kcnarf Posted March 27, 2013 Share #21 Posted March 27, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Originally Posted by andybarton "Still waiting for my email..." I'm not simply going to passively wait. I just went to the Nik website and used their service-request emai form to ask them for related information. Grab the bull by the horns! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 27, 2013 Posted March 27, 2013 Hi kcnarf, Take a look here Very interesting news from Nik and Google today. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Guest malland Posted March 27, 2013 Share #22 Posted March 27, 2013 This thread is seriously weird: what's wrong in waiting until Friday, considering that the company has announced that they will be contacting users this week? Don't you have more important things to worry about? —Mitch/New York Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems [download link for book project] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcnarf Posted March 27, 2013 Share #23 Posted March 27, 2013 Yeah, I really do have many more important things crying out for my attention. But sometimes one should get away from them and do something of a more trivial nature: a resuscitating brain break. Why is that weird to you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest malland Posted March 27, 2013 Share #24 Posted March 27, 2013 No, big deal. The weirdness, to me, is that some people in earlier in the thread seemed to be angry at Google and were speculating that the Nik software would be terminated. Seems to me it's to early to assume that this is going to be the case. —Mitch/New York Bangkok Hysteria (download link for book project) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcnarf Posted March 27, 2013 Share #25 Posted March 27, 2013 So if they were really worried, why didn't they do what I did? Send them an email to find out. By the way, they right away acknowledged receipt of my request for information about possible eligibility for free software and promised a prompt reply. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted March 27, 2013 Share #26 Posted March 27, 2013 Google have a history of acquiring then abandoning software - it's a notorious pattern now. I admire the company's innovation in many fields, but abandoning software has become a serious problem. As for why I haven't contacted Nik support directly yet: I haven't been at my home computer this week, just getting home mails on my phone. It's not a matter of urgency getting the software, it's just mild annoyance at the way the marketing has been handled: I'm a paid-up customer for software that wasn't cheap, and then I'm seeing people pass around links to an official free version online, before the company has got in touch with all the registered owners. Simply feels negligent - and reinforces the suspicion that Google/Nik don't really care about the suite of programs any longer. I'm not losing sleep about it though. Just as an additional note: some of the annoyance naturally comes from finding out about the offer clicking on a random forum message, rather than from the company itself. As I said before, a simple message to registered owners first would have been the courteous method to inform them of the beneficial parts of an offer that involves giving away software that cost them $500+ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcnarf Posted March 27, 2013 Share #27 Posted March 27, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Why would they pay money for the company if, as you surmise, they plan to abandon its products? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted March 27, 2013 Share #28 Posted March 27, 2013 Why would they pay money for the company if, as you surmise, they plan to abandon its products? They wanted the mobile Snapseed team. They just announced that the desktop version of Snapseed is being discontinued. Google also recently updated their list of discontinued projects in a so-called 'spring clean' - discontinuation of their RSS aggregator caused the most online hand-wringing, but there's now a long list of projects acquired and since discontinued over the years. btw, this is how they described the shutdown of Google Reader in a blog post: "We know Reader has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We’re sad too. There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products [my italics]. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience. To ensure a smooth transition, we’re providing a three-month sunset period so you have sufficient time to find an alternative feed-reading solution..." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted March 27, 2013 Share #29 Posted March 27, 2013 Dropping some software is one thing, to clear the path for something better, to get competitors out the way, but that isn't what is happening here. Google are not getting rid of software or they wouldn't let everybody have it! It is a stroke of corporate genius from Google, albeit in their quest for world domination. In one stroke they decimate their opposition by letting everybody buy world leading software at a 'real' price. They probably will sell more as well, quantity overidding smaller sales volume of individual plugins. And they make it almost essential software for any enthusiast to have, just as Lightroom and Photoshop are essential. Google and the Nik Suite now control that aspect of the market, just as Adobe do in their field. Is it a marriage made in heaven is all that needs answering. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted March 27, 2013 Share #30 Posted March 27, 2013 Dropping some software is one thing, to clear the path for something better, to get competitors out the way, but that isn't what is happening here. Google are not getting rid of software or they wouldn't let everybody have it! It is a stroke of corporate genius from Google, albeit in their quest for world domination. In one stroke they decimate their opposition by letting everybody buy world leading software at a 'real' price. They probably will sell more as well, quantity overidding smaller sales volume of individual plugins. And they make it almost essential software for any enthusiast to have, just as Lightroom and Photoshop are essential. Google and the Nik Suite now control that aspect of the market, just as Adobe do in their field. Is it a marriage made in heaven is all that needs answering. Steve Giving software away for free is usually a prelude to an announcement that it won't be actively developed in the future. We'll see. I'm not against getting free stuff of course. At my home computer right now, so sent them a mail. As I said, I'm in no rush, but it still seems odd and rather clumsily rude to me that they didn't first inform people who've paid for their products, before releasing the freebie onto the internet. It's bound to cause misunderstandings. And I've received plenty of selling mails from them in the past - the last one was offering me the software I already own at a 10% discount. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
esquire53 Posted March 27, 2013 Share #31 Posted March 27, 2013 Bought any one of their plugins in last 5 years? The rest are yours for free Whole bundle to new users is $150 I downloaded fine. Now I used to have my serial numbers as part of the registered user part of the old Nik site. The user log in is now gone, so I lost all the serial numbers. (I do have a serial number backup) I have not installed the new plug ins and I wonder if all my old serial numbers are required. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
esquire53 Posted March 27, 2013 Share #32 Posted March 27, 2013 just installed the package and all is working fine, no questions asked I checked Aperture 3 and Lightroom 4 The only difference, it show now "Nik Collection by google" So far so good Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
esquire53 Posted March 27, 2013 Share #33 Posted March 27, 2013 even HDR works, a plug in, I never had before Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted March 27, 2013 Author Share #34 Posted March 27, 2013 It would appear that if you didn't opt in to emails from Nik when you registered, you can whistle for your free upgrades. Which seems somewhat discriminatory, to say the least. Their website is singularly unhelpful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted March 27, 2013 Share #35 Posted March 27, 2013 It would appear that if you didn't opt in to emails from Nik when you registered, you can whistle for your free upgrades. Which seems somewhat discriminatory, to say the least. On the other hand you could argue that Google/Nik are just respecting your wishes not to receive emails from them about their latest offers, etc. Have you tried belatedly opting in? Might be voodoo or coincidence but I seem to recall that my link email was sent (to my spam folder:rolleyes:) around the same time that I was blindly rummaging around inside my Nik 'account' to check my registered serial number (trying to find out how to get the upgrade). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted March 28, 2013 Share #36 Posted March 28, 2013 On the other hand you could argue that Google/Nik are just respecting your wishes not to receive emails from them about their latest offers, etc. Have you tried belatedly opting in? Might be voodoo or coincidence but I seem to recall that my link email was sent (to my spam folder:rolleyes:) around the same time that I was blindly rummaging around inside my Nik 'account' to check my registered serial number (trying to find out how to get the upgrade). I receive promotional mails from Nik - just not this one. Anyway, tried to log-in to my account on the EU site as before, but now clicking on the login button takes you straight to the uninformative Google page. I have no idea why some people think this is a good way for a company to behave? There's actually a lot of contradictory information online about who and when people get these email links, and the only place where Google has even implicitly mentioned the free offer is in a semi-official tweet. That's also where they implied that the mails were being sent out all week - no-one has explicitly stated that as a fact. Looking back I see I've spent around $400 on Nik stuff with upgrades, so believe it or not I am annoyed that this offer has apparently completely passed me by. I don't really see why it shouldn't be annoying? Strange loyalties people have to companies like Google - I'm more than ever convinced that the software is abandoned and this give-away is a prelude to shutdown. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted March 28, 2013 Share #37 Posted March 28, 2013 It would appear that if you didn't opt in to emails from Nik when you registered, you can whistle for your free upgrades. Which seems somewhat discriminatory, to say the least. Their website is singularly unhelpful. There are discussion comments relating to opting out of emails on the DPR web page linked to this news. Success is reported by contacting Google via the Customer Support Form and a response pointing to the download site is sent. I'm going to wait till it all settles down, keeping up with what Google are or are not doing is taking lots of time up. http://connect.dpreview.com/post/4452357456/google-nik-software-plugins Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted March 28, 2013 Share #38 Posted March 28, 2013 Success is reported by contacting Google via the Customer Support Form and a response pointing to the download site is sent. Ah! That's what I did too and my email arrived around the same time but I didn't think the two events were directly linked (in fact, I assumed that the contact form hadn't worked properly because when I pressed the submit button the form reset without confirming that a message had been sent). This was the form I used. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted March 28, 2013 Share #39 Posted March 28, 2013 Ah! That's what I did too and my email arrived around the same time but I didn't think the two events were directly linked (in fact, I assumed that the contact form hadn't worked properly because when I pressed the submit button the form reset without confirming that a message had been sent). This was the form I used. That was just a coincidence I think. I also used that form, and what comes back is a generic "We've received your enquiry" type of mail, promising to be in touch over the next couple days. Following some of the links through to the DPR comments and then the Google+ postings by various Google employees in answer to hundreds of questions, shows that the whole thing is pretty chaotic - seems like quite a few European customers never received the 'transfer-my-Nik-registration-to-Google' mail which is apparently a prerequisite for the offer (I never got that mail), and the response from the Google people pretty much always amounts to "send me a private mail and I'll fix your situation". That doesn't strike me as a sustainable support model. I've always been the laughing-stock of many of my friends and acquaintances for actually paying for software - they usually have pirate upgrades installed before me, and have less hassle when switching to new computers, and so on. I'm guessing all of them have the Nik stuff installed by now. PS: Google have said: "All of the emails should be out by now, so if you haven't received something, please check your spam folder." in case anyone is still patiently waiting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted March 28, 2013 Share #40 Posted March 28, 2013 This thread is seriously weird: what's wrong in waiting until Friday, considering that the company has announced that they will be contacting users this week? Don't you have more important things to worry about? —Mitch/New York Paris au rythme de Basquiat and Other Poems [download link for book project] Google have said all the mails have been sent by now. Unfortunately not all of us are rolling around in cash and can afford a cavalier attitude to these things. I've been on parental leave for eight-nine months now, so money is pretty short here. Because of this, I only upgraded my Viveza software last time around, and decided to skip the Silver Efex upgrade because I didn't feel I could justify the extra cost. Now I know perfectly well that some people around here buy a Monochrom or two on a whim, but for others of us these sorts of extra peripheral expenses eventually add up to amounts that can pay for winter clothes for the kids, or new tires for the car. But yeah - not having these plug-ins isn't gonna kill me. Managed without the extra ones up until a couple of days ago, but I don't think it's 'weird' to get annoyed when you've been left out of the big give-away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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