehow something was wrong with the display. It did not help buying a newer graphic card. We downgraded on the last day one could. ;)

In my case it was on briefly WLAN but I got a Windows 10 compatible driver shortly after. Generally,
I know because of all sorts issues people got especially at the beginning that a good number of folks, probably mostly driver related that some people immediately developed very strong opinions. With an endless number of software & hardware combinations of various ages, it is not surprising that some things did not work. I think also some people because of this had installation issues.

Unless one has hardware-related issues, esp. with relatively old gadgets the PCs then functioned just like Win 7.
In the meantime most of the teething problems have long been solved.

Then there are some issues with Startmenu, with which began with Win 8 but MS reacted to in Win 10. As a matter of fact under Win 8, one just needed to install some derivative that made one have a Win 7 like menu. as much as I remember everything else functioned or could be made to function like win 7 and better. Some people, I'm sure who did not know this or simply folks who will always get something to hate still have some very strong feelings about Win 8 or 10.

Then there of course those, who keep themselves informed and know that Win 10 is not that bad at all, but who have simply decided not to upgrade but wait until they buy a new PC. That's very reasonable. In any case, since the free upgrade ended, unless one has relatively new & compatible hardware, it does not make much sense to buy win 10. unless of course at a cheap prices like some recent/current offers here in Germany for the OEM version i think for around 15 dollars or so.

Win 7 otherwise is a good, stable OS one does not have to give up, though esp- if one likes it. If it is just a choice, I understand that but not irrational, unfactual, outdated stories.
To me though it's the Win 10 haters, who I compare to the Linux & MAC folks I mentioned at the beginning, who have an irrational hatred that do not cease to amuse & amaze me. ;)

Posted 6 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

@xprt007,

I have a desktop with Windows 7 and a laptop with Windows 8.1. I bought the desktop 1 week after Windows 8 came out. There were so many horror stories running around about 8 that I didn't want it. Fortunately, for me, Walmart had 1 HP laptop running 7 still in stock and they wanted to get rid of it. It was $100 less than another HP system that was identical except it was Windows 8. I was thrilled! It's running like a charm.

Several years later, I bought a laptop and it's running Windows 8.1. I did not like the pseudo start menu it came with but managed to get the "real" start menu working in a manner acceptable to me. I played around with where shortcuts were kept to do it. :)

My husband and I seem to be much more flexible with whatever version of Windows we need to use. We didn't have any problems with Vista and the only problem with ME was System Restore didn't work right and that was because of the format of the hard drive. We can make things work the way we can accept and just go on rather than complain.

That is part of the reason why we have never upgraded any version of Windows. We did upgrade DOS 3.3 to DOS 4.0 (and then DOS 4.01) back in 1987 with our first machine but that was trivial and right after we got the machine. Another reason is potential issues with drivers. If it ain't broke - don't fix it!

We have a fairly new HP envy printer. The driver says it's compatible as far back as HP. However, the only things the printer works with is Foxit and Internet Explorer. The same is true with other HP print drivers. After fighting with their customer support with previous printers we found our own solution -- Use foxit's PDF creator and "print" to it and then print from Foxit. it works great!

I've seen the antagonism from mac and linux users towards Windows but it works the other way. I'm neutral with linux but I do NOT like anything Apple and have no such devices in my house and don't plan on ever having them. I've not like macs since before the old little boxes that you see in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (Scotty tries to speak into the mouse). It's just a strong personal preference.

Posted 6 years ago #
gergn
Member

Re ChrisS "... But there may still be an affordable business-oriented tool somewhere that will do what you want. "

Did you ever try SandboxIE? Another Giveaway-site has Tenorshare_4uKey today. I installed it in SandboxIE and zipped the entire dedicated sandbox for possible later use. I can use it to help people who lost the access code of their iPhone or iPad. I help elder people with their computer problems and it does happen they forget their access code. Or their spouse died suddenly and took that secret with him/her.

Not all giveaways runs smoothly in SandboxIE, but the majority does.

Posted 6 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

I do use Sandboxie to look at applications on occasion. But I don't keep any of the portable applications, either created by Sandboxie or Cameyo, unless they are of a diagnostic nature and will work with my WinPE or WindowsToGo drives. And, of course, with the caveat that they're better than, or at least equal to, the utilities that I already have. I use VMs for my "portable applications".

But, your question does point the way forward for Microsoft. If they want to "flash" a new OS every 6 months then the programs should be installed in a Sandbox or VM that is attached to the OS. They should never be installed in the system.

The question also raises another issue for the original poster... Windows 10 allows you to boot to a VHD (bios permitting). If you have a backup of your system with Inpaint installed then you could restore the backup, use Disk2VHD to create the VHD, restore your current system, then boot to your old system when you want to use a "lost" program. It's not optimal, but it is a workaround.

Posted 6 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.