Backup Vuescan

…or how not to treat your customers

Actually I wanted to have blogged about this way earlier. Now that I wanted to scan I got reminded of this whole story that wants me to just scream out “Don’t!!! Don’t buy VueScan!!”.

So here is the story: I am not scanning that often. Got a cheap Canon scanner. Unfortunately it did not come with proper drivers for OSX. So I had to buy VueScan – which at 39 USD already didn’t make me really happy. I scan only a few things a year(!). But anyway. I am a Mac user. I buy the software that I use. Also supporting a Mac Indie developer isn’t bad I thought until…

I came across this cool software called AppFresh. It’s like “Software Update” for all your applications. Keeps you up-to-date with the latest versions – great. Until I had to scan again. It asked me for my serial number again. Strange – so I went of and entered my details again. I did not accept my serial number. Off to the site and I realized the problem. AppFresh has upgraded my VueScan copy while you can only get free updates for a year. Bugger! Well …the old version was working just fine. So where is the history page, I just download the old version again. Hm …no history page.

So I wrote Ed Hamrick a mail. Explaining him the situation. Kindly asking for the older version …or if he doesn’t mind a new key with the promise to make a backup this time. I also suggested to clearly state that he will only have the latest version available on the website. Which -with such a license model- is quite a bummer.

He basically just gave me the finger. I should buy the upgrade to the Pro version that comes with unlimited upgrades. He doesn’t keep old versions – nothing he can do. And I was really pissed off!

If VueScan would at least be software I am happy to spend another 39 USD on. That’s almost 80 USD for a software with an UI that just hurts me. I guess the only reason people buy this software is because he supports scanners that don’t come with support for Mac OSX.

While I am usually happy to support Indie developers this was just how you NOT want to treat your customers. Next time I will surely spend a few more bucks on the scanner that comes with a proper software for OSX. So make sure you either don’t by VueScan …or at least keep a backup somewhere safe. Absolutely annoying!

27. June 2008 | bile, osx, software

ScanGuy

This just happened to me also. I ran the upgrade and was surprised by the "1 Year" period to upgrade (just missed it). The software was not that great to begin with and there is no way I'm going to pay for it again! I agree with the original blog author, DO NOT BY VueScan and if you have, DO NOT RUN THE NEWER INSTALLER unless you are within your first year. If it had presented a warning dialog and option to halt the update during the install process I would be still running the old version happily. They way this process went clearly shows that the VueScan author (http://www.hamrick.com/) is less than ethical.
garyc2010

totally agree

same thing happened me, old version was not on his website (i only scan a few pages a year)

he told me the same thing spend *another* $39 to get the pro version.

He should at *least* keep the last 2 releases on an archive page or make it *CLEAR* only the newest version is available.

I felt ripped off, and no way was i going to be ripped off another $39

ed should learn how to treat paying customers

ps my "old" version failed to qualify for the new version by 2 weeks and no download of the version i paid for.
tcurdt

It would be great to get some proper software. So I would applaud the effort if you go down that road. Especially because to me VueScan does not feel like a native Mac software at all. The interface is terrible and lacks any slickness you would expect from a Mac application. Maybe it's better than SANE (not even sure about that!) but certainly not good.

I am not scanning that often so I ended up sticking with the (also terrible) "Canon Toolbox" that came with the scanner.
Mark Pemburn

After spending the last week or so trying to sort out the Mac/scanner issue, all I can say is that the situation is deplorable -- even at this late date. I'm one of the few lucky enough to have a scanner that's supported by VueScan and I was happy to pay the $40 for it when I switched to Mac a couple of years ago. Today, I'm less happy because it seems that VueScan is still about the only real native Mac scanning software available and it doesn't support the Fujitsu scanner owned by my client who just switched to a Mac.

SANE is great and I applaud the efforts of the developers to create a standards-based back end for image acquisition that works on a variety of platforms. Their front end is less than wonderful, however and there is apparently no alternative available at any price -- or none that I've been able to find in a lot of searching. I'm tempted to write one myself even though I have zero experience writing Mac applications. Given how almost everything else in the Mac world "just works", it's greatly frustrating to find this huge hole in the Mac's capabilities.
Darwin

Hey... after reading this, I went ahead and installed the open source (Sane) on my Mac Mini and it worked!!! This is great thank you so much for the tip. I didn't want to buy vuescan either
tcurdt

@Carl: I try hard to not take offence. I felt ripped off because he gave me the finger. I didn't try to get a freebie - just what I paid for. The old version. The fact that he only provides the latest and greatest for download sucks with the license model he uses. It makes losing the software you paid for very easy. That's what happened to me - and just telling me "you can pay another 40$" is no good customer service. That's a fact.
Carl

Don't take offence but I think can see Mr Hamricks point of view. I'm sure he does have old versions of his software archived, however I bet that he doesn't want to support more than one version of his software. So to save himself time and trouble helping people who write to him about the old versions, he just says old versions aren't available. If I was one guy whose software had thousands of users I think I would make Utilitarian decisions as well.

The year long license ran out and you tried to get a freebie? It was $39, no need to feel so ripped off.

Be wary when using auto-upgraders like AppFresh, even Apple Updates. Just because you've got the latest version doesn't mean it's the greatest. Most of the world's software is nowhere near backwards compatible, let alone come with a guarantee that it will be "better" than previous versions. I have been bitten by this so many times on probably every Operating System I've ever used. Don't get me started on Maven plugins ;)

Here's my most recent experience of version frustration: I tried to install Firefox 3 on my OS X 10.3 machine. It doesn't work. Then I read the Firefox 3 release notes and notice it says OS X 10.4 and greater. I have to downgrade to Firefox 2. There I was expecting the latest version to work - tough luck!

I have a Canon LIDE scanner. The OS X software that came with it is so bad. Possibly the worst OS X software I've ever seen in my life. I know your pain.
tcurdt

I've updated the Canon Tools. They are far from great - but seem to be working on Leopard now. Except the key assignment for the scanner. That's still broken for me. But the TWAIN support and the scan interface is available.

But Andrew is right, SANE works as well. (No idea why haven't tried that before!) Just installed via MacPorts and it works.
Andrew Savory

Hey Torsten,

Skip dodgy proprietary solutions and try the open source alternatives. I've found SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) works pretty well for me.

See:
http://twain-sane.darwinports..../
http://sane-backends.darwinpor.../
tcurdt

@Vas: Yeah ...that's what one would think.

@Mariano: I might give the Canon Tools another try. Just read somewhere they improved them a little - but I am not holding my breath.

@Thomas: That's the last resort for me.
Vas the Man

That's ridiculous. Doesn't he have version control, or at least archived release packages for his software?
Mariano Kamp

Me too. Got some Canon LiDE nn and the software is so bad that I just don't use the scanner. Money down the drain.
Thomas Dudziak

I had the same problem with my Canon LiDE 30 which is a simple little USB scanner that works well enough for my purposes. I ended up using it via the Ubuntu installation that I have in VMWare Fusion, where it did what I wanted without any fuss (probably similar if you have a Windows installation).

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Backup Vuescan