Camel Audio ceasing sales? [Update: CA acquired by Apple]

[wagtunes]

The notice on their main page, telling customers about the closing of the site?

This is all they had to put at the very end of it.

"This will be our one and only statement on this matter. Thank you for being our customers."

At least then we'd know to stop waiting for something else. It's over and done.

[lnikj]

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't expecting you to spill the beans, even if you had them!

I know there is this utopian vision where you shouldn't have to pay for your plugins, and developers should be tucking you in at night for the rest of your lives, shouldn't dare to have the audacity to make a profitable business for themselves and so on, but it's easy to say that from the outside with no experience of being at the coal face. There are much easier ways for software developers to make a living than doing what companies like camel audio do, they choose to make audio plugins because they love it, and choose that over being another grey cog in the machine like the rest of us. It's definitely the harder, riskier option and one that I chose not to continue following. I don't think people have the right to judge and diss others with no understanding or experience of the situation.

Out in warez land maybe people do have a utopian vision but I don't think the denizens of KVR do. We're the people who pay for our plugins in order to support developers. We love playing with our toys and want them to keep coming.

Some people here feel a bit upset I think because they have made substantial recent purchases that may not survive the next OS upgrade. Not me; I'm just very sad that there will be no Alchemy 2, and worried that there is nothing else out there at the moment to take place of Alchemy 1 when my copy stops working. Mais, c'est la vie.

NDA or not, I'm afraid there will continue to be judging and dissing for as long as Camel don't offer people any "understanding or experience of the situation", whether they legally can or not. It's human nature and, as I said above, the fact that they are nice guys does not give them automatic immunity from it.

It's not going to stop until the facts come out. That's just the way it is.

Just my opinion. Cheers.

[rentboyrenton]

while i don't care much about camel audio being sold off or their plugins, i think it is not too hard to understand how paying customers might get angry being left in the dark like this

they might be a bunch of "good guys" but this is IMO not how you treat your customers nor are you setting up good precedence for your future business -es

earning someones trust takes a lot longer and is much harder than losing it

just my two cents as someone who is not affected by this at all

[sjm]

For those who missed page 57...

The first rule of the NDA is: You do not to talk about the NDA.

I thought everyone knew that.

[RichN]

We just need to be patient and stop thinking they owe us an explanation.

Not even in light of the fact that our camel credits (I guess many people have quite a lot of them) got instantly useless, without any warning? Some sort of explanation would be the least they could have done, imo. Also for the people who bought Alchemy, or one of the other plugins, just recently. They now have a new product that won't be supported anymore in a couple of months time. If it's indeed a buyout and they made lots of money with that (or got some great career opportunities), I personally can hardly blame them for doing what they did (it's their lives, and that's none of our business). But I don't get why we shouldn't be able to critisize them for the way they, so far, handled things towards their customers. Even if it could have even been worse (at least we can download our stuff and have a couple of months of support left).

Anyway, it's clear that we've been going in circles from page 1 of this thread and that nobody involved with Camel is going to chime in. But people can at least vent their frustration here.

[wasi]

The notice on their main page, telling customers about the closing of the site?

This is all they had to put at the very end of it.

"This will be our one and only statement on this matter. Thank you for being our customers."

At least then we'd know to stop waiting for something else. It's over and done.

Exactly. Courtesy. There is no way in hell that was ruled out by some NDA.

[Mushy Mushy]

There is no way in hell that was ruled out by some NDA.

I didn't realize you were on Apple's legal team.

How do you enjoy California?

[Hunter]

There is no way in hell that was ruled out by some NDA.

Riiiiight. You must have very nice NDAs at your work.

[wasi]

There is no way in hell that was ruled out by some NDA.

I didn't realize you were on Apple's legal team.

How do you enjoy California?

I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to talk about that. But thank you for asking.

See how easy that was?

Courtesy.

[Mushy Mushy]

I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to talk about that. But thank you for asking.

See how easy that was?

Courtesy.

And if the contract stated "you are to make absolutely zero contact with your prior client base until x date"?

[wagtunes]

There is no way in hell that was ruled out by some NDA.

I didn't realize you were on Apple's legal team.

How do you enjoy California?

True. Apple could have very well said "This will be the EXACT statement you will put on your site. Nothing more, nothing less or there is no deal."

It's the kind of dick move I'd expect from Apple who I hate with a passion.

But now, aren't YOU assuming something? How do we know Apple bought them? How do we know ANYBODY bought them?

And let me ask you this. The way CA handled this, do you honestly think that IF they went back into business as some other entity that their old customers would want anything to do with them?

By doing this they've essentially said "We're off to an island to live out the rest of our lives drinking Mai Tais"

Because I sure wouldn't buy anything from them. What's to stop them from doing this again?

When you close up shop like this with no explanation, leaving who knows how many customers who JUST bought their product maybe even ONE DAY PRIOR out in the cold, don't expect to ever go back into this business unless you plan on staying anonymous for the rest of your lives, like that's even remotely possible in the business world.

Somebody will find out who you were and what you've done to your customers.

If you think I'll ever forget Equinox, think again.

Customers have very long memories.

[Mushy Mushy]

There is no way in hell that was ruled out by some NDA.

I didn't realize you were on Apple's legal team.

How do you enjoy California?

True. Apple could have very well said "This will be the EXACT statement you will put on your site. Nothing more, nothing less or there is no deal."

It's the kind of dick move I'd expect from Apple who I hate with a passion.

But now, aren't YOU assuming something? How do we know Apple bought them? How do we know ANYBODY bought them?

And let me ask you this. The way CA handled this, do you honestly think that IF they went back into business as some other entity that their old customers would want anything to do with them?

By doing this they've essentially said "We're off to an island to live out the rest of our lives drinking Mai Tais"

Because I sure wouldn't buy anything from them. What's to stop them from doing this again?

When you close up shop like this with no explanation, leaving who knows how many customers who JUST bought their product maybe even ONE DAY PRIOR out in the cold, don't expect to ever go back into this business unless you plan on staying anonymous for the rest of your lives, like that's even remotely possible in the business world.

Somebody will find out who you were and what you've done to your customers.

If you think I'll ever forget Equinox, think again.

Customers have very long memories.

Yes, agreed. Apple were stated only because they're the common name mentioned in this thread. My statement could have held true with any other name in place.

[wasi]

I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to talk about that. But thank you for asking.

See how easy that was?

Courtesy.

And if the contract stated "you are to make absolutely zero contact with your prior client base until x date"?

That's obviously not the case because they're answering support emails, there's the twitter 'leaks'. Hell, there's the support page announcement even.

But whatever. Courtesy is not owed. You extend it or not. And if you sign an NDA that forbids you even minimal courtesy, that's your choice as well, you're free to do so. But there's also nothing wrong about being judged according those actions.

These two or three weeks are the brunt of the storm. There's no point on bearing this and then making a big explanatory statement in March. I think it's safe to assume this is all we'll ever hear, officially.

That's just what the weather in California tells me.

[Mushy Mushy]

That's obviously not the case because they're answering support emails, there's the twitter 'leaks'. Hell, there's the support page announcement even.

But whatever. Courtesy is not owed. You extend it or not. And if you sign an NDA that forbids you even minimal courtesy, that's your choice as well, you're free to do so. But there's also nothing wrong about being judged according those actions.

These two or three weeks are the brunt of the storm. There's no point on bearing this and then making a big explanatory statement in March. I think it's safe to assume this is all we'll ever hear, officially.

That's just what the weather in California tells me.

FFS. Maybe the contract stated they can answer support, but not state future direction.

I WASN'T THERE, AND NOR WERE YOU.

I need you leave you armchair lawyers now and do some proper work

[Aleatoriac]

Camel toes the line of NDA