New Software- IdleMiner

[PokerAce]

The problem with releasing something that's free is that if it gets popular, support ends up taking a huge amount of time. A lot more time than people realize, I think.

While it is certainly satisfying to have people appreciate and use your software, satisfaction doesn't put food on the table. Back when PA Hud was free, I was spending most of my waking hours on support and development. Now, I still spend most of my waking hours on it, but at least now the compensation means I don't need to worry about my bills.

So if this developer decides to charge, he's not necessarily greedy. That is, unless he charges a ton of money for it.

[Timmy82]

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No, the program will not run if it cannot check to see if there are available updates. We are trying to control what version people are using during the beta. The fact of the matter is any peice of software on your computer can do pretty much anything it wants too and it would be impossible for us to convince you otherwise on a forum. The best thing to look for would be credible members of this forum coming out in support of our software which has happend. If you are really worried about it doing something behind the scenes we recommend you wait until we have established more credibility.

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Ok, then consider this a feature-request during the beta: If your app can't check to see if there's a new update, don't crash and close. Instead, run the version that worked yesterday.

I understand that I'm running your code on my system, and there's an inherent security risk in that. But stutting your app from the net eliminates a bit of the risk, and you're telling users they can't do that. It'd be cool if you didn't.

I'm really not trying to say you're untrustworthy. I expect it's fine. But you can't blame me if the "wait & see" school of security doesn't hold water. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-Sam

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Was the part in bold ever addressed by the developer? I'd like to try this program out, but I'm a little uneasy about it. A response to Sam's concern would be much appreciated.

[Melchiades]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem with releasing something that's free is that if it gets popular, support ends up taking a huge amount of time. A lot more time than people realize, I think.

While it is certainly satisfying to have people appreciate and use your software, satisfaction doesn't put food on the table. Back when PA Hud was free, I was spending most of my waking hours on support and development. Now, I still spend most of my waking hours on it, but at least now the compensation means I don't need to worry about my bills.

So if this developer decides to charge, he's not necessarily greedy. That is, unless he charges a ton of money for it.

[/ QUOTE ]
I realise this and have no problems with OP wanting to get paid. Just curious. Since iWitness and PHG really does the job for me. I can understand why people will be willing to pay for the added functionality and better UI though.

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem with releasing something that's free is that if it gets popular, support ends up taking a huge amount of time. A lot more time than people realize, I think.

While it is certainly satisfying to have people appreciate and use your software, satisfaction doesn't put food on the table. Back when PA Hud was free, I was spending most of my waking hours on support and development. Now, I still spend most of my waking hours on it, but at least now the compensation means I don't need to worry about my bills.

So if this developer decides to charge, he's not necessarily greedy. That is, unless he charges a ton of money for it.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have NO problem with for-pay software. You know I love PokerAce, and completely respect the work you do. I just meant that folk who get new 2+2 accounts for their app always charge for said application. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-Sam

[Dazarath]

I never quite understood why people here mind paying for software so much. If I feel an app will save me a good amount of time, or better my winrate by some amount, it's pretty measurable what it's worth to me. I mean, we all have PT (or some equivalent), and we all know what our poker time is worth. $50 is nothing if an app will save me hours of extra work.

[idleminer]

Dazarath,

We thought about making IdleMiner update on its own but we thought that would cause even more security questions. Basically, we did not think it was a good idea to install anything on someone's computer without a click for consent.

If Party Poker was the crash or come down for some reason IdleMiner would most likely crash. Since we have not seen anything like this yet we are not really sure. If something like this does happen we would like all the info we could get from our BetaTesters so we could gracefully handle the event. The good news is that Party Poker does not update nearly as much as a site like stars so often you will be able to mine for a week straight with no problems.

[krishan]

I took the screen saver off and now want to reenable it but IM isn't an option. Ideas? Thanks,

Krishan

[idleminer]

krishan,

We are aware of this issue. For now a temporary fix can be used by shutting down IdleMiner and then going into the installation directory and opening up options.ini you should see a line that says something to the effect of "SSInstalled=1", if you delete that line and restart IdleMiner it will install the screensaver again.

This should be fixed in the next patch.

[PokerAce]

I wasn't really aiming my comments at any of you. It was just a general post meant for anyone who might think that all these software developers are greedy and trying to make a ton of money. I have been developing software most of my life and even I didn't realize just how much work was required to maintain and support a popular software product.

Just as an FYI, I had the "PokerAce" name and was posting here way before developing my software. I may have started the trend though. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[idleminer]

We released another update. Mostly bug fixes for the UI changes. If anyone has any problems let us know.