TopDesk 1.4 is out. This release fixes most of the minor niggles people had with the 1.3.x versions, and fixes the priority issue some users experienced with 1.3.7.
The new version of TopDesk also coincides with a redesign of our site. The directory structure of the old site was just getting too clunky to manage, and it would have cramped our style for some of the things we want to do in the near future.
Perhaps the most drastic difference in version 1.4 is that we’ve changed the trial version to a 30 day demo. Personally I hate time-limited trials and much prefer nagging/reduced feature trials. However, there’s a (vocal) group of users out there that loathe reduced features or nagging, and after using the TopDesk trial they tend to either blog about how much they dislike it (best case) or send us abusive emails (worst case). Lately it’s gotten to the point where we’re receiving a couple of not-so-nice emails about the trial every day.
While I have a personal dislike of time-limited trials, I’d rather have happy users than have things exactly the way I want. Hopefully the switch appeases those users who complained about the nags and missing features, and improves the overall user experience of the trial version. Having said that, I’m sure we’ll now hear from the group of users out there that loathe 30 day trials 
.
I think it’s a bad idea to release a time limited demo. Don’t complain if your software is cracked and released on P2P. You should stick to limited trial
I fully expect that version 1.4 has already been cracked and is on P2P, and that previous retail versions are also out there. That’s not really an issue for me, it’s part of the business of software and I think you just have to let it go.
What does bother me is that the limited trial is making people angry (far angrier than I’d expect someone to be over such a trivial thing), and that they’re vocal about it. So not only are we losing a customer, we’re losing a potential customer every time they tell someone how much a limited trial ruined their day/week/year/life.
I’ve argued against time-limited trials since TopDesk was first released, but there comes a point where I have to bow to what the people want. I think 95% people don’t actually care either way, but the 5% that do care hate limited trials with a passion.
If we were receiving as many “great job on the limited trial” emails as we were hate mail, then I would have probably stuck with a limited trial, but I’ve really never seen anyone comment on it positively. Ever single piece of commentary I’ve seen on the trial has been negative, so that’s the dataset I took into consideration when making the decision.
Time will tell whether this was the right way to go. We’ll probably see a drop in sales in the short term (people will ride out their 30 days before making a decision on purchasing TopDesk), but at the moment I’m more interested in deflecting the anger directed towards us. After all, what’s the point of pouring all your energy and countless hours of your time into a piece of software if the result is that you just end up aggravating a whole lot of people?
You know, the people who react are always the ones who disagree. That’s why you’ll never receive the « “great job on the limited trialâ€? emails » you’re talking about. You really think that one (1) negative review will ruin your business ?
Good luck and keep up the good work.
As I said in the post, I consider someone blogging about it to be the best case (although that’s not the only blog post on the subject). If you read my response in the comments of that blog post, I didn’t want to back away from using a nagware trial (I don’t like time-limited trials myself), and that blog post isn’t the reason for the change to a time-limited trial. I don’t think either the blog posts or the emails will in any way ruin the business in a monetary sense, what I’m more concerned about is how people perceive Otaku Software.
From talking to users, it seems that most don’t really care either way, but a select group completely flip out over the nags and reduced features. I’m not in this to make people angry, and I certainly don’t want it to aggravate them to the point where they go around sullying the reputation of Otaku Software (the vehemence of some of the emails has led me to think this is a possibility), so to me it makes sense to do something to placate those users.
At the end of the day all I want is for using TopDesk to be beneficial experience for every user, and to me the time-limited trial seems to be a step in that direction.
I had 1.3.7 and updated to 1.4. But it says my trial has expired :’( any way i can still keep using it
I don’t understand what your getting at. If you had the full version of 1.3.7 then you can upgrade to 1.4 without any problems.
If you also installed the new 1.4 trial then it will timeout if you change the date, etc…, but it won’t stop you using the version you paid for. In fact, I’d recommend that you uninstall the 1.4 trial if you’ve already bought TopDesk, and stick with the 1.4 update.
If I’ve read your comment wrong, feel free to correct me.
I mean i was on the trial. I’m not a person with a credit card or anything so when i updated it said the trial was expired. I’d only been using it for a few days :S
Did you install the new trial via an administrator-level account? What permission level account are you using TopDesk with?
I installed the trial version and switched the date forward while bug hunting through a calendar/scheduler/alert program I’m trying to write. Upon switching the date back, I was surprised to find the trial expired. I tried uninstalling it and re-installing it, and the trial is still expired.
I even tried removing the registry keys, but I guess I missed something.
What can I do?
P.S. – Great job on the program. I really enjoyed it for the 1.5 hours that I had it running. You’re miles ahead of the alternatives. It looks just like a mac does.
Thanks for the compliments
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The problem is that the trial uses a number of Windows date/time sources to determine whether it’s expired, and if it finds that some of them don’t match up it uses the newest one. If you change the date to more than 30 days in the future and then change it back, some of those date/time sources will still be set to the future date.
While it’s an inconvenience for you, unfortunately the trial’s working the way it’s supposed to. However, all’s not lost, since the trial period is reset with every new version of TopDesk. Version 1.4.1 is set for release around the start of February, so if you wait till then and install that version you’ll be able to use the trial again. The only other suggestion I can offer is that you test out the current trial on another machine, if one’s readily available.