Full version

[dcol]

Aero Glass is great except for the pop-up screens and watermarks. I would buy a full version without the nags if it was available. Is it?

[Shining Escuridao]

As far as I know you receive a license key which removes the watermark, start up pop-up, and automatically downloads symbol files for the program if you donate to the program's creator. You can donate from the support page here http://glass8.eu/support.php. Further information can be found here http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173139-read-first/.

Other than that the program is technically the "full" version from the start I suppose as it's not exactly nagware asking one to donate to use the program.

[Delicieuxz]

On 5/4/2016 at 11:09 AM, Shining Escuridao said:

As far as I know you receive a license key which removes the watermark, start up pop-up, and automatically downloads symbol files for the program if you donate to the program's creator. You can donate from the support page here http://glass8.eu/support.php. Further information can be found here http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173139-read-first/.

Other than that the program is technically the "full" version from the start I suppose as it's not exactly nagware asking one to donate to use the program.

Really? All of that information should be included on the Support and Download pages for Aero Glass, because, right now, it isn't. How is anyone going to have any clue that donating produces these basic wanted advantages when it isn't stated anywhere on the Aero Glass webpage?

I actually hadn't donated, because I didn't want to buy into a product that was not ready for prime-time, with the "Aero Glass does not know how to hook your version of DWM" message, and whatnot. The AG free build comes across as buggy, and with no clear direction to solve all its issues (missing symbols, watermark, pop-up at start of launching Windows).

I guess this is a tip to the developer: If you intend to put full functionality behind a paywall, with the intention of the free release being for people to consider donating, then make that clear on the Download and Support pages. Otherwise, the product just comes across as half-assed, sloppy, incomplete, and not worth buying in its current state.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Delicieuxz

[Delicieuxz]

In this post:http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173139-read-first/

... the developer says: If you want to remove desktop watermark, read this page: http://glass8.eu/support.php

There is absolutely no mention that supporting removes the watermark on that page. So, what are people expected to read there that relates to removing the watermark?

Also, in that linked-to thread, the developer also says "Private/Full/Donated version downloads the symbols automatically, so you don't have to do anything except waiting for a while."

Again, there is absolutely no mention of this on the Support page. Are these features supposed to just be pleasant surprises that supporters don't expect, but just happen to get once they support? Or are they supposed to be reasons why people might choose to support? If it is the latter, then best to include mention of the benefits of supporting on the actual Support page, and also on the Download page.

If I hadn't bothered coming to the forum to mention the issue of missing symbols, and if I hadn't bothered reading this particular thread where a forum member pointed that these things are solved by supporting, I would have left AG as not a full solution, and not worth the hassle. A bit of communication and clarity really makes all the difference to people using this application.

[Delicieuxz]

Well, I donated and generated a license key, and placed it in the Aero Glass folder. That removed the watermark, but it did not cause the needed symbols to download automatically. I still get a message saying "Aero Glass does not know how to hook your version of DWM," and also "We tried to download the appropriate symbols package from Microsoft server but it failed. Do you want to retry it now?"

[dhjohns]

Well there you go.  The server failed.  Wait for it to be up.  

[Shining Escuridao]

On 7/28/2016 at 2:50 PM, Delicieuxz said:

Really? All of that information should be included on the Support and Download pages for Aero Glass, because, right now, it isn't. How is anyone going to have any clue that donating produces these basic wanted advantages when it isn't stated anywhere on the Aero Glass webpage?

I actually hadn't donated, because I didn't want to buy into a product that was not ready for prime-time, with the "Aero Glass does not know how to hook your version of DWM" message, and whatnot. The AG free build comes across as buggy, and with no clear direction to solve all its issues (missing symbols, watermark, pop-up at start of launching Windows).

I guess this is a tip to the developer: If you intend to put full functionality behind a paywall, with the intention of the free release being for people to consider donating, then make that clear on the Download and Support pages. Otherwise, the product just comes across as half-assed, sloppy, incomplete, and not worth buying in its current state.

The watermark and pop up don't bother me so I suppose it's a matter of preference. Additionally, you can solve the issue of hooking on your own without paying, people have asked on here quite a few times how to fix that and myself and others have helped out; search the forums and if you really can't find a solution to the hooking issue, ask and someone will help you. Additionally, BM has also challenged users to attempt cracking the program if they really don't want to donate for added benefits.

Also, at this point in time I doubt BM is going to change his model. He's been doing this for a while and his response has mainly been "don't like it, don't use it" from what I can tell. The error you're finding is a result of so many updates to the windows OS changing the symbols that need to be hooked into so if anything you should be blaming microsoft rather than BM who has to code each version of this program to work every single time there's a significant update to the OS (as is currently happening with the windows 10 anniversary build).

(I personally just wanted the AeroGlass effect and don't mind the watermark and removing the pop up at start up)

EDIT: I noticed that you mentioned that you don't want to install additional software as well as manually fix this error every time it occurs, so I have to ask exactly what are you using your system for since you seem to prefer an automated fix rather than a manual fix. The manual solution really isn't too difficult and time consuming since after installing windows debugger and creating the batch file to get the symbols the first time, running it once for the few times this error occurs really doesn't take much time (at most 2 minutes of my day to fix it).

Edited August 1, 2016 by Shining Escuridao

[Delicieuxz]

Thanks for taking the time to respond to me, Shining Escuridao. I want to make a more involved post on this subject later, but I'd like to say, I have absolutely no problems with supporting the author of this app. In fact, I'd love to support them in order to have the full product, because this is a great application.

The issue I have is that there's no explanation that supporting does anything to solve these issues on the Support or Download pages, where it should be made clear as day that these issues are specific to the free version, and are all solved with the paid version. It's like a store that has items for sale, but none of them are stocked on shelves, or listed anywhere. Why would somebody think they're able to acquire a garden hose there when there's nothing hinting at it anywhere within the store?

I think that the Aero Glass developer could be missing out on more than 50% of support donations, simply because they haven't communicated any benefits to supporting on their main website, and because the free version shows issues with no indication that they're solved by supporting.

Also, when I did donate to the developer in order to get the full version, I chose the smallest donation possible, because I had no idea what I was actually going to get in return for my donation. I worried that I might pay and still have some of the issues I had with the free version, in which case I wouldn't have wanted to donate, because I wouldn't use the application with those issues. And having those issues would have shaped my opinion of the application, and whether I wanted to support it or not.

So, not having a clear description of what the difference between the free, and the donation-supported version of the app shaped my donation willingness, and could have resulted in my not using the app at all to find out. It is because I couldn't find how to uninstall the app that I came to the forums, and found threads by other users, detailing the issue. If I hadn't read some random threads about various subject, which most people are not going to do, I wouldn't have learned that donating to the project solves all of the issues I had with the free version.

A person should know, immediately upon visiting the Support or Download page, what the difference between the Free and Donation-Supported versions are. They should have that information before they install the app, and it should be there for them to read, before they download and install the app. They shouldn't be confused about thing, after downloading the app, and finding weird behaviour that they didn't expect.

I want the developer to be supported well, because I want to see this application maintained, and enhanced. The current lack of information on the Support and Downloads pages means that the developer is missing out on a large amount of otherwise willing support.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Delicieuxz