LaserSoft Imaging

SilverFast 6.5 UPGRADE & our Company policy

Dear Users,

first of all regarding our Update policy, I would like you to look at the fact that we have supplied for over 4 years more than 169 free updates (from V6.0 to 6.4.9) with numerous features that we have supplied for free! LaserSoft Imaging certainly represents a rare exception in the software industry today to give such a big amount of development to customers for free. Nevertheless we have to pay high quality scientists and engineers and without them we would not be the leading scanner software developer in the world!!!

Already with SilverFast 5.5 when we delivered the new NegaFix function, we explained the difference between an UPDATE and an UPGRADE and that we regard 5.5 as a major revision (as also ADOBE did).
Here now we have a major revision with powerful new features (after 169 free updates). So look at what we have delivered in reality and not at the semantics, instead compare what was regarded previously the best scanner software, LinoColor, which has had a price of over 2500 US$, while in the meantime SilverFast is regarded as so much more powerful and productive than LinoColor at a fraction of the price!

Think about why SilverFast is the only software that is bundled by so many scanner manufacturers world-wide? Devide the UPGRADE fee by all the features we have delivered since V6 over the time of 4 years - how many upgrades did ADOBE have and what have they charged!!!

So, I am sure you will agree that you want us to continue to make relevant inventions and develop powerful features, which is only possible with high quality developers, which only stay in a company with reasonable salaries.

So, I hope everyone can see the relationship and value of UPGRADES and the necessity for fees at certain times to deliver great software!

At this point I also want to thank every customer for his or her valuable input, whether it was criticism on bugs or ideas for new functions. We all do make mistakes, but we are open and ready to quickly correct what is not working properly. So please continue to share criticism and ideas with us in a constructive way!

best regards
yours sincerely

Karl-Heinz Zahorsky
President & CEO
LaserSoft Imaging AG

This is a nice upgrade policy -
But it's not fair for people, who bought a scanner or the software this year. In such case, it is a customary equitable approach of software-producer to provide a free upgrade (e.g. called "Technology Guarantee").

Lasersoft:

I am disappointed that the management of this company is so sadly missing the point of concern by many of it's customers.

When a consumer buys a scanner with provided scanning software- the expectation is that the software will work to run the scanner... and that the software will have free, downloadable UPDATES to run on computer system software. (At the same feature level as the provided software.)

UPGRADES of software, with new features, improvements, etc. are another, different issue. Those who want or need new featues can pay the price. This is understood.

Unfortunately Silverfast management is (as we say in the US) mixing apples and oranges. Your consumers should not be expected to buy additional upgrades to run their scanners! I, for one, am not interested in new or additional featues- nor should I be expected to pay for them!

In my case- I purchased an Epson Photo Scanner that came with Silverfast as part of the purchase price of the scanner. One of the reasons I bought this particular scanners was that the Silverfast plug in allowed me to scan directly in Photoshop- which is my main tool for graphic work. (I run CS2 Photoshop on a Mac G5 with OS 10.4)

Now that I am running CS3 Photoshop I have found that Silverfast CRASHES my application everytime I scan. When approaching Lasersoft for fixes: I and others were told to buy the upgrade; only to find that it STILL CRASHES CS3 PHOTOSHOP. The last forum posting I saw stated that LASERSOFT DOES NOT SUPPORT CS3 PHOTOSHOP.

I think that is inexcusable. As far as justifying cost increases- this doesn't fly. I'm sure Lasersoft does not get packaged with scanners for free. I consider part of my purchase price of the Epson scanner payment for the Silverfast software.

Finally, you might notice that Canon, Epson, and HP ALL provide free driver updates, etc. for their equipment. Lasersoft should do the same.


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Must I assume that Lasersoft has stopped supporting older versions (i.e. the 6.4 version which works fine, but lacks the new features of 6.5)?

So, if I upgrade Photoshop, I have to upgrade Silverfast, too, as Lasersoft does not support 6.4 any longer (which means that 6.4 will never work with future versions of, e.g., Photoshop)?

Please advise on the life time cycle of your software.

Hello

Could you let me know what your policy is for those customers who are getting your SilverFast Ai software together with a scanner they bought quite a while after the release of version 6.5?
I am still waiting for the scanner, but doubt very much that I will get 6.5 with it. Thanks for your help, hope this is the right thread.

Bye for now
RHeim

r-heim et all,

As a fellow customer I certainly understand the frustrations you are expressing, but I would like to point out that LaserSoft is not responsible for the software versions that scanner manufactures choose to bundle with their products.

As an example I purchased some specialized hardware for my computer in order to capture digital video. The hardware came bundled with video editing software from a well known software company and within six months of my purchase the software company released a new version of the video editing software. Much to my surprise and pleasure, the hardware manufacturer negotiated free upgrades with the software company. My point is that my purchase was from the hardware company, not the software company and that in my opinion made the hardware company responsible for taking care of me as a customer.

I think Mr. Zahorsky's point, please correct me if I am wrong Mr. Zahorsky, is that customers who purchased previous versions of SilverFast received a large number of free updates. I know first hand that some of the updates were only bug fixes, but several also added new functionality. Based on LaserSoft's track record I am confident they will continue the trend of providing free updates between product releases. These will also, I'm sure, address any compatibility issues with CS3.

Remember, if it was easy everyone would be doing it, right?