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I just needed to edit a video, and since I've got an older licensed version of Pinnacle Studio I know can do this, and furthermore like to work with, I wanted to reinstall that.
No problem, installed software, registered it. It said: You're gonna get an activation email shortly. Nope! Tried three times. Nope!
So I started a chat with Pinnacle/Corels support. First thing he says is of course: You need to upgrade to the latest version. Don't wanna, I said. I've got a version I'm happy with, does what I want, need nothing more.
But he claimed that their system can't generate activation codes for older software and that in order to use the program I had already paid for once (twice actually, but that's another story), I HAD to upgrade it. Elephanting blackmail!!! And then it went:
Me: Well, if I HAVE to upgrade to a version I don't need, I want extra discount on the list price
Him: I can offer you 10%
Me: I want 20%
Him: To give you 20%, I have to ask a Sales representative to contact you
Me: (Something like) F*** that, I can't waste a lot of time on that. Just give me the 10%
Him: OK, give me your phone number, we'll call you right back
Me: Why? Just send me a mail with a discount code...
Him: "We can only send shopping cart email through phone as we have a different system for Roxio & Pinnacle." (completely nonsense answer of course)
Me: OK, waste my time and call me
After some time, a lady calls me from Singapore to Sweden and wants to offer me the discount. So it turned out that to get the 10% he offered me, I ALSO had to speak with their friggin' sales department. If he had told me that right away, that would have been the end of it right there.
Then she wanted to take my address, which is in Swedish, so I knew she wouldn't understand it, which she didn't, of course.
Then she asked me: How do you want to pay?
Me: Mastercard
Her: OK, go ahead, I'm ready when you are...
Me: For WHAT? You don't seriously think I'm going to give you my card number over the phone?
Her: Uh, why not? It'll be a secure transaction
You get the drift. To finish off: It was no sale, and both I and two of their staff had wasted a FULL HOUR! Plus a call halfway across the world. For nothing! And I'm stuck with an expensive (yet old) piece of software I can't use because I can't activate it!
Why the elephant didn't they just send a coupon code? Their system can handle that, I can see that in their webshop. They would have had the sale in 5 minutes, I would have had my discount, and everybloody would had been happy! 
First time I have been thoroughly elephanted over the phone! Good thing to know that she was using protection (alledgedly) 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
modified 1-Sep-16 12:13pm.
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This is Corel. They are not in the business of pleasing users.
P*ss*ng them off big time: yes.
Adding bugs and useless features to hide the good bits you used to use: yes.
Not being able to work a "Do not show this message again" box that remembers that you ticked it: yes.
Pleasing the customer: no chance.
I have Corel VideoStudio X6 and they've been badgering me to upgrade for a couple of weeks - every time I open PaintShop Pro. 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't because:
1) I actually like the program
2) It's not a "Corel" programming example of a completely unusable UI like their own programs
3) It goes with a Pinnacle capture board that I also need to use in this case
So I think I'll bite the rotten apple and upgrade the program all the same. But I'll pay full list price. I'll be darned if I leak my credit card information all over Asia by giving them by phone to a stupid eh, runt in Singapore just to save $15!
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
modified 1-Sep-16 12:37pm.
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Oh, it will. It will ...
They "Corelized" PaintShop Pro when they bought JASC, and turned it from "better than Photoshop for most users" to a slower, less obvious, more buggy app that costs more. They seem to think this "improves" the product.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I still prefer Paintshop Pro. It's attraction has always been that it is more userfriendly than Photoshop. But even though Corel works hard at destroying that by adding too much unnecessary complexity, I still think that it's slightly better... Just a matter of time probably as you say... 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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I hung on to PSP V9 for soooo long, but it really didn't play nicely with Aero, so I had to "upgrade" to X6 eventually (I'm now on X8, and X9.5 of Video Studio) and it's definitely a Corel product. But you can minimize the pain by running it from an SSD... 
I think my favorite X8 bug is dropping JPG's on to it (so I can crop them for Herself's Jigsaw Puzzle app on her tablet) and when you try to save changes it won't bring up the Save dialog unless you try to click away from the application...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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It is widely known throughout the Galaxy that Corellians are particularly daring - for them it is an acceptable risk!
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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I've been looking around for a video editing program because #@$@%! Vegas keeps locking up on me.
Got HitFilm 4 Express, but it won't do 4K. Well, I'm sure it would if I felt like actually buying the paid version. But...
So I bought the Corel VideoStudio because it will do 4K and was only $39. But I hate it. Stupidest workflow in the world. (I wasn't crazy about the original Pinnacle, either. Just sayin'.)
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but it must be two different programs. The Pinnacle program is called Pinnacle Studio[^] and is currently at $69.95 and up for an upgrade, (was much more expensive many years ago when I bought the first version I've got...)
This is Corel VideoStudio[^], that one is originally developed by Ulead (who also had good products until Corel took them over!) I used their Ulead Cool 3D[^] program a lot for a while, and I loved it!
Anyway, I used to like Pinnacle Studio, don't know about Corel VideoStudio
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Ah. No idea. This one is VideoStudio Pro X9.
I didn't know they bought ULead, too. So I don't know what which this is the descendent of.
I had that ages ago, too, and hated it.
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I had the old version of Vegas a few years ago, and also experienced the app locking up on me. It turned out that I did not have enough memory for large video files. Since I upgraded to a 64 bit machine with 12 GB memory, I never saw a lockup again.
If you're running a 32 bit machine, Vegas may only work on smaller video files, like less than 2 GB.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Nah. Mine is an x64, 16GB of RAM, with an nVidia GeForce GTX 560 with a gig of video ram on the card, 336 CUDA cores.
And Vegas Pro 13 runs like crap.
Sony has pretty much given up doing anything substantive with it.
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I only have version 12 and no problems. I cannot comment on version 13.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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I might go back to 12. Or 11. Or anywhere downward to 3.0 when it was still Sonic Foundry Vegas Video... 
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My version 10 did not recognize my BlueRay drive. Version 12 did. Don't go back too far! 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Well, these days I just edit clips from my phone, so I don't need much. Except the 4K. Stupid phone.
And even Vegas 13 won't do 4K. I've been running it through the Corel thing and exporting it as HD so I can work on it more easily in Vegas.
But I'm not doing anything earth-shattering, so the frustration level is low. -ish.
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Wow, I never heard anyone mention Pinnacle Studio in years! I'm surprised they're still around.
Jeremy Falcon
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Corel still used a licensing app as of three years ago. (The problem is that I do prefer PaintShop Pro and Corel Draw to the alternatives.)
BTW, while it has many problems, I've consistently found CyberLink Power Director to be the easiest video editing program to just throw something together. (For anything really complicated, I prefer Sony Vegas, but haven't used it in five years.)
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Mom still uses WordPerfect (Corel) on her XP machine. She does not want to get a new one or update to newer windows and lose WP.
Mongo: Mongo only pawn... in game of life.
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Per Wikipedia:
Abandonware is a product, typically software, ignored by its owner and manufacturer, and for which no product support is available. Although such software is usually still under copyright, the owner may not be tracking or enforcing copyright violations.
If the software is that useful to you, crack/keygen it and be done with it.
IANAL, and I'd never suggest doing this with currently for sale and supported software, but you're sitting in that legally grey area where morally you'd be in the right. You have a valid license, they just aren't letting you use it. If you had an existing installation, it wouldn't magically deactivate itself, so there's no reason why you should be disallowed from installing a fresh copy.
They're just trying to squeeze more money out of you, and going about it the wrong way. They have that activator software sitting on a computer somewhere, they just want you pay again. A customer focused company would have offered to help you activate your current copy, then explained all the benefits of the new version of the software. As it stands they lost money just because they were greedy. Good job, Corel!
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Kyle Moyer wrote: A customer focused company would have offered to help you activate your current copy, then explained all the benefits of the new version of the software.
Exactly! That's what I would have expected from a company with good support! 
Kyle Moyer wrote: just because they were greedy.
Not just that. Also because the support staff was lazy, uncooperative and ignorant! Which unfortunately is the rule rather than the exception nowadays 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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BTW: Can it still be called abandonware if there are newer versions out? Isn't it just if the owner stops developing it all together? 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Arguable, I suppose.
I'd say if they change the licensing and activation significantly enough that you can't use an old version, it constitutes a new product. Again though, IANAL...
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Serious Magic did that to us with DVRack when Adobe bought them.
Luckily, enough people screamed loudly enough that Adobe came out with a standalone activation tool for us to unlock our software if we had to reinstall or whatever.
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And they wonder why people pirate their software.
PSP was the bee's knees, before Corel took over. Even I don't use it, any more (except for on one machine that has an X11 license), and it was one of my major tools.
I'm not willing to give them any more money. The trouble is that it will take an awful lot of people to react the same way, before they truly realise that they've screwed it up.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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