Hi Brett,
There is no such thing as free support
Other than the little stuff that comes along with software developing I've never asked for free support. Dean offered it because when I first hooked up with him his client base was small and the software needed a pile of work to bring it up to snuff.
every type of support has a cost, the fact that Dean provided it for so many years shows you what happens - as a programmer and developer for over 20 years I have the experience and the education to make that statement.
I agree, and as someone who has 30 years, is 50, had three separate self-employed careers; software developer, venture capitalist and now freelance writing you've hit the nail on the head.
After reading your other post, I'm sorry to hear that your paid support payments are not accepted,
That's not quite what I said. What I said was that paid tech support is taking orders. They are not being fulfilled. 2Checkout.com does followup on these types of transactions and when I told them what was going on, well after waiting a week I cancelled the order. Today 2Checkout reimbursed my PayPal account what was paid into Dean's account.
I have no way of knowing how to contact Dean at all - so don't ask!
I didn't, I do, and his personal email address is accepting mail but he is not responding except with a lag time of about 3 weeks. His last email to me was that he was still alive lol because I sent him three emails and the third asked if he was dead. {smile}
It's really weird what is going on and I don't understand why Dean would do this
If I had to guess his business model, if he even had one, wasn't built to handle the success he achieved in the number of LMP users. Since the price was low in the beginning it didn't generate enough money for him to be able to make a living and support the software. He did try though. I gave him a number of suggestions which he took seriously and implemented (e.g. LMP would not be able to perform demographical user selection without my input), but by then it was too late (I'm guessing because I don't know his finances). He put into place an affiliate program, he added paid tech support and most everyone balked, he removed himself from these forums to everyone's amazement. It's not all that weird. He was LMP user rich but cash and time poor.
at least we have the older LMP versions that still do the job - that's important - so now it's time to look elsewhere for support
Exactly and all I need to do is restore the last edition of the software and go back to my own business. As far as I can tell Dean has abandoned this one. Not nice. It can trap newbies who think this is a live site. It's not. So to anyone out there reading this thread: buyer beware (nothing personally Dean if you're reading this, but without developer response and no tech support, paid or otherwise, the best thing you could do is stop selling the software and turn off all levels of order taking.)
When you ask for free support, you get a model like this where the software dies in the end, or people end up providing support on their own. You have to choose what you think is better, with the LMP model, you purchase software, and find your own support, and have your solution. With the Aweber/Getresponse model you pay a premium for the service and the support is provided.
Aweber/GetResponse may work for you it doesn't for me. There's a difference in approach between us. I don't want to be dependent upon a 3rd party. I want to purchase the software (like LMP), run it and only have to rely on my server and the developer.
Unfortunately in this case the developer failed me. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Personally if Dean is not going to keep this going then I know someone who can build a system to do the exact same thing, he's established, has great php based products already on the market and has his own core mailing system built. What he doesn't have is the GUI, which you and I both know is the least of a developer's worries. I'll be sending him an email with this thread in it and asking him if he'd like to JV. I finance the gig and he builds the software. We split the profits. Assuming he's interested. He probably has other development plans right now.
PhpList is about the closest you will come to LMP, but it still lacks some features, there are others, and yes I've probably tried them, I would guess I've tried 10-15 different mailing list software programs over the last 5 years.
Yeah I have phpList here as well. Two problems I find are 1. It's open source (easy to hack and/or add crap to it) and 2. The support supplied by tincan would be of secondary nature since their mandate is "Tincan builds and maintains websites that enhance our clients' profile, income and online presence." These guys are not software developers. Better to find a package like LMP. It'll be out there. I research for a living (part of being a freelance writer) I'll see what, if anything, I can track down and keep you all informed. If you hear nothing, then I've found nothing - yet. At the same time I'll have my colleague take a look at the above JV concept. For every door that closes another opens.
There is no easy comparison, Aweber/Getresponse have both raised rates to make their services expensive for many list holders. The best option is a white label version of Aweber, such as XMailPro, or ProSender. I've outlined all of this on my blog, you can read the article at: http://www.profit-internet.com/comparing-autoresonders-getresponse-raises-prices.html
Informative article but as I mention above it's not what I'm looking for. I appreciate you providing possible alternatives though. Unfortunately you don't know anything about our business so there was no way for you to know that it doesn't apply to us, but for anyone reading this I'd suggest you read Brett's article. You might find your answers there because we're sure getting nowhere here.
So, you have my opinion.
Thanks. You have mine. Maybe between us we have given a few options and information to anyone who comes across this.
What I feel is that many people up here are looking for free support, and it's not going to happen. As a developer I'm speaking the truth. You don't dedicate your life to software development and not realize what is going on. I've had numerous people ask questions and pick my brain for support and answers, but I can't do that for free.
Well, sometimes it does and it works. It depends on your planning. This place needs to do a leap but financially it sounds like it may be too late. Unfortunately, for some unknown, unexplained reason, that leap is not happening and Dean is abandoning not only his LMP users but also his hosted users.
I can't imagine the level of frustration those people have gone through. My heart goes out to them. Moving web sites is not easy. Restoring software, while risky, I'd rather do the later. For those of you looking for an excellent, however expensive hosting company you can contact me at
http://www.fwointl.com/contact/ttx.cgi subject LMP User and I'll hook you up with the guys I've been using all my sites for over the past 10 years.
Knowledge comes at a price, you don't go down to the local garage and ask them to fix your car for free - it's a similar model, think about it, programmers are experienced, trained and they deserve to be paid what they are worth - so, you either pay someone for support at this point, or use one of the white label services I mentioned... either of these 2 solutions will get you where you want to be.
You're sounding like a pitchman Brett lol "Pay Dean damnit!"
Well. That's not the solution. I paid, got nothing. The people who were hosting sites with him, they paid, got nothing, someone else I read here purchased support, got nothing. So what we have here is just one more unexplained Internet blip.
Personally playing Sherlock Holmes and trying to figure out what Dean is up to doesn't interest me. I needed tech support for a product I paid for and I paid for the support. I received nothing more than a refund. That tells me that this business is either already dead or Dean has gone on one very, very long and extended vacation. I hope he sends me a postcard. {smile} Maybe he generated a mint of cash and retired? {smile}
Either way, I do agree with you that it's time to move on and find other solutions. In the meantime, use the old, stay still until you're sure you've found what you need and then migrate. It's all that can be done unless Dean suddenly re-appears. That though would be highly doubtful and his level of credibility would be shot to hell. I like Dean, but this is after all a business that he appears to have abandoned, leaving many people in a lurch.
Good luck!
Best to you and yours.
Rowdy Rhodes
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