LSP still in business?

Bill Ellick

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I have been trying to contact LSP for over a week now with a few seperate emails and no reply?
I am trying to get version 2.5 installed on a new computer running Windows 7 and have emailed them the license file to get a verification back so that I can unlock my version but have gotten no reply from anyone.

Is there some show or something going on right now which would keep them from getting back to me? I want to get this thing up and running as I need to get my LOR shows transferred over to LSP so I can begin using pixels in my display.
Not complaining but it is hard to have confidence in a company if they don't respond to you, if you know what I mean.
 

Bill Ellick

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Kane said:
I was actually going to repost this last week to see what everyone thought of this:

http://lightshowpro.com/quality-control-committee-announcements/4523-lightshowpro-re-write-project-current-status.html#post26638

I did think it was extremely optimistic of them to expect to rewrite LSP in a year... Will be interesting to see how things go.


I have reservations on purchasing another upgrade to 2.8 when I can't even get them to respond to a valid request to provide a license file for my 2.5 version that I paid for and am only trying to get installed on another computer so I can try and use the program for my display

This can only make others nervous as well if they are not supporting us. I have a lot of sequences and time involved with Light-O-Rama and making a switch to new software is not something to take lightly. I certainly don't want to find out in a few months that they have decided to drop all this and give up on the product nor do I want to make this change and not be able to get any support for it either.
It does seem like since Mike Mullvenna's "retirement" from LSP, that things have slowed up considerably for them as far as the forum posts and such.

So does anyone recommend any other software for pixel control that would not be too great of a project to convert sequences over from LOR to? I certainly can't afford something like Madrix or one of the let's say over $500 programs to do this if I can it but I need to look for alternatives I guess unless they do respond.
I know that quite a few people on this forum use LSP so that is why I posted here first to see if anyone has heard news on them or what is going on. My sequences in LOR have 256 channels to convert over and then I will have to change parts to pixels over time as I make the change from LEDs to pixels in the display and add other items.

Hopefully someone has good news on things?
 

SmartAlecLights

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beeiilll said:
Kane said:
I was actually going to repost this last week to see what everyone thought of this:

http://lightshowpro.com/quality-control-committee-announcements/4523-lightshowpro-re-write-project-current-status.html#post26638

I did think it was extremely optimistic of them to expect to rewrite LSP in a year... Will be interesting to see how things go.


I have reservations on purchasing another upgrade to 2.8 when I can't even get them to respond to a valid request to provide a license file for my 2.5 version that I paid for and am only trying to get installed on another computer so I can try and use the program for my display

This can only make others nervous as well if they are not supporting us. I have a lot of sequences and time involved with Light-O-Rama and making a switch to new software is not something to take lightly. I certainly don't want to find out in a few months that they have decided to drop all this and give up on the product nor do I want to make this change and not be able to get any support for it either.
It does seem like since Mike Mullvenna's "retirement" from LSP, that things have slowed up considerably for them as far as the forum posts and such.

So does anyone recommend any other software for pixel control that would not be too great of a project to convert sequences over from LOR to? I certainly can't afford something like Madrix or one of the let's say over $500 programs to do this if I can it but I need to look for alternatives I guess unless they do respond.
I know that quite a few people on this forum use LSP so that is why I posted here first to see if anyone has heard news on them or what is going on. My sequences in LOR have 256 channels to convert over and then I will have to change parts to pixels over time as I make the change from LEDs to pixels in the display and add other items.

Hopefully someone has good news on things?

Vixen 3 - totaly free
:D :D :D
 

arw01

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Come join the Facebook light show users group. Although strictly speaking it's un-official, but a developer or two has been known to be around from time to time.


I'll drop a couple of PM's to people that know people for you.
 

arw01

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beeiilll said:
I have been trying to contact LSP for over a week now with a few seperate emails and no reply?
I am trying to get version 2.5 installed on a new computer running Windows 7 and have emailed them the license file to get a verification back so that I can unlock my version but have gotten no reply from anyone.

Is there some show or something going on right now which would keep them from getting back to me? I want to get this thing up and running as I need to get my LOR shows transferred over to LSP so I can begin using pixels in my display.
Not complaining but it is hard to have confidence in a company if they don't respond to you, if you know what I mean.


Did you post on the forum at LSP as well? Don't see anything in the feed about a 2.5 key issue.
 

rmonty

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I assure you, we are still here. Unfortunately Dean does travel quite a bit and does not always have access to email. He is playing catch-up right now due to an event he attended last week.


The license server is currently down. We are working as quickly as possible to get it back up and running, it just takes time.


The re-write is mainly not happening this year as we could have finished in time for the holidays, but we thought it would be too late to push out a new version while everyone is busy setting up their displays. We thought it best to fix a few deficiencies in the 2.8 build and slow down the re-write to make sure we do it right.


We will try to post better updates on the LSP forum going forward as we realize it has been very quiet lately.


Ryan
 

fasteddy

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If you were having issues then you could try an PM me and I will try to help.

There has been some changes with Mike now leaving the role of dealing with the licenses. Also I know that Minleon USA who administer the license keys has been at a large US lighting show this past week.

Unfortunatly i didnt see this post because for some reason when i went to look at all unread posts there seemed to only be a couple of post which was strange. So i missed this and a few other threads.
 

Bill Ellick

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rmonty said:
I assure you, we are still here. Unfortunately Dean does travel quite a bit and does not always have access to email. He is playing catch-up right now due to an event he attended last week.


The license server is currently down. We are working as quickly as possible to get it back up and running, it just takes time.


The re-write is mainly not happening this year as we could have finished in time for the holidays, but we thought it would be too late to push out a new version while everyone is busy setting up their displays. We thought it best to fix a few deficiencies in the 2.8 build and slow down the re-write to make sure we do it right.


We will try to post better updates on the LSP forum going forward as we realize it has been very quiet lately.


Ryan

Well, finally someone with some answer at least (although I still have not received any email from anyone about my problem or even to tell me to hang on and they will get to me! Have any of you people ever heard of "auto responders"???? They really do work when you can't answer someone right away you know.)

So I had to come to an Australian lighting forum to get someone who is "associated" with the LSP program to respond? Sorry to say this but that is pretty messed up Ryan to say the least.
A simple email to me to tell me that the license server is down (gee an auto responder would do this nicely) would have been just fine wouldn't you think? Instead I am very carefully searching every one of my emails, yes even the bogus and stupid spam, just to be sure that I don't miss a response that is not even coming? Again, pretty messed up in this new age of communication I would think.

So is there any time frame on getting the license server back up (hopefully now some answer like "well we hope to have it back up some time soon")? Might be a nice thing for people to know along with the knowledge that LSP is not going to answer people who email them directly with problems, we have to go to other forums to get answers!

Sorry to be sarcastic but this is a pretty bad experience to me for a program that wants to be used by the lighting community for displays. I am not so sure that I want to invest any more in it knowing that I can't even get a simple response when I have a problem with it, much less a solution to my problem if you can understand where I am coming from.
Somebody at LSP dropped the ball on this one big time to me. If you want my business, you have to at least let me know where I stand with the company, not through an unrelated forum response.

Thank God at least that there are people on forums like this one who will attempt to help people out.
Yes I understand that there have been changes with LSP and people changes as well but you have to take that into account if you want to own and run a program like LSP or any for that matter. As I said, a simple auto response would have been just a common and quick way to let me know that I had not been forgotten out here. I would have known that my questions were at least seen.

I certainly hope to get the program licensed soon so I can work with it and see if I want to keep it and make the rather large investment in time and energy to convert existing sequences over to it as well as develop new ones with pixels.

So in the end, I have no answers to my original questions and am still waiting to know when I can at least get the program license installed and running? Is the license server running now since it has been 3 days since your post?
 

ecbailey

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I got a response after using the contact form on their website yesterday. They said the activation server will be back up within the next day or two. Hopefully sooner than later, I want to do a bit of testing on the weekend.


I need to make sure I save my licence in the future when I wipe me laptop.
 

Kaden

Pixels! I need more pixels!
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I don't mean to rant/be off topic and its not directly targeted at LSP but online activations are a frustration at times (ie sitting in a shed working offline), but a big frustration when the activation server is down.

We are forced by software providers to do the online activations, so if we can't activate, even if it is only a day, they should expect our anger/frustration/disappointment directed at them.

We legally purchased and installed the software, yet we are punished for it. The people that pirated the software aren't inconvenienced at all.

Maybe removing the activation requirement is something Minleon should consider for the rewrite?
 

rmonty

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We hope to have it back up and running tonight, but I would probably just say it will be back up by the weekend.

Unfortunately this problem was not relayed to the community well as we thought it was a quick fix. Unfortunately this has not been the case.

I apologize for your frustration about being informed of the situation. Unfortunately I don't have access to the support emails and I am unable to frequent all the different forums to check on everyone's status.
We are in the process of setting up a dedicated support site to better handle support issues going forward.

Appreciate your patience.

Ryan
 

Bill Ellick

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Well considering that today is the 19th day since I started to try and get support help, then yes I would say that I am being quite patient about things (all things being considered).
But is is also very much in my mind as to whether to bother with this software or simply drop it and move on to another if this is what can be expected with this one!
If this was the actual season time, I would be over 1/2 way through the display month that I do with NO display! That is a very real problem that I consider from this experience.
In response to Kaden, I understand and appreciate the "need" for having activations for software as it is the only recourse available to suppliers to keep their product profitable and safe. BUT, I also know from other people I am in contact with who work in software development that it is not that big a deal to have the product activation tied to a user so that the activation code will work no matter which machine it is installed in (and yes it is also not a real big deal to have the software "count" how many times it is installed and/or on how many machines it is installed on as well), so that after the first activation it should not be required to contact the supplier to re-install your program unless you go beyond the maximum number of installations. AND this would eliminate the need for any form of a license server to worry about, just a license database of legal users for the supplier to keep track of. Of course if you get as big as Microsoft, you just install a phone verification system to allow automatic re-activation if need be!
This is not a big part of the profit or usability of the software and hence not high on the list of things that a manufacturer will want to develop but it is only a "one time" development cost in the very beginning and something that would help eliminate problems like this once in place. Perhaps since their is a very large and major re-write of LSP in the process and development, maybe this would be something to look seriously at to keep this from happening again.
I do think that the program is a good program and there are a lot of other people out there who use it who will probably stand by it as well. With the ever increasing need for RGB and pixel control, LSP is in a very good position with this rebuilding of the whole program to make a program that will become even more widely used and highly sought after by the lighting community.

But my overall problem of no one contacting me through support is still the big thorn in the side about this experience and not a good one at all. If indeed they are setting up a dedicated support site, then hopefully others will not have this problem in the future and improving the program and support is the whole reason for having forums like this and the LSP one in the first place.

Only time will tell and we shall see what the future holds.
 
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