The new anti-piracy "illusion" and simple logic

[LetoAtrell]

Whether this is a decision based on Ani-Piracy now or not, but damn! Even if Refractive would have brought out from the beginning in this way, I would have bought it anyway! They have the right to protect Octane! And no one can tell me to be a digital artist and to have no internet at home! Come on ... again so this is more a question of principle as with Google, it could have someone spy on my work

[Lutze]

Seems like you are all experts on piracy, huh... ?

Some of the "thoughts" even hurts to read...

No arguments here...just one other product, SolidRocks. This guy survives mainly thanks to frequent V-Ray updates.
Piracy DOES hurt certain bussiness, the guessing how it's a myth is pretty laughable, any first-hand experience... ?

Well, just some toughts, as i said...

I find it "laughable" to think, that all the pirates out there would buy the product if they could not access pirated versions. It is simlpy not true that better anti-piracy-systems result in (much) more sold copies of the software as I tried to point out.
And sir...please be so kind and stop saying that the arguments of another person "hurts to read". This is very rude and no good basis for a discussion.

Lutze

[rfox]

well.....If only i have to choose between floating license and dongle. I would pick dongle so i can carry it anywhere i want, connect it to any computers without hassle. that is just my thought. i'm willing to sacrifice extra cost for dongle.
what if.......

[Garrick]

great idea!

This reminds me of what Valve did with Steam.
A lot of people where saying at the time it will devastate internet gaming.
Well take a look at Steam today and see how successful Valve is with it now.

[pixelrush]

It seems to me out of 1500 customers only a handful are so troubled by what they perceive is a major problem with this (even though they dont know the details yet) that they want their money back.
Why not give them their money and say sorry and goodbye?
All this whinging and bitching over and over again and in new threads is pointless and even becoming annoying....sorry but after >20 pages my sympathy for the few is running out.
Only a few customers lost is better than only a few continuing sales because of piracy.
So Roubal and Lutze and a few others will use a different renderer because Octane doesnt suit them...fine..
Lets move on

[joelegecko]

Well take a look at Steam today and see how successful Valve is with it now.

Valve has an offline mode so you don't need to be connected to play your games ( except for online games of course ). If Octane Live doesn't require you to be connected all the time when you're using it but only to benefit from new features, then it will be all good.

Based on the number of members in the licensed customers group, Octane grossed at least 80.000 € ( and that is considering all customers bought it at the €50 price which is wrong so numbers are certainly higher than 100.000 € ). It certainly gives some room to develop the software. Anyway, let's wait for the 2.3 version.

Now, I was sure someone created a thread asking how people could get a refund if they were against an online-mode. Why was it deleted? The question is absolutely legitimate and customers are entitled to get such a refund.

I'll be waiting for these new features. Octane is truly amazing ( both in speed and quality ).

The content creators I know also face a ratio of 8-10 illegal copies for one legitimate purchase and manage to keep doing what they are doing without harming their customers. It's quite funny the piracy friendly users who were behaving like kids in one thread became so silent now piracy isn't as "take it easy" to the Octane team as it used to be...

[gristle]

...
Every day you start octane you will see new things.

...Radiance

So it sounds like a web app of some kind. Is there any contingency for scenes created in old/new versions?
Or will every newer version be 100% compatible with old scene files?

we've done a fair bit work to ensure 2.3 is compatible with 2.2 OCS scenes.

Radiance

Great.

[Carl S.]

Now, I was sure someone created a thread asking how people could get a refund if they were against an online-mode. Why was it deleted? The question is absolutely legitimate and customers are entitled to get such a refund.

I.

Are we sure he didn't get his refund becoming a un-licensed member thus no longer being on these forums?

[geo_n]

You guys want the alternative that octane is sold to Autodesk? Pixologic just acquired sculptris. A lot of users not happy about that.
Many small projects either disappear or struggle with sales and gets sold. What would you guys want as alternatives?
And also there are some software that the developers are only doing it on the side like a hobby or side income. Those software are updated so slow.
I keep asking for features and after months, years still no feature. Its because the developer has a real job and other projects and his software is just side income. I see octane and development is fast. A developer like Andrew in 3dcoat who's a solo programmer I'm willing to support. I think octane will be the same.

[kohlrabi_Croce]

Hi,

The new feature for 2.3 that we decided to move from beta3 to beta 2.3 (eg earlier) is called 'octane live',
it's an idea that i've been working out in my head over the last year,
and i'm sure it will set a trend with competitors, and many octane users will love it.

It requires an internet connection, and we decided to move it from beta3 to beta2.3 (i've already said all this in posts) due to the large piracy that has sprung up during the last weeks, basically crippling our sales.

So, we did not develop this as anti-piracy or DRM feature in it's own right. I explicitly said that we have delayed 2.3 to develop octane live now, instead of at beta3, due to the recent surge in piracy.

I don't understand why people with internet connections here complain.
You'll get a lot of new functionality, you can deactivate and reactivate your license on any machine (no more 3x activations and waiting for machine keys via email), you'll have your setup on the new machine as your app config will be floating too, and much more.
Every day you start octane you will see new things.

Radiance

My complaint, personally, is about the statement: ""It's not about the 'new anti-piracy system'
illusion that everyone has. i've said it a lot of times, it's *not* an antipiracy system, just wait
until 2.3 is out and then make your judgements."

I just want some of what we call "straight shooting from the hip," not denials about the fact that it really
is all about anti-piracy. So I get it, it's both anti-piracy and octane-live, but I doubt that octane-live
would have included forcing honest customers to use an internet connection or not be able to use Octane.
That is the kind of thing that is done for anti-piracy purposes. Who puts wonderful new features
in their software and then tells people they _must_ use them? Nobody does. (No, I'm not asking
for details about what Octane-Live is in advance, it isn't necessary). So the business about forcing
people to be connected to the Internet in order to use Octane at all, is all about anti-piracy. Yes, it is.
So I guess you came as close to admitting that as you are going to, which works for me I suppose.

Personally I was not prepared to see the sudden inflexibility, the hard-line approach about it.
I know it's a difficult situation for everyone.

I am not the type to think only in terms of "what's in it just for me," so yes I am consternated
to see people find out that now they can't use Octane because of the internet connection thing,
and they are simply out of luck about it because they had no preparation or warning. It won't
affect me personally, because the internet connection thing is not a problem for me, but the
situation saddens me.