We are trying to contact software developers to find out what happened and why you have not received your codes.
I`ll post more info once we talk to them.
Slava
Flex GIF animator problem
(37 posts) (22 voices)-
Posted 16 years ago #
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Thank you, Slava. I know it wasn't your fault either.
Posted 16 years ago # -
CreamyPretzel
MemberI have removed Flex GIF Animator from my computer. I suggest that everyone else do the same. Show companies like this that we will not put up with deception and lack of service. I hope GOTD will keep this sort of thing from happening again in the future. There have already been too many complaints without this problem adding to them.
Posted 16 years ago # -
4shadowm
MemberThanks Slava. I do know you're not responsible for their duplicity or just plain ineptness. I'm not holding my breath waiting for them to respond to you - just as they have not responded to any of us. They've pretty much burned their reputations as a legitimate software company.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Messenger
MemberThanks Slava for responding. I still have mine installed in case they do send me the code. Some one in todays giveaway comment page, #43 Rod mentioned he just got his. So now thats 2 people that have posted that have gotten their code. I know it wasn't GAOTD fault. I guess that's what happens when a software company like Flex using a cheap mailing system isn't prepare to keep up with the big boys. LOL Anyway you guys do a great job, keep up the good work.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Robert
StrayCatTo look on the bright side :
The company is sending reg codes to all of you right now.
They mentioned that around 4000 emails were received in 14hrs.I did see a second user who finally did receive his code.So I am not the only one anymore...
:)Posted 16 years ago # -
TK_M
MemberHi Slavia and all,
I used a very special one-off email addy, unique to this offer. I have had NO SPAM at all at this address, so despite the fears of some, I can positively say I have had no spam at all from this offer.
I posted a comment at the time that it was probably overload, rarther than address harvesting, but I can understand peoples concerns.
It is now around three days after I installed it and I've not yet had one email from them to any of my requestes for key, so it looks like they are still overwhelmed with applications.
Posted 16 years ago # -
CreamyPretzel
MemberI don't buy the "overwhelmed by email" excuse. I could mail out more codes myself in three days than they have. And they could have very easily set up a system where any emails sent were replied to automatically.....even if it was only a reply saying they were overwhelmed by email.
I am not sorry I deleted the program. They don't know how to run their business. I doubt they are any better at producing or acquiring decent software.
Posted 16 years ago # -
TK_M
MemberThe reason I'm still considering it possible they were overwhelmed, is that on GAOTD, there has been the suspicion that they are trying to make the codes up by hand and e-mail them out individually, rarther than some automated system.
We do not know how big the company is. It could be a single person in theory whom is trying to do this.
We do not know how many GAOTD readers applied for a code, but it would seem reasonable to assume it was several thousand.
We do know that many of us (myself included), submitted multiple applications, when we got no reply from the first one and tried to work out what we needed to do to "get it right" and get a code back. This would have meant the volume of e-mail will have been considerably higher than would seem at first glance as well.
Since we don't know how big the company is, if it is small, or even a single person, their e-mail server could simply have been overwhelmed, or security measures such as anti-spam were triggered by the much higher rate of e-mails than they usually get.
There are many, many other reasons of course why we haven't (yet?) got a code back. We can only wait for Slavia to get back to us. It may be that the offer will be re-run with no explanation. I do not know of course as I am just trying to make sense of what has happened. Some people having got codes, while so many have not.
If only a couple of people have got codes since that day, then that could be explained by those e-mails having been delayed and it could be that NO codes have actually been sent out since then.
It might even be that those who clicked on the "copy" code button and submitted that at first, are the ones affected. Certainly I did that and only later found out it was missing the first and last characters. Now what if our e-mails applications were filtered, to prevent multiple submissions? It is just possible that, that filter recognised our corrected applications as multiple submissions of the same code and deleted them. So only our first (incorrect) application would have got through - Which of course would not get us a code back, as the copy button had truncated two characters off it.
Has anyone here submitted the full code first and still not got a reply? That would easily test that theory!
Creamypretzel - Please understand I am NOT trying to excuse them! This is pretty rotten treatment and I'm sure many people have uninstalled their program and will not try anything of theirs again on principal. I am just trying to think or reasonable reasons why this might have happened. Sadly there are too many possibilites and we may never know what actually happened. Why, what do you think has happened then? Since some people have got codes and a lot haven't.
Posted 16 years ago # -
I couldn't possibly imagine making excuses for them regarding the volume of activations/registrations they received. If they couldn't handle 4000 in 14 hours, what exactly were they expecting? 40 in 14 hours?
GOTD is not your typical example of new user registrations. 4000 in 14 hours is not a huge giveaway - I'm sure if the GOTD team went back there would be others double in size (at least).
Any company that insists trying to handle registrations in house rather than just providing a registration mechanism (with perhaps a custom build of the app) to the GOTD team, is just asking for problems. To date I can't remember a single giveaway handled entirely in house by the developer where the wheels didn't fall off, the wagon overturn, and users ended up with gravel rash on their faces. The GOTD team does this every single day - the system works, users are familiar with the steps, and any problems are usually resolved immediately.
I believe if a developer insists on "giving it a shot" themselves, that GOTD should point out the above and indicate that trying to vary what works and what users are familiar with - then the Giveaway "isn't what we are looking for". The users deserve better than to be stuffed around by some developer playing "do it for a day giveaway" and screwing it up royally for not only the users, but also for the GOTD team.
I would like to see the GOTD team, insist to the developers that all giveaways be run using the existing method with activations running off the giveaway servers. Human intervention, like emailing off and asking for codes, and then waiting is definitely an inconvenience and timewaster that makes trying out a new piece of software a chore most users can do without. (Especially when the developer then doesn't appear on the site to explain, and the GOTD team are left to listen to the complaints and at times, cop the rotten tomatoes in the face).
Posted 16 years ago # -
CreamyPretzel
MemberTK_M.....Bubby said it even better than I did. You may think that there could be all kinds of excuses for what happened, but why is everyone here still wondering what the problem is? Why hasn't the company provided us and GOTD with a good explanation of what happened? You may be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for days on end, but I would venture to guess that not many other people will. And I'd also guess that if any other developer ever offers a free giveaway and requests downloaders email them for a registration code, there will be a whole lotta deletin' goin' on!
It would be in the best interest of GOTD to not allow developers to do this again. Even though it is not GOTD's fault, they will no doubt be hurt by things like this, and a bad reputation is tough to shed when you have no control over the people that gave it to you.
Posted 16 years ago # -
silverdown
MemberI uninstalled mine, if I get my code will I be able to download the product agian?
Posted 16 years ago # -
CreamyPretzel
MemberI don't think you can get it from GOTD, but maybe from the developer's web site.....if they even have one. Can't imagine why you would bother. I am sure there are other GIF animation programs out there somwewhere.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Exploro
MemberSo... its been two days now. No code. I would like to respectfully suggest that if Web Graphics Software does not want to attain true craphead status that they give up a full functioning version to GAOTD for us to grab. This is just pure nonsense!
Four thousand peeps mad with you is not good for anyone. It has been a day now Slava, any update?
Thanks!
ExploroPosted 16 years ago # -
4shadowm
MemberThere is no excuse for the company not at least being in touch with the GAOTD staff or not making any attempt to explain to users here the reason for failing to live up to their obligations. I've now only heard of 2 people getting a license in 3 days. That is not encouraging in the least - it just demonstrates the total incompetence of this company. I wonder how they do business at all. I have no trust in them at all at this point.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruI agree with 4shadowm that the developer could at least have posted an explanation here on these forums; but I'm quite happy to wait and see what happens. Okay several days wait seems unaccepatable, but it's not like I'm panting for this software. :)
I applied for two licences using two of my disposable Emails, neither of which has received a reply yet, but neither have either received any junk mail.
Posted 16 years ago # -
TK_M
MemberHi Creamypretzel and others,
I agree wholeheartedly that the developer should explain themselves, but I am not optimistic. It was on one of the forums that someone posted how to register that days offer without going through the normal registration process (I am purposely being vague here) as because of that, GAOTD had to pay more. This must mean GAOTD pays for this software normally then?
If so, there is international contract law to consider and possible lawsuits. This possibly might be why we will not be given a proper explanation of what happened? If there is the possibility of lawsuits, contracts, confidientiality clauses and confidential business practices, then it might be unwise for anyone to give out too much detail over the breakdown.
This is why I suspect we haven't been told anything. Bubby, as I said, you cannot excuse the way we have been treated - Perhaps I didn't make myself clear? I am sorry for that.
I was trying to think of explanations for what had happened IF the codes were going out, but slowly - I did point out though that the two apparent reports of people getting codes after the offer closed, could simply be that their e-mails had been delayed and that really, no e-mails had gone out since the offer closed.
If so, then no attempt was made to fill the outstanding applications. So why did some apparently get a code and not the rest of us? I find it unlikely that the posters on the day who said they got one (and quickly too) are all fake. So how do you explain what happened?
I was NEVER trying to make excuses for them - Quite the opposite. I was trying to think of reasons to explain what "facts" we did seem to have, since we were getting no explanations. I was trying to do something, rarther than just complaining about it.
Even now, I am still sorry for poor Slavia and GAOTD. I think they have got a real headache over this. I suspect the company insisted on their own registration process and the pressure or finding enough software for every single day, led GAOTD to agree. We all know these different registration systems always seem to lead to problems, but what else could they do if the company insisted? They could only drop the software, but if you need to find software for every day, the pressure is on to agree. I do not believe I could find software evey day for as long as GAOTD has been able to, if it was easy, then there would be others setting up their own websites to do the same thing as GAOTD all the time, so I accept that by coming here, there will problems sometimes with the software sometimes (this seems to have been one of the worst though).
Incidentally, I have just checked the unique e-mail address again and still no code (of course) but still no spam either. I uninstalled the software last night as I've got MSs' own (free) GIF Animator. It's not as good as Flex would have been (had it worked), but needs the aggravation?
Posted 16 years ago # -
CreamyPretzel
MemberHere is another GIF Animator. It is online, so you don't have to download. And it is 100% free. And you won't have to wait 10 years for a registration code to be e-mailed to you! Here is a description straight from the site:
What is GifWorks.com???
It's an online GIF image editor.This unique tool is completely on-line -- nothing to download or install. Better yet, it's ABSOLUTELY FREE -- no prepaid tokens or subscriptions.What can I do with GIFWorks.com?
Create your own special effects with any GIF -- even animated ones! Resize it, colorize it, optimize it, and jazzercise it -- then save it and take it with you. You name it and you can do it! If you have any feature suggestions let us know.Posted 16 years ago # -
RunesageMagik
MemberFunky posted Gifworks a couple months back. It's definitely one of the oldest and best known gif anim sites. Has some nifty features, and is pretty convenient. (except the drop down menu layout makes font handling a royal pain IMHO) The last time I communicated with them, they admitted the site was no longer supported, with no plans to add improvements. So, it still works fine, and anything you create is fully functional, but you may run into a missing font or other glitch during construction.
A fairly comprehensive list of gif animators, both free and (I think mostly) shareware, incl. some for the MAC, can be found at About.com.
Beneton Movie GIF is an interesting FREE animator from that list that's been mentioned a couple times on GAOTD.
Two older versions of SERIF software released as freeware - SerifDRAW4 and Serif3dPplus - have gif animation capability embedded in the art packages. Serif's been mentioned here before, too. Suggest registering with a disposable email addie as they send out weekly teaser ads for other software.
This Index looks larger than About.com's.
Finally, as TK_M suggested, there's always MSFT's GifEditor. It's no longer bundled with new OS's, but I copied mine from my old Win95 and it works fine in WinXP. I can't say for sure if this DOWNLOAD off versiontracker will work, but if you're desperate for an unsupported, primitive but popular free gif animator, it's still alive and kicking.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruSame here, no reg code and no spam.
Posted 16 years ago #
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