dmb@TIS.COM (David M. Baggett) (07/11/88)
Marty Saletta writes: >In article <3034@mit-hermes.ai.mit.edu.AI.MIT.EDU>, jpexg@mit-hermes.ai.mit.edu.AI.MIT.EDU (John Purbrick) writes: >> An animation editing demo was just posted to comp.binaries.st in 4 parts. >> Before you take the trouble to download it, be warned that it runs in >> low-resolution only. It would have been nice to have been told that at the >> top of the file, wouldn't it now? > > > Having both monitors,that didn't bother me. But,here's another warning > about the program:it only works for ~15 min or so before saying something > like "demo time up!! buy the program". But isn't that the idea of a demo? > Would be nice if it would have said "only 15 minutes-hurry up". > (sigh) Oh well. > > Overall,I'd say it's one of the better programs out so far if graphics are > your bag. At least it's one of the better demos I've seen. I wish more > companies would do this so we (the users who actually buy the programs) > could "try it out". We (the author and the company) had a big discussion about the time limit. Arguments in favor of the time limit were: 1) It keeps the demo from being useful enough to dissuade purchasing the product. Granted, you can't save the films, but what's to prevent you from using one of the PD "snapshot" programs which will save the screen to a file while you're editing? 2) It's harder to hack the demo version into a "real" version that saves. We'd heard that there are "demo" copies of Tempus that were made into versions that save. 2) What's so bad about exiting and reloading after you get the message? If you're working on something you really don't want to lose you probably want to buy the program anyway. Arguments against were: 1) It's annoying. Nobody likes being kicked out. 2) It's excessively paranoid. Apprarently, we made the wrong decision. We apologize for the annoyance caused by this "feature". If there is a demand, we will replace the version in atari.binaries with a new version which doesn't have the time limit. If you don't want to download it again, write us or call and we'll mail you a version with no time limit. David Baggett arpanet: dmb@TIS.COM Kinetic Microsystems 5640 Vantage Point Road Columbia, MD 21044 (301) 964-3180 (Un)Disclaimer: I am obviously affiliated with Kinetic Microsystems.