Marine Aquarium 2.6 is here.

[jleslie]

Hmmm, it will be interesting to see if I get a key or not, earlier it looked promising, now it's more of a 50-50. I don't think I will be buying it if I don't get one. That isn't because I don't think it's worth it, but because I want to see if I do eventually get a free upgrade to the 3D background or not?
(I have somewhat unrealistic views on the efforts people should go to in order to keep their word, which can lead to both pleasant surprises and more real-world experiences.)

(An aside - I've probably checked my mail more often in the last 24 hours that any time in the last two years.)

I don't think Prolific have any obligation to give out the 2 fish for free. I also don't think owning a product for a long time gives many rights - unless you're paying for support along the way. However the long delay to the 3D does seem to suggest that as it's only two extra fish (not 4-5) handing it out to the most patient people (whether that includes me or not) isn't a bad idea (which is just my opinion - I certainly paid on the assumption the 3D would be along soon and fix the one part I didn't like, plus a desire to reward Jim for his efforts to that point).

[GreenHsiF]

Jim these two new fish are awesome.The Clearfin Lionfish I thought for some reason was going to be half the size of the regular Lionfish.That's cool how the Clearfin Lionfish is actually bigger,spikier,and has a reddish color to him.

The Anchilles Tang is pretty cool too,I didn't think I was going to like that one that much,but I was wrong again.

I don't know why anyone is complaing about the price,I would happily pay $50 for just one Jim Sachs fish.

[iMark]

I guess I'm not understanding the need to bundle the two variations together. I have purchased the Marine Aquarium, The Goldfish, and the Sharks....If I had wanted the Time, I would have purchased it. We don't want the ugly crystal in the middle of the tank on the plasma screen in our lobby, we want the marine aquarium. So now we're told if we want the two new fish, we are required to pay $9.95 ( now 5.95) to purchase something we don't want, along with the privilege of turning it off forever....We thought the upgrade cost of the Goldfish was reasonable, the program was vastly improved...the deal with the Marine Aquarium might be a alright for new purchasers, but for people who are fans of these products, who know what they are, and have purchased the ones they wanted, this upgrade cost has no benefit...I am all for paying for additional packages of fish/creatures,which is what we have been told all along the situation would be, but to be required to pay $6 for a variation of the program we were never interested in and will never use, as the only path to aquire the two new fish....no thanks.....btw, the two new fish are excellent Jim...I'm just not happy with the way that Prolific has handled this...

[mvpatrick]

Still waiting...

I guess the "free" upgrade doesn't pertain to everyone who already purchased. It has been several days now.

[Jim Sachs]

I can't believe all this confusion...

iMark - If you bought MA, Goldfish, and Sharks, then you are WAY over the $29.90 necessary to qualify for a free upgrade to MA2.6. The crystal clock, logo capabilities, widescreen, extra fish and any other new features are OPTIONS. You can easily set up the preferences to look exactly the same as it did before. Don't like the clock? Just hit the "[" or "]" key and it will be gone (after disabling Exit on Mouse Move, of course).

As Jim R said, Prolific is trying to figure out how to handle the extra $4 owed to people who jumped in and paid $9.95 for the upgrade. Any suggestions?

For those who have waited "several days" for their free Key Code, you must be some kind of Quantum time warp. It has only been several hours since the new policy has been worked out, and scripts still need to be written which will mine the huge database of users, calculate whether or not they qualify for a free upgrade, and email it. Once that starts, it will take some time for all the emails to go out. Then starts the enormous customer-service nightmare from people who had not signed up for email notifications, or who have filtered out our emails, or who DID sign up for it, but are now threatening to report us for spamming them.

For those who don't like the clock, here's my advice. Just give it some time (pun intended). I didn't like it at first either, but now I have the clock enabled about half the time, and I really like it.

[feldon34]

If you don't want the clock, turn it off.
If you want a logo, post a message in the MAT subforum.

[De Bobo Mon]

I have been a long time fan and owner of all of Jim Sachs and most of Prolific's catalog. I purchased (or was awarded free/discounted upgrades) to .99/MA/MA2/MAT/Goldfish/Sharks 1 & 2 . For the cost of a visit to Starbucks and a movie I can purchase a fine product that provides countless hours of entertainment. I have spent much more on software that fell short of expectations and had little or no support... these products are a bargain. I applaud Jim and Prolific for their generous position in supporting their customer base. I have lurked on the forum for years but seldom post. I really do not get the amount of unhappiness over what is really small change to most of us.

All of this is IMHO as I feel in need to be stated. I am a customer who feels well treated.

My point exactly in post 55 of this thread. Nowadays it seems to cost 5 bucks just to step out of the house each morning.

[jroseone]

I just paid $9.95 for the Marine aqarium up-grade and now you are selling if for $5.95 on top of that according to your fan board site I should of got this upgrade for free. So what are you going to do about it I want a credit for the full $9.95 because I was told by your people on the fan site that I should of got this code e-mailed to me for free because I already paid for and upgraded all 3 of your aqarium sceen savers MARINE, GOLDFISH, and SHARK. Then you charge me $9.95 and lower the price to $5.95 you guys are pissing me off and I think it is kind low of you to do this. So I expect an e-mail back with an explination and a credit. Thank You ! themovingvanman@bellsouth.net

[ESHIREY]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Take a chill pill buddy. Read above. And they are going to get a hold of you.

[Jim Sachs]

Why is everyone in the world today so eager to go to war over non-existant offenses?

OF COURSE your situation will be rectified.

[Schnaaps]

We are still working on the scripts to update eveyone. Each time believe it or not, it is a custom script. I had previously hoped we would be done, but my programmer didn't come available until very late last night. We are working on this as I type...

[feldon34]

Schnaaps,

If you know that a product will need a new keycode, and you know that 2 million customers will want it, wouldn't it be wise to start generating those keycodes last November when it was pretty clear that MA2.6 was coming?

Did the plans to store multiple keycodes for each customer get off the drawing board? Or do customers still each have multiple entries in the database?

There just seems to be a lack of oversight and basic understanding of what customers will and won't go for here and it ends up falling on the heads of the developers of the products.

[iMark]

My apologies...I didn't see that they were now offering a free upgrade to people who had purchsed more than $29.95 worth of programs....when they first put this out the other day, they were not offering that........I'm still disappointed about how Prolific went about this, and it's not about the cost, it's the principle of the matter and what we were told in the past...

[bands]

[quote=feldon29]Schnaaps,

If you know that a product will need a new keycode, and you know that 2 million customers will want it, wouldn't it be wise to start generating those keycodes last November when it was pretty clear that MA2.6 was coming?

sounds like someone put the cart before the horse!
why didnt prolific tell us that this would not be a free upgrade for some of us before the release? I just assumed after waiting many weeks for this release it would be free for long time custumers ,(purchased ma2 only).

[Dale]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

I can't believe all this confusion...

As Jim R said, Prolific is trying to figure out how to handle the extra $4 owed to people who jumped in and paid $9.95 for the upgrade. Any suggestions?
.  

Sure. Original price $19.95 plus the $9.95 I paid yesterday for the upgrade, equals $29.90. So forget the rebate, and just guarantee that I get free upgrades forever.

That's probably too simple (or too complex) - but it does take into account that Prolific (now) recognizes that they royally messed up on the last stage of the 5-month preparation for introduction of the upgrade.

None of us would have noticed an extra 5-day delay in the rollout, so that the issues of pricing, database mining, and code distribution could be sorted out.

[handimannbob]

hey soc......i know i had v k, but i thought i started with v j. was there a version j.
all these yrs and it's still my screensaver 90% of the time

[handimannbob]

jim...lol...i meant that last post for u

[Schnaaps]

Keycodes are being generated as I type. You guys all have a good weekend.