Disappointment

[dpabbott]

I was a happy user of Silverfast 6.6 on my Epson 4990 scanner. The upgrade to Lion of course meant I needed an upgrade, and waited until 8 came out, which I bought.

Installation went without issue, ran up the program, again without issue... but Silverfast refused to see my scanner, though the Epson utility saw it without any issue.

I contacted SilverFast support - not overly happy with the reply that because my scanner was on the FireWire bus, Silverfast would not see it. Odd, as v6.6 did...

Further investigation revealed that Silverfast would not support a FireWire scanner as "Apple did not support FireWire any more".

Which, looking at the specs of brand new Macs on the UK Apple store, would appear to be rot. All new Macs, except the Air, have a FireWire port - and didn't Apple have a large hand in the development of FireWire?

So - I can't use my scanner without fiddling around each time with cables. Silverfast make no note of this issue ANYWHERE in the documentation.

Be warned. If I could get a refund, I would, but Silverfast are very explicit in the non-refundability of their software.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there

Which, looking at the specs of brand new Macs on the UK Apple store, would appear to be rot. All new Macs, except the Air, have a FireWire port - and didn't Apple have a large hand in the development of FireWire?

Actually, they did remove the FireWire port of some laptops and then re-introduced it in later models. Yes, they were involved in the development of FireWire as in many other things they are not supporting anymore.

So - I can't use my scanner without fiddling around each time with cables. Silverfast make no note of this issue ANYWHERE in the documentation.

Well, it is clearly stated on our product site, supported interface USB: http://www.silverfast.com/product/Epson/483/en.html

Be warned. If I could get a refund, I would, but Silverfast are very explicit in the non-refundability of their software.

Well, it is a policy valid for most software manufacturers.
We explicitly encourage people to download and test our demo versions before making any purchase.

Kind regards

[dpabbott]

Granted: there is mention on the Epson 4990 support page on your site of USB after having to scroll down and click through a tab - but you don't explicitly say FireWire is NOT supported.

You say "Yes, they were involved in the development of FireWire as in many other things they are not supporting anymore."

So if Apple aren't supporting FireWire anymore, how come all the latest Macs (except the Air) have a FireWire port? Doesn't that indicate support?

[LSI_Morales]

Hi dpabbott

Granted: there is mention on the Epson 4990 support page on your site of USB after having to scroll down and click through a tab - but you don't explicitly say FireWire is NOT supported.

We state the supported interface.

You say "Yes, they were involved in the development of FireWire as in many other things they are not supporting anymore."

So if Apple aren't supporting FireWire anymore, how come all the latest Macs (except the Air) have a FireWire port? Doesn't that indicate support?

I never said Apple was not supporting FireWire, did I? Nor is it explicitly written on our product site or website, is it?

Kind regards

[dpabbott]

I never said Apple was not supporting FireWire, did I? Nor is it explicitly written on our product site or website, is it?

You didn't no. One of your colleagues did in a Support Request email sent to me a few weeks ago.

[purrpug]

Is there a date for Firewire implementation in SilverFast 8?

I didn't suspect that this upgrade, so persuasively promoted to me, would in fact be retrograde interface-wise. Why would I? My Epson V700, which is Firewire by necessity, worked perfectly with the previous version.

Less is more?

Can I suggest that in the "Support Assistant: I have a technical question" "My scanner is not recognised correctly" 'My Epson scanner is not found by SilverFast" "Please make sure your Epson scanner is connected directly to a USB port" it be changed to "directly to a USB port only". Just one extra word for idiots like me who might waste time because they didn't fully understand or appreciate that the software they have paid good money for lacks something that it previously had, until they think to check this forum.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi purrpug

Is there a date for Firewire implementation in SilverFast 8?

We are working on this issue but it has proven to be more difficult to solve than we initially thought. For this reason we can not really give you an accurate release date.

Can I suggest that in the "Support Assistant: I have a technical question" "My scanner is not recognised correctly" 'My Epson scanner is not found by SilverFast" "Please make sure your Epson scanner is connected directly to a USB port" it be changed to "directly to a USB port only".

Thanks for your suggestion I have already send your proposal to our support manager.

Kind regards