forty-two 1.5.1(v1.5.2) released...sorry

[KaiCherry]

about the expire. it was *totally* unintended, and was a result of working a bit too hard

Hopefully, the SVCD/CVD/DVD jerky video foolishness has been resolved, PAL will do what it is supposed to for mpeg and disks will be made and split properly now

-K

[dj_yerba]

about the expire. it was *totally* unintended, and was a result of working a bit too hard

Hopefully, the SVCD/CVD/DVD jerky video foolishness has been resolved, PAL will do what it is supposed to for mpeg and disks will be made and split properly now

-K

Hey Kai, i've already tried it... but still some problems.
1 no 1 pass test clip, goes inmediately to the exferring video process
2 when the exferring process is over, appears the amount of frames to be encoded (in my case 40000)
3 then in the beggining of the enconding process appears the word "flame off"
4 finish the process with only the biles.mp2 (12K) and burn whats in here, but nothing inside.

what happened?
hope you can guide me to do things ok!
bye

[mluschek]

1.5.1 was worse than 1.5, at least with 1.5 i got the results i wanted. now its expired. 1.5.2 was just as bad as 1.5.1 only it didn't expire. I got no .bin/.cues from 1.5.1, just a .mpv and .mp2 file, and a folder to "burnwhatsinhere" which was nothing. various other random problems, including (sometimes) making the .mpg file, but it would be onlly one, and it would be several gigs, in size. i finally just tossed it all, set my clock back to last month, and reinstalled 1.5
everything seems fine now. i get the .bin/.cue files, i get a test clip. i haven't tried a full length dvd, but i'll bet it even splits the files up properly.

i dunno what happened between 1.5 and 1.5.1/1.5.2, but it really went ..sour. if kai can just fix the expiration problem on 1.5, we'll be in good shape (imo).

[KaiCherry]

set my clock back to last month, and reinstalled 1.5
everything seems fine now. i get the .bin/.cue files, i get a test clip. i haven't tried a full length dvd, but i'll bet it even splits the files up properly.

Hope you got the right one, cus if you didn't it will erase itself. 1.5 has *problems* and we are *glad* it expired itself.

As for what went wrong, etc...whatever. I'll tell you what went wrong. Folks making demands on the software, and the developers to the point where none of them care to spend 12h+ a day on improving it, after the 10's of thousands of downloads, 1000's of emails, and a full less than $2K development budget.

I am personally so sick of forty-two, I'm about 4 days away from erasing the goddamned sourcecode off the harddirve and being done with it, forever.

The 1.5.1-1.5.2 split files bug has already been fixed. the fact that you have a full mpeg transcode of the dvd is in and of itself a *POSITIVE* improvement.

1.5.2a will reverse the logic (literally *1 character* was typed wrong) and all the math will work in the right direction.

*Hopefully* it will work for everyone, but if it doesn't then it will have to wait until I can get around to it again. I actually stole time from *paying* work to try to fix this and I don't appreciate *AT ALL* the snitty tone of this post.

[mluschek]

If that post sounded "snitty", its only because i've been pushing your software to friends saying how great it was, and was about to make a donation (as well as others i know). Generally folks expect an UPDATE to be an IMPROVEMENT on the already existing software. 1.5 was working great, did exactly what we were looking for - ONE app that did it all. We were expecting an upgrade to only make it better, perhaps faster or who knows what! and after installing it and discovering it to be apparently worse, and not only NOT do stuff better, but not do what it's previous release did, well, can be frustrating. (I'm sure not nearly as frustrating as you hearing this) I didn't mean to discourage you with my post, i was trying to explain what i did to temporarily solve the problems that i (and apparently others) had. I hope that you do keep up the work on this, it has TONS of promise. we all appreciate what you're doing. I meant in no way to attack you. I'm sure donations will continue as long as we know work will still advance.

[sbklyn]

I had the same problem with no output files ..or a .mpg file with no sound..on several different DVD's...going from DVD to DVD-R...I wish someone had an idea as to why...I too have been reluctant to tell friends to donate because I'm not sure if forty two works or not ...Most people it seems have luck creating video cd's and divx quality cd's but I have no use for that ..I can afford the 70 cents necessary to record to DVD-R...I hope forty two continues to improve because I am not having any luck with it curently.

[KaiCherry]

If that post sounded "snitty", its only because i've been pushing your software to friends saying how great it was, and was about to make a donation (as well as others i know).

To be perfectly frank..the incentive has gone down the chute. We are NOT a company people...things go on outside the scope of this little experiment that have, at least for me, put it in perspective.

In fact I have been told *repeatedly* by folks on "the inside" to fix it and commercialize it...its worth more than "free"...

I PROMISED that I wouldn't do this, and I'm keeping my word.

We also put it RIGHT out there, that the success and growth of this software depends/depended on the support of users, PBS-style.

At first, it was there, we worked on it *constantly* to bring it to the level the 1.5 series got to...we did virtually what everyone asked for..."then i'll 'donate' , blah."

And instead, we got MORE pissing, MORE moaning, MORE PERSONAL ATTACKS.

So frankly, the love levels have plummetted, because forty-two is a soul-sucking worthless piece of sh*t.

Even I'M starting to believe it was an utter waste of time. There was, as still is NOTHING LIKE IT on the Mac, or anywhere else...but thats worth NOTHINNNNNGGGGGGG to the vast majority of its user base.

If folks want a version of forty-two that does, this or that, then *commission* it goddamn it.

People it won't GET any better if you keep waiting for it to happen. We'll just walk the hell away.

Generally folks expect an UPDATE to be an IMPROVEMENT on the already existing software. 1.5 was working great, did exactly what we were looking for - ONE app that did it all.

BULLSHIT. we got more complaints about 1.5 than *all previous versions* including the "termy" one combined.

Read this forum or my email...all it HAS is complaints about software that no one (including me at the rate things are going) feels its worth to see grow.

As for improvement, it is vastly so, *especially* in standards compliance. We were doing something wrong, endevoured to make it right, but this is what we get.

THANKS. Good Times...Good Times.

We were expecting an upgrade to only make it better, perhaps faster or who knows what! and after installing it and discovering it to be apparently worse, and not only NOT do stuff better, but not do what it's previous release did, well, can be frustrating.

Umm...I was under the impression that the previous release had a problem or two...and I know for a fact that at least one of those problems was fixed, lol.

DUDE! it has ONE F*CKING bug in it that ALREADY BEEN F*CKING FIXED. We would have *ALREADY* released it, but the person who is the release gatekeeper can't get his GODDAMN MACHINE RUNNING since its been sapped developing this thing, and we don't have the funds to get it fixed or replaced right away...

Thanks to Users, Just like You.

For the record, 1.5.2 fixes *several* bugs that folks asked to be fixed that LEAD UP TO getting that "one big mpg"...they weren't even getting THAT FAR, and MOST of the time it has been user error. But hey, like we do, we went the extra mile to help 'em out.

LOL, we get emails in doubles, first the flaming anger, followed by the "Oh, I didn't read the part where X means I gotta do Y to get Z".

Mac users. ::rolleyes::

(I'm sure not nearly as frustrating as you hearing this) I didn't mean to discourage you with my post, i was trying to explain what i did to temporarily solve the problems that i (and apparently others) had. I hope that you do keep up the work on this, it has TONS of promise.

Good luck. It does NOT have enough promise for folks to either submit meaningful bug reports, or DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES in ANY meaningful form for it to matter.

If no one wants to donate to give us the time and resources we need to make this software FOR YOU, the Mac users that hae suffered with confusion, sync issues and tge like, forever, thats fine, REALLY it is.

BUT I WILL BE DAMNED if you are going to try to tear Me, Bilestyle or Chris a new ******* because it has inconvenieced you is some way!

Stand in line dude...there is a loooooong line of angry, insulting holier-than-thou Mac user a-holes that have come before you, telling us "what we shoulda done, why its wrong, and if I could only program I'd..."

SICK to DEATH of it people....sick to death.

we all appreciate what you're doing. I meant in no way to attack you. I'm sure donations will continue as long as we know work will still advance.

I really don't care anymore...believe me...lesson was learned. I will never invest my time again on free software for the Mac community.
Never. I don't care if its the cure for "Mac Cancer"...I'm sooooooo sick of the bad taste its left in my mouth (and NO the cash issues are NOT the "primary problems"...its the demands made *in spite of it* that are) that it now *angers* me to work on forty-two.

I don't see the point anymore. Its such a piece of crap that its a waste of time trying to make it *not* that way for the benefit of *everyone else* in the world, since A) it already does what *we* want it to do and B) it costs more than it returns.

I had really big plans for this and for its future, but at this point, I'm like "Guys, let's fix these last bugs and mothball it. Maybe again, one day."

::shakes head::

:(

-K

[KaiCherry]

..I can afford the 70 cents necessary to record to DVD-R...I hope forty two continues to improve because I am not having any luck with it curently.

Dude...use DiscomVOBulator for DVD stuff. Its faster, makes *decent* DVDs and since it is a commercial product, is *fully* supported. That and the fact its what *I* use, since I finally have a DVD recorder.

Get the demo, see if it is useful to you and save your cpu from this one-disk stuff. At 70cents a DVD-r, its NOT worth burning up your $,$$$ computer for it, with what we have to work with on Macs today.

-K

[bilestyle]

Okay... i've had it.... i've been holding in repressed anger about this project for way too long.... i swear. I have never seen users who treat people that are working for *Their* benefit like this. It has sucked away so much of my time (like any other piece of software i felt compelled to work on for others) and what did it yield? We are so unbelievably fed up right now that we are all very convinced to totally discontinue any development whatsoever on anything free for the mac community ever again.

I've actually been avoiding reading these boards as much as i did in the past b/c of how much it infuriated me to see people speak the way that they do because things didn't go their way, if the software didn't have a major increase in functionality or speed it was "worse" or "useless" to people. We didn't only spend endless hours coding the software, we spent a lot of time testing it to death and troubleshooting with tons of users daily. We see what appreciation we get in return... all we hear is "more features and people will show their appreciation" We are NOT a company and we cant work and pay the bills on good intentions. Im grabbin my fork and ready to stick it in.. cuz i think im done.

[mluschek]

Jesus Christ, man! calm down!

You're absolutely correct, there is nothing like it for the mac, I'm not sure what people wanted, am i understanding that it was requested for the software to give you one giant file that won't fit on a cd? i did not know this, and i apologize, i thought it was meant to split it up. I like 1.5, i have no problems with it. simply the expiration thing. I never meant to attack you personally and i don't think i did. I was giving feedback about the software. Clearly more has gone on, than just in this forum, and i guess i should have just kept my mouth shut and forgot about it, like many others probably have. Generally i don't care about an app if it doesn't work right or do what i thought it would. In fact this is the only time i've ever given feedback, only because i thought this application was worth the effort. didn't really expect the programmer to flip out on me.

[WiseWeasel]

Well, I'm sorry to see you guys reacting to this in such a way. I mean, your app has reached so many people, and covers a process that is so technical, that many are bound to have problems. The majority of your users are as happy as a clam, and some (including myself) have found forty-two worth donating for in the short amount of time we have had it. They will be busy happily using your software to backup their DVDs, while those who have problems will seek a forum such as this to try to get it resolved, along with flooding the support email address w/ their issues. The only solution to that is to not supply a support email address, and let the community resolve any issues in forums such as this one. Beyond that, it is to be expected that a majority of your users of this particular software are video pirates, who are very unlikely to ever pay for anything if they don't have to. This situation might be very different if you were releasing networking or graphics software, where a more legitimate user base might be very $upportive of honorware. I know this is the case for Brian Hill's Brickhouse software, which is distributed as honorware, along with his other software. But in the market you are developing for, cripple- or demo-ware would probably be in order. Maybe a 'plus' version of forty-two. Back to the subject at hand, I think it would be a big shame for the people who did donate for forty-two to drop all development because of some whiners. So the honorware isn't working, it's not a reason to just abandon the software altogether, which does perform a very unique and useful function. Just my 2¢...

[zennman]

I just want to show my appreciation for DiscomVOBulator and Forty-Two. Kai and company are the best for doing this on the Mac. Forty-Two is a great concept, and I love the thought of having it around for certain tasks. But Discom has really done it for me.

My success rate is through the roof since using Discom, with very little wasted time. All I wanted in the first place was what Discom does, DVD-DVDR. Two hours or less for an in sync, perfect copy of my DVDs.

As for these forums, some things never change. People on these types of forums always come off as ungrateful. Always have! I have tried to keep my mouth shut this whole couple of months if some things didn't work right. In my opinion, these guys fixed most of the problems that they could (42).

It's looking like these genereous coders have now been pissed off past the point of no return. I hope this is not the case. But I think it's time to cutoff all this forum support for Forty-Two, and call it as-is. Try it and if you like it, donate what it's worth to you. Post your opinions on the forum, but don't expect much response. They'll fix it eventually.

I will continue use and love Discom. And my only hope is that this new version coming out won't be so cool that I'll need to re-rip all of my DVDs.

Thanks guys!!

[WiseWeasel]

my only hope is that this new version coming out won't be so cool that I'll need to re-rip all of my DVDs.

Looks like you might just have to . . . I'd stop right now if I was you. The new version adds all soundtracks and subtitles!!! Add to that automatic chapter markers at a designated interval, and it looks like you can just use those Disco 1.0 DVDs as party favors.

[KaiCherry]

WW, we talk almost everyday, so you *know* the frustration behind all of this. and you are right I guess it was silly to me to think that just because *we* don't use this stuff to rape and pillage that the vocal majority of the folks that do probably are.

Whats even funnier is the fact that its a huge diminishing return to do this with 42 (i'm so mad I'm not even typing it out anymore, heheh) especially for anything beyond vcd or divx.

For the record, the mpeg2enc settings were tweeked to be *very* greedy to speed it up, I pretty much spent 16 dev hours to add *yet another feature* I personally don't use or need (pulldown, between me integrating and all of us testing, 16h) just to make it right.

The split code fails due to a stupid bug which I apologized for (again) and I have to catch a raft of crap behind it.

Meanwhile development time is taken away from "The Produkt, plus" to deal with bugs for a piece of software that has brought nothing but grief

It *still* amazes me that we got more backup of the 1.0 series than 1.5. It really does.

Folks don't seem to either remember it, or make the connection that it got that way *because* of them...and in some cases, in spite of them.

Look at the 3:2 pulldown thread, people. It went from "We tried it, it was broke, oh gee darn" to "Well damn! How do ya' like that"? in *a day*.

Who in hell does this? Even "mr. reverse telecine pain in my ass"...I contacted him and for *2 hours* tried to help him get something out of the process he can work with...

WHO does THIS?

If it were Apple, they do the *exact* opposite of what you wanted, pump sunshine up your butt, piss on yer head and tell you it was rain, and y'alled be like:

"OK! Thanks Steve for bending us over again, vaseline-free!"

Either that or it would be crippled/tied to a $2K Apple-only config.

And *even thru all this* we are working into the night testing the fix that I made and sanitizing it for your protection.

"But when forty-two takes out my garbage, washes my car and then tosses me off, THEN I'll consider a so-called 'donation'...but until then its worthless"

So WW here's is the sitch: Hope the *other* stuff we are working on pays for the improvement of forty-two cus no one else the hell is.

You can be certain that after the next release, *no time will be taken from anything else* to add another feature or fix unless we see some serious 180 action.

-K

[mluschek]

All of your frustration is completely understandable. Obviously i haven't read every post on here, or your email reguarding forty-two. And i for one, am the first person i blame when something doesn't work right. "did i f' this up? probably. i'll go check out the forum, and/or try again". when i see someone else or several someone elses, with the same problem, it seems to me, its almost my duty, to make a post. that way the developer can say "hey, several people have the same issue, we should look into that" so they know its not just one guy who can't figure it out. Don't mistake feedback for attacks. but like i said, i don't doubt people were sending shit your way. i admit my first remark in this thread was a li'l pissy, and i tried to apologize. (i guess i feel resposible for all this, as the anger showed up here after my post.) sorry to be the straw that broke the camel's back. ugh.

[gilgamesh]

Kai,

I totally agree with zennman and wise weasel. You should start charging for the plus or pro version of forty-two. Please do not leave the people, who donated, in the dark by dropping the development of forty-two.

I use forty-two for divx conversions. It is great!
I tried discomVOBulator..love it. It is an unbelieveable demo.
I can't wait for the next update.

I donated forty-two through Amazon Honor system.
I want to register discomVOBulator if you give me alternative payment
option like amazon honor system, p.o. box or something else. Paypal not friendly to me.

I really appreciate your work. You should calm down and relax a little bit. I know how you feel. But there is a silent satisfied majority out there.

Keep your spirit up!

(an opinion from PAL continent)

[KaiCherry]

All of your frustration is completely understandable. Obviously i haven't read every post on here, or your email reguarding forty-two. And i for one, am the first person i blame when something doesn't work right. "did i f' this up? probably.

You are RARE my friend amongst your Mac bretheren. We have had case of telling folks *exactly* how to solve issues they were having and *refusing* to do so "because I shouldn't have to..."

Don't mistake feedback for attacks. but like i said, i don't doubt people were sending shit your way.

What amazes me, mluschek, is that more often than not, the BS comes *first* either me or bilestyle (who now refuses to read *anything* here about 42 unless I pretty much whine to him) gets all huffy, then we get the problem nailed.

Its problem that is very Mac-centric. The Linux guys are pretty bad sometimes, but they are at least *knowledgable, reasonable and read the docs*

The windows guys are so used to tortuous processes that they are nowhere *near* as bad. You have the standouts, sure, but overall the signal-to-noise ratio is a lot lower due to their A: expectations being low/reasonable and B: generally pragmatic nature anyway.

Read Versiontracker's Mac reviews, and the PC reviews.

i admit my first remark in this thread was a li'l pissy, and i tried to apologize. (i guess i feel resposible for all this, as the anger showed up here after my post.) sorry to be the straw that broke the camel's back. ugh.

That straw was laid on the camel's back awhile ago. People don't realize just how terciary 42 has become as of late to us, because it was perhaps overly-ambitious on our part to write software that "thinks" about this process as opposed to throwing it all out there and leaving you to your own devices.

But we figured it was what mac users *deserved* because DVD2AVI/SVCD on win32 is absolutley *insane*.

It works, but he onus is on you, the user to make it so, and has TONS of pages of user documentation that is a testament to this

Look at the old guides for doing this stuff on MacOSX from as little as a few months ago.

Look at 42. Look how *close it really is* to being *mindless*...its almost TOO easy at this point.

Now...go back and do it the old way a couple of times. HOW MANY times have folks asked themselves "well why can't the damn software just DO this for me?"

Go on, right now...read them. Even the authors of some of those guides (one who is a developer of forty-two) have emailed us and said THANK GOD someone has tried to get in there and put this on auto-pilot.

42 was written first and formost to stomp out sync issues. I personally never even cared about mpeg1/2 because I don't even use it.

However virtually all of the dev time goes to this, because its *really* complicated, people and dvdmp/dvdmp-PAL has a LOT of thinking to do.

Even still, we push on. But I am gonna be honest and say again that the value of this to the development and support team has really, really hit rock bottom.

If you feel frustration as users 10x it on our end, then pour some salf in that billy, squeeze on a lemon, then wash with vinegar.

Its really that bad.

-K

[mluschek]

oh, believe me i know all about that "multi-process/why can' this just DO IT FOR ME" stuff. before i found 42, i was trying out all sorts of things, like "go download Developers Tools, install mediapipe, etc etc..." even when i first d/l'd 42, i seem to remember having to go "find" something and install it, maybe i'm wrong. there's been a few applications i've run into that call for that sort of thing. but anyhow, the beauty of the later versions was there was no need for that. and of course that is appreciated. you're always gonna have a guy that doesn't read all the dox, or tries one thing and doesn't do the other 3/4 of the process correctly. and maybe you just have to say "look, i can't babysit EVERYONE"..you mentioned talking to some guy for awhile trying to get him to get something out of it...sometimes you just can't do that. iTS NICE, but if i was in your shoes at that time, i'd would not have had the patience for that. things like that lead to high expectations from the public. and to mental breakdowns.

[KaiCherry]

I donated forty-two through Amazon Honor system.

Thank you. Really.

I want to register discomVOBulator if you give me alternative payment
option like amazon honor system, p.o. box or something else. Paypal not friendly to me.

Here's the deal, folks for anyone out there that cares Not Europe, I know, I know

We chose paypal for a *very* simple reason: they are the best in the biz *especially* since eBay bought them. No one offers the level of business service, return or support that they do at the price.

EVERYONE ELSE we've investigated, including Amazon (from whom by the way, we have banked an amazing $173 at last count after all of the "please find something other than paypal and we're right behind ya..."...riiiight) charges *insane* rates, have very bad disbursement options and are really a pain.

REALLY.

If anyone knows of *anything* out there (and God no, not Kagi. In all these years they have yet to figure out what THEY are doing wrong that caused PayPal to cream them. They were the only game in town and coulda had it all...:hakes head: *please* tell me!

We'll give it a shot. Judging from the Amazon action, I'm not convinced it will change anything, but we will give it a look.

I really appreciate your work. You should calm down and relax a little bit. I know how you feel. But there is a silent satisfied majority out there.

With our other stuff, I have nothing BUT calm...it pays for itself. Big difference.

As for "plussing" forty-two, there is nothing really left to pry cash out of anyone, as it were, since it was never meant to be "broken or crippled" in the first place. I'd settle for just less general whining. It would take a LOT of recoding to cripple it in some way and again, if folks don't think its worth it as it is now on a voluntary basis, then I doubt seriously if it ever will be

(an opinion from PAL continent)

This is especially nice, since I was told to drop any claims that it even supports/works with PAL at all

-K

[nfasano]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd chime in. I'm probably one of the first people that donated to forty-two. I use it to create DivX's of my DVD collection that I play on my laptop. Since I only use the qDVD function, it has worked great since day one and it makes the process ridiculously easy (almost too easy, since even my mom can use it).

From reading the above posts, I can tell that although you guys (Kai and Bilestyle) are awesome programmers, you know little about human nature. I am an MD, so I know a bit about people. The crap that you are getting from people is, unfortunately, what you have to put up with when dealing with the public. Most people aren't just going to fork over their hard earned cash for something they can get for free (especially when they think the developers are about to quit), so you'll only get donations from a small fraction of people. These are most likely to be the "old school" people like me who realize how hard it was to do these conversions before forty-two. The new users don't realize this and won't recognize the contribution you have made to the Mac community.

Even worse, you are going to get nagged and pestered constantly by people who think that your only goal is to cater to their every need. These are also the people who are least likely to donate, by the way. My advice to you is to listen to the constructive criticism and filter out the negative stuff that's dragging you down. Unfortunately, you're going to get ten times as many complaints as you will compliments because your satisfied customers are busy converting their DVD's.

You guys have a great program that shows immense promise. Some areas are perfect (like the DivX conversions). The more ambitious stuff (the DVD-R, (S)VCD), we all know, has some bugs that are being worked out as we speak. Maybe everyone can be a little more patient with each other so we can get the finished product that we know these guys can produce, and everyone (this means you) can chip in to pay for all the hard work.

Just my two cents.

Nick

[KaiCherry]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd chime in. I'm probably one of the first people that donated to forty-two. I use it to create DivX's of my DVD collection that I play on my laptop. Since I only use the qDVD function, it has worked great since day one and it makes the process ridiculously easy (almost too easy, since even my mom can use it).

My test cases: my wife (reads everything twice), my brother (first time computer user of *any* kind) and a friend who doen't even own a computer, but (again) reads.

We think we hit the mark.

From reading the above posts, I can tell that although you guys (Kai and Bilestyle) are awesome programmers, you know little about human nature.

I realized from the beginning that if we made it too good there would be no way we could monetize it.

Since this was never the goal anyway, it didn't really matter.

In fact, we were *shocked* that anyone ever paid a penny. v1.0 was developed simply because of *one person* who sent us $50 out of the blue, with a note that in effect said:

"Thank you. You have saved me a lot of grief. Thank you."

Because of this ONE PERSON, I personally decided to *make* 42 worth his $50.

*HIS* $50. He never asked for anything. We made v1.0 for him. Of course, others felt it was worth it too, but for Sean, it all happened.

Then, I was like well damn. if as little as 2% of the people that use the thing actually feel its worth a few bucks (we never set a price because in all honesty, again, wasn't the point) then we will do it, so everyone benefits.

We looked at the 1.0 series, got some *really good* feed back, and went all out for 1.5.

Overall, with what we had to work with, I think we did well. in some cases, too well.

However...I figured that Mac Users, while still 'human' would know a good thing when they see it...and would be behind us.

And many, many people were.

Many more literally *demanded* that we unexpire it! Add features! The whole shebang.

Some person even went the extra mile to express how worthless 42 was to them. They sent us 30 cents, which was a net sum of $0.00.

I was done with forty-two then.

But again... *1 man* made a difference.

It was a kid. Didn't send us a ton of cash, didn't offer great promises of future support.

He sent us $5...the free $5 had got for signing up with Paypal...and a note of explaination to this effect:

"I'm a kid and don't have any money. forty-two is really great and I hope it doesn't die. I conviced my Mom to sign up so I could at least send the free $5."

I nearly f*cking *cried* people. Seriously. For that one guy,we went on.

See...some people get it. If we had 50cents for every person that even downloaded it from anywhere, we'd be doing backflips. You couldn't PRY US AWAY from the keyboards.

if we had a Dollar for everyone that got a positive result out of it, we'd probably fall over in ecstacy.

If I had a dime for every word of whining i had to endure, I'd be a rich man.

So its not about "people" its about ill-mannered, bad-tempered (other) Mac People that scream at us from behind a better damn computer than I probably have angry because we have the unmitigated gall not to produce exactly what they had in mind out of THIN AIR.

The rest of you, we salute you...perhaps there will be another "one guy" that flicks the switch that sparks the flame that made us roll on in the first place.

Even worse, you are going to get nagged and pestered constantly by people who think that your only goal is to cater to their every need.

These are also the people who are least likely to donate, by the way.

I call these folks "Mac Users" as opposed to Mac Users. These are the ones that if I could, I'd bind them to RedHat for all eternity.

My advice to you is to listen to the constructive criticism and filter out the negative stuff that's dragging you down. Unfortunately, you're going to get ten times as many complaints as you will compliments because your satisfied customers are busy converting their DVD's.

I've waiting for the someone to use the words "satisfied customers".

We have customers, but they are NOT forty-two users. Our customers get, and give service and treatment that is B+...

It was A/A- but I've been dragged back into this 42 crap again...to you guys I apologize

I will be back on task within 24hr or less

42 has no customers. Folks want to see it that way, we don't. 42 is first and foremost *our very expensive and generous contribution* to this, for want of a better word, "scene" and nothing more.

MY mistake has been in treating it any other way.

This will be remedied, very, very soon.

Maybe everyone can be a little more patient with each other so we can get the finished product that we know these guys can produce, and everyone (this means you) can chip in to pay for all the hard work.

I said a couple of weeks ago that the biggest misconception that folks have about the 42 model is that when they "donate" (their quotes, not mine) they are "paying' for the software.

Ok, if donating cans to a food drive, or sponsoring someone in a walk-a-thon, or keeping Sesame Street on the air is "paying' than that is what it is.

Of course, it is not that way. PBS/NPR gets a *whopping* like 8% turnover to educate, entertain and add a bit of class to the world at large.

Then there are the grants of course....but thats an aside.

The way I'm delaing with forty-two in the future is the way would should have after we did 1.0:

"Its free. if you like it, think its worth the effort, find it beneficial to you or think it could be to others, send a little love our way.

If you do, fantastic. Know that YOU made a difference.

If you are out there, plugging away, thinking 'the next guy will handle it' consider this: You are the last guy's Next Guy.

If we like what we see, expect to see forty-two grow and mature. If not, enjoy what you have.

We will improve and develop it in line with the support it receives."

That last line there is where we failed. Collectively, our development team broke the contract...we continued to improve it anyway.

And now, I'm saying, right here, right now, in public, that we will continue to do so...in accordance with.to the following:

"We will improve and develop it in line with the support it receives."

The support dollars, hardware, *coffee* and DVD's have all been used up.

The fixes to 1.5.2 will be the last, until such a time it is feasable to do anymore with it.

Hey Kai,
I salute you for putting up with it thus far Some people just don't get it and never will frankly. I think its just plain old human nature some times. I don't see donations as payment for the software because it doesn't require payment to use it. I look at donations as a way to show you, in monitary terms, how much potential this program has and to continue development. I've got some nice ideas if you would ever like to hear them, and no they arent "let it take vobs" lol. I think part of the problem is no one has written a manual on how to explicitly use 42. It is a wonderful and yes I dare use the word amazing program, built from open source applications that run on the command line. I know you guys have real jobs and it makes it all that much more amazing that 42 does what it does. Once the bugs are fixed in 1.5.2 (ver b?) I will be attempting to write a manual so that peolpe aren't idiots . I think the first line of the manual should be "In the event that you dislike 42, please delete it from your hard drive and accept the fact that you got what you paid for." Things I would do if I were you, stop reading these boards and relax for a little, make an actual bug report form for use with email, and take a break programming and take some you time. The reason for the bug report, simple if people do have a legit bug they can submit it that way rather then whinning and not actually suppling any useful information. I love those people on the boards... "42 wont work..." thats all the useful information they provide. I at least like to supply a list of the titles incase the movies had been found to be poorly authored. Kai man take it easy and drop me a line some time man,

A@ron

[Mr. EMan]

I donated to forty-two when I first tried version 1.0. It was a donation in the true sense of the word (gave money for something I don't really use).

I was hoping this would be a program that would make this DVD conversion easier than what my friends have in the Windoze side. It's definitely much, much easier, but they get a feature or two over forty-two. No big thing. I don't use it anymore, since the point was made.

However, I've been watching the whining on these forums (I liked the 3:2 pulldown guy), and it's pretty annoying. If I was Kai or bile, I'd just walk away. I'm amazed at the patience Kai has for many of the posters.

Well, I hope their next endeavor will be more appreciated than this. I like guys that stick to principles, even if it kills them.

Thanks, guys.

[mandog]

Hey Kai,

I'm new to the seen, but this much I know, as soon as I can rub a couple nickels together you are going to get them. (searously broke with medical bills) I don't care if you don't update 42 the old 1.0 works fine for me with vcd.

Tks Man

MD

[yubie]

Hi Kai, I have been following FT for a while. It saddens me to you to see your enthusiasm go down to your current state. I have downloaded all the different versions of FT, but have not had the time to use it, yet. I have not donated, either. I hope you and your friends take care of your health before anything else. Perhaps it is time to take a vacation from FT or forget about it all together. But I also know how difficult it is to say good-bye to something that is so near your heart. Wishing you good health. Sincerely, yubie.