I'm kind of leary to jump on the bandwagon here because I sensed a little bit of hostility, but I actually found myself in a quandry thinking about this same thing last night, and not knowing how to recommend Marine Aquarium to a non-techie friend who saw it on my computer.
The general concensus here seems to be that if you're going to use the v3 Beta, you'd best be a participant of this forum and subscribe to the Release thread to stay up to date with the most current version. But what about all the non-techies you know? Computer users who may know how to use Word and Excel, their browser and email, and know enough to run a firewall and keep their virus definitions up to date, but that's about it. Casual computer users like that are at an extreme disadvantage right now. Because the way the SereneScreen/Prolific web site is set up, you only see version 3.0 on the front page. When you go to the products page, version 2.6 is still listed there, but it's the 3rd item down! If the Beta version is going to be listed first, there really needs to be a larger disclaimer there about the expectations when using Beta software, particularly since it's not going to auto update or anything.
For example, I know my girlfriend wouldn't be too happy having to press C every time she wanted the screen saver to display the clock, and not having it remember that setting between launches. Jim, I'm definitely not criticizing you for not having this done yet. I'm just pointing it out as an example because it's the kind of thing that will cause frustration for casual users and possibly unhappy customers if the Beta designation and expectations are not more prominently pointed out. (Heh, many casual computer users don't even know or understand what "beta software" means so by pointed out, I mean described and explained in layman terms on the front page.) So steering these users towards the 2.6 version for now, like I did with my friend, might need to be made clearer on the web site.
Jim, I noticed you said that an upcoming website update would address this, but if that's not going to be ready all that soon, you might want to at least get the suggested text in there about Beta Expectations on the front page, and/or reorder the items in the product list. If you look at the way other companies handle beta software, non-updating beta versions are never the primary version offered up to the general public. And for good reason. They don't want to present a bad image to their customers by offering a possibly buggy version. I understand your wanting to push this new version over the old because it's "the butter on your bread", but until it's ready for prime time for casual computer users, and they can get some kind of update notification when the non-Beta version is ready, then it really shouldn't be pushed as the primary version to be downloaded.
Okay, so what did I end up doing with my friend? Well, I directed her to version 2.6 for now as I said, and made it a point to tell her
not to grab the top item on the product list just because it said Marine Aquarium. That said, she did like the "slow scrolling from side to side" of my 3.0 version, as well as the way the fish looked so real. So I'm sure she'd love to have 3.0 eventually, just not yet since I know she won't have the time, the inclination, or the technical know-how to participate in this Beta Forum. And without any automatic updates mechanism, I defintely felt more comfortable steering her towards 2.6 for the time being, at least if she was going to be paying for something.
However, I also was no longer sure of the 2.6 upgrade policy after seeing the pricing changes (version 2.6 went down from 14.95 to 9.95). Jim, you'd stated out here that anyone purchasing 2.6 now would be eligible for a free upgrade to 3.0. Is that still the case? And if so, does it apply to all users and purchasers or only those who participate in the Beta forums?
Anyway, I hope I didn't come across negative in any way. I meant only to provide constructive feedback in the best sense, particularly since it relates to a direct experience. Thanks!
