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Wanderer Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 88

Will the trial period be reset with each new Beta version?

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

Beginner Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 17

It certainly should be. With the first beta release not really being very usable and then Zugg's week and a half vacation, we're already approaching the halfway mark of the trial period if you installed it the first day. I know some people feel differently, but the current version of CMUD isn't something I am going to pay for. It is barely usable.

If the trial isn't reset when a more stable beta is released, then it seems like the number of testers is going to decline as people who feel the same as me get locked out from using the product. That seems like a bad thing since more testers usually results in more bugs being found.

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

May be that Zugg would reconsider given the problems with the first beta. I'd imagine there will be a lot of minor releases for bug fixes, so could be that at more significant releases then teh trial would be reset to allow further testing once a lot of progress is made... though not for me to guess really ;)

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

I expect the trial period will be reset at least once before CMUD goes Public. I've only get 6 days left on my trial and I've not really used it, as it crashes when it tries to load my settings (and I've been too busy to go through my settings with a fine tooth comb trying to see what may be wrong with them).

Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:12 pm

I typically do not reset trial periods. I mostly expect that people beta testing CMUD will be registered. Unregistered users using the trial shouldn't be playing with early beta software like this.

So, don't plan or expect it to be reset. While I've done this in the past and might do it again, I don't want anyone to get upset if it doesn't get reset.

Wanderer Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 88

Fair enough, don't be upset when you have very few Beta testers after next week.

Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:25 pm

As I said, this has never been an issue with zMUD, and I don't expect it to be an issue with CMUD. I am already getting plenty of beta reports from people who have already purchased CMUD for this early in the beta process. I expect people who are worried about paying to get more involved later in the beta process when more testers will naturally be needed. And since discounts for zMUD users are only available during the CMUD beta, that will also encourage plenty of people to use the beta a bit later. I've been doing this same process for 10 years now. It's important really early in the beta process to only get really dedicated beta testers, otherwise I get flooded with less useful bug reports. As the beta gets more stable, more people buy it, and more people start testing it.

Wanderer Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 88

I'm sure you know best however the difference between what has happened with zMud over the last 10 years and with the new CMUD program is that you cannot rely upon a proportion of the thousands of pre-existing licence holders to take up Beta testing as there aren't any. Nor does it seem that most of the zMud Guru/Wizards are very active at the moment if board posts are any indication.

Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:35 pm

Sorry that is sounds like you are upset. But there are hundreds of people already beta testing CMUD, including many of the Gurus/Wizards. You don't see as many forum posts because many people are using the in-program Send Feedback option and sending crash dumps from within CMUD which provide me a lot more information for fixing bugs than simple forum posts. Also, many of the beta testers have done about as much as they can with the 1.01 version and are waiting for the 1.02 version. I have over 400 reports that have been sent within the past two weeks. That's more feedback than I've ever gotten with *any* zMUD version in the past.

I don't *want* thousands of zMUD users to beta test CMUD yet. They would just be frustrated with the early beta. The hundreds of testers I already have are plenty for right now. That is why I haven't even announced the CMUD beta to existing zMUD users yet. Once I'm ready for thousands of testers, and once CMUD is stable enough to handle this many testers, then I'll be announcing it formally to all zMUD customers. But that won't be until at least after the 1.02 version when CMUD is more useable.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Although, I may not be a dedicated beta testing *at the moment*, I have sent in a few detailed crash reports, which I hope are helpful. And once the most critical issues are fixed, and I can actually connect to the MUD that I play without blank settings, I expect I'll send in a lot more. I can understand you, Zugg, not resetting the trial periods in general, but, frankly, for people (and I'm not concerned here about myself) who tried the first beta and find it unusable, I think at some point, you want to give them another chance to fall in love with CMUD. "At some point" being the operative phrase here.

Apprentice Joined: 16 Dec 2002 Posts: 114 Location: USA

While I have cmud installed and licensed, and would enjoy being able to play with it, at this time, I quite literally am not able to :-D. As for the trial period, I must agree with Zugg on this one, there is no reason for him to keep on giving out cmud for free, and thats what it sounds like you are trying to pull.

Btw, Zugg if you have not noticed my post on the forums, might take a look at it and offer some advice please? I would uninstall and reinstall, but I try not to do that unless absolutely necessary.

Magician Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 482

Well i can say while i dont believe this should be standard practice that as well v101 was for the most part unusable and coupled with zuggs vacation didnt allow many people to have much use of it or to even give an idea. I would recommend although would understand if its not that zugg consider resetting for v1.02 and then not at all after that. Many people wanted to try out the new CMUD to figure out if they wanted to upgrade and got v1.01 instead. As such their trials will be over before 1.02 even gets released which should be a much more stable version.

For me i am just waiting per a prior post to purchase and also have been offered a gift of cmud to test it by a forum member here.

Suggestion : reset for v1.02 to give people a better trial to evaluate their interest. Then no resets after that point. If 1.02 is what i expect it will be it will be enough to give people a good idea of whether they want to upgrade.

Mind you its just my opinion

BTW check the support I added a report in there you might wanna fix

Wizard Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 1551 Location: Australia

I would imagine Zugg will reset the trial when he does the first public version.

Personally if I was Zugg, I would run with the current level of beta testers until we get to about 2 weeks prior to the public version, then reset the trial at that point. I don't see a lot of need to reset it before that, given that a _lot_ of new functionality is still needing to be built (eg sql-based mapper and database modules, mxp extensions for user interface tweaking, etc). ATM CMUD is essentially a fast, pretty version of zMUD without offering that 'next step up' in functionality (well aside from the packages). It has the instant 'wow' factor, but I'm really looking forward to sinking my teeth into the meaty new features :)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we have a long beta ahead of us (at least another 2-3 months?), so resetting the trials this early really serves no purpose. He's already got the loyal base of testers who have bought their copies to help throughout the beta phase, he doesn't need the extra's who just want to run CMUD for free throughout the beta phase.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

My own personal opinion more or less matches that of Rainchild. I don't really want to be too blunt here, but sometimes I have to...

Those that began playing with CMud this early in its beta stages had to know they were in for a rocky ride. The only way to not know that is to be next to brain dead. Zugg does not need bug reports from such people at this time. That being said, you will either be left behind because of an expired trial or you will actually chose to wake up and support Zuggsoft; making that purchase is a beginning.

What begins is a vested interest in just how CMud turns out. Having purchased at this early stage you now have a stake in directing how CMud works. I care alot about how CMud does and I intend to show it. My goal is to purchase another license every single time Zugg makes enough improvements that I can better work with CMud. From my experience with Zugg, even if I suceed in my goal it will not be any more important than the needs of other users.

A reset of the trial period at this time serves no one. Some where down the line, when CMud approaches the end of its first beta cycle; then yes... reset the trial. Until then please if you are truly interested in shaping CMud's future, take the time to purchase a license, and make the effort to help in the beta process.

Enchanter Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 698

Ditto what Rainchild and Vijilante said, and two more reasons:

1) With the addition of the automatic crash feedback system, it is easier to report problems than not. The chances of show-stopping bugs slipping through a small number of testers is slight and the chances of fourteen kajillion bug reports for the same issue is almost certain if the beta is continually opened to all.

2) During zMUD’s development Zugg mostly added new (buggy) features even as he fixed existing bugs with each release. I found this immensely frustrating because I wanted something stable to play with. But, taking the time to get a release ready means less time perfecting the program.

Those who have purchased CMUD are, through their purchase, dedicated to the beta process. Too many times during zMud’s development (probably around version 4 or 5), I read other mudders’ posts and messages saying that zMUD was too ‘unstable’ or it crashed their computer. Continuously resetting the trial period during the beta stage would encourage people to use buggy software as a regular client and could possibly turn some prospective users against it.

I’m not saying that the readers of this post are not prepared to deal with beta bugs and such – only that, by resetting the trial period, people who may not be prepared for bugs, would be encouraged to use CMUD and might possibly be turned off by the experience.

Beginner Joined: 08 Oct 2002 Posts: 20 Location: USA

Honestly, I think there should not have been a trial period UNTIL it was in a more retail-ready format simply to avoid this kind of uninformed posts. Maybe a cautionary warning when you download it, stating that if you want to wait for a more stable version before using your free trial, please do so.

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

There *was* a cautionary warning for everyone downloading it saying that it was unlikely to be stable

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:51 pm

Btw, I just wanted to remind people that the original poster of this thread was asking for a general policy. He was asking whether the trial is reset with every beta.

There are good reasons for resetting the trial, and there are good reasons for *not* resetting the trial. Regardless of whether or not I decide to reset the trial for specific versions, the *general policy* is that we do not reset the trial for beta versions. This was true for zMUD, and is still true for CMUD.

Everyone needs to understand that while I'm well aware of good reasons for resetting the trial now and then, I simply cannot change our general policy for this. It will always be an exception to the policy if I decide to reset the trial for a particular beta version.

Also, the original post talked about beta versions. With *public* versions, the trial gets reset whenever I release a new "major" version that changes the license. In other words, when a major public version is released that enforces the 2-year upgrade policy, then the trial gets automatically reset in this version (because it uses a different license that the previous versions).