Steinberg stopped support ? (Mysteinberg)

[SJ_Digriz]

Back then there was no way to disable licences from the distance (which is one strength of the dongle).

That isn't a strength, it's weakness. And we aren't talking about "back then", we are talking about right now.

[Soundplex]

Back then there was no way to disable licences from the distance (which is one strength of the dongle).

That isn't a strength, it's weakness. And we aren't talking about "back then", we are talking about right now.

I disagree. Because this means no-one can steal your licence once it is on the dongle. There cannot be duplicates of a licence. You also don't need a workstation with internet connection which often is used when having keyfiles as a protection scheme (they need to be validated from time to time).
I may agree it's a weakness if you're the one of 1000 customers to which something bad happened. Else this is a strength since you're physically owning your licence and can do whatever you want to it.

"Back then" because I know there were tests and papers with remote controling the licences. I don't know what's the current state, but if they didn't implement it until now, I assume there were too many backdoors and issues which made the copy protection no protection anymore.

The thing is we're looking at it from different perspectives. What you describe as weakness is a strength seen from a developer pov. As a customer you're able to find all pros & cons before you buy something dongle protected so it's not like "what a surprise".
So in the end develpers restoring your accounts or licences (if they don't have to) is customer care on goodwill base.

[SJ_Digriz]

So in the end develpers restoring your accounts or licences (if they don't have to) is customer care on goodwill base.

It is not goodwill, it is common sense. And yes we completely disagree ... And, I am a developer that works for large enterprise integrations, and have had to provide tier 3 to help desks that take thousands of calls a day. License management both implied and explicit is not a novel topic to me.

[c0nan]

Because this means no-one can steal your licence once it is on the dongle.

Of course they can, if they steal the dongle. Did you just forget the forumite you insulted above? I´m fine with the elicenser since it works. But if Steinberg is not able to connect the dongle with the original owner that is a massive weak spot. Even iLok restores your licenses at once if you payed their safety fee. So obviously there is a way to compensate for loss or theft and it bugs me that after all those years Steinberg still didn´t come up with a useful (for both sides) solution.

[Robert Randolph]

Useless idiocy from Voxengo on this issue, fuggin guy can't be arsed to read my email at_all, same exact mindless response as Steinberg there and 8Dio's guy essentially accused me of distributing one thing because of the '10 downloads' which weren't me. I will never in my life buy from either again.

What does Voxengo have to do with this?

[tooneba]

Necessary casualty

[jancivil]

Well, that someone can obliterate my account is a definite problem that the vendor should have to address. I was online the very morning it happened shopping for a computer and there was no indication that my email which the ENTIRETY OF THE ACCOUNT RELIES ON had been changed. It's absolutely a security failure.

And, asshole, I am not here looking for sympathy, I'm outing Steinberg for being shite here. You can kiss my ass, 'soundplex' whoever you are.

[jancivil]

Useless idiocy from Voxengo on this issue, fuggin guy can't be arsed to read my email at_all, same exact mindless response as Steinberg there and 8Dio's guy essentially accused me of distributing one thing because of the '10 downloads' which weren't me. I will never in my life buy from either again.

What does Voxengo have to do with this?

What did you just quote? lol

Because this means no-one can steal your licence once it is on the dongle.

Of course they can, if they steal the dongle. Did you just forget the forumite you insulted above?

Jesus F Christ, someone, and I know at least two emails and intend to find out where they live and press charges, stole my f**king account. My only recourse was a dongle which was also stolen. Can't you read?

All they have to do is what SonicCouture, Native Instruments, Soundtoys, iLok, IKMM... and others did. Have a look at the two accounts. I can describe things on the dongle that have been on dongles since 2003 which no one else would know. Just like I described the history to NI, SC and iLok; and as per the first two there proved purchases. I have the receipt for the online buy of Cubase Pro 9. But the guy said he could not make a move. The previous chat rep did more than that so the second guy just didn't care enough about it to do what another person had. The previous one said he basically had to take it upstairs but I heard no more about it.

edits: added mention of IKMM and a typographical error

[jancivil]

There cannot be duplicates of a licence. You also don't need a workstation with internet connection which often is used when having keyfiles as a protection scheme (they need to be validated from time to time).

Are you unable to apply anything more than preconceptions and your problem with me to this? You don't have the information you assume you do. There was an unused activation code and it's now been activated which someone was able to do because the whole thing is email. It's the same quality problem as identity theft. So your corrupt reasoning would lead you to conclude that that is the victim's problem and no one else's, or at least if that person was someone you decided to hate from internet posts. Incredible, really. Deeply wrong on every level, you're just full of shit and that's all just mean.

[Robert Randolph]

Useless idiocy from Voxengo on this issue, fuggin guy can't be arsed to read my email at_all, same exact mindless response as Steinberg there and 8Dio's guy essentially accused me of distributing one thing because of the '10 downloads' which weren't me. I will never in my life buy from either again.

What does Voxengo have to do with this?

What did you just quote? lol

Can you please explain what Voxengo has to do with a thread about Steinberg's support?

[jancivil]

I don't agree with you at all. Any company that forces copy protection of this sort should assume a level of responsibility for resolution. It should be as simple as disabling the existing serial number and re-issuing a new dongle with the new serial number to the verified owner. Hey, if they want to charge for the new dongle ... great. I could see that. But, doing so would serve two purposes. It gets rid of the existing license rendering the thief short lived as soon as a sync is performed the first time. It gets a verified user back in on their feet. I'm a long time customer of Steinberg and I have no ill will towards them. But this story does make me concerned about their approach to customer service around a copy protection scheme they created for themselves.

The dongle handling is pretty easy. If it's broken send it to them, you'll get a new one with all your licences on it. If it got stolen or you lost there is no way to prove you tell the truth. Back then there was no way to disable licences from the distance (which is one strength of the dongle). This means that way theoretically someone could gather licences multiple times and when simply working with a host that cannot connect the outside these licences will probably stay valid forever. That's what I meant with the rip-offs, developers get confrontated with this behavior all the time. And that's why there is a strict policy.

You're not even considering actual points, you have a disposition you find amounts to some overwhelming argument. But you don't actually know what you're on about.

The fact is, I have broken a dongle and lost two; Steinberg's handling of it was 1) as you describe; 2 and 3) they did trust me and gave me new licenses. VSL understands these were my licenses and I pay 50% of the original price (and the guy gives me every break he can from his position), and two of these (where the purchase gives you three licenses, server farm scenario) which had not been activated cost nothing.

The ACTUAL issue is an activation by a thief, and if or when I find the individual physically "dsucess@yahoo.com" is going down for it because it's just that provable. Which NI, SC, IKMM, iLok et al perfectly understood once I was enough of a "bitch" about.
The singular problem was the stolen activation code which they shouldn't allow people to change accounts like it's nothing. I think my opinion is reasoned and reasonable and is based in experience. Yours is presumptuous and argumentum ad culum.

[jancivil]

Useless idiocy from Voxengo on this issue, fuggin guy can't be arsed to read my email at_all, same exact mindless response as Steinberg there and 8Dio's guy essentially accused me of distributing one thing because of the '10 downloads' which weren't me. I will never in my life buy from either again.

What does Voxengo have to do with this?

What did you just quote? lol

Can you please explain what Voxengo has to do with a thread about Steinberg's support?

*FUGGIN GUY COULDN'T BE ARSED TO READ MY EMAIL*. He did exactly what one of Steinberg's reps did, tell me something I told them. "There is no account for that email address." You're that guy too, evidently.

[Robert Randolph]

It's my bad, I thought you were saying something on-topic and was trying to make sense of it in that context.

Now that I know you're ranting about something totally unrelated, I understand.

[jancivil]

Thanks for that. Yeah, I see that you thought I was conflating Voxengo with Steinberg there but I didn't f**k the sentence up that bad.
Sorry, I'm pretty devastated. I am deep in a project and my 30 days trial is over so I started trying to get this sorted again. I started Cubase yesterday to get 'You may use Cubase for 0 seconds..." but the project opened. It's still open and working. I do not have the $$$ for it, I'd have to buy the full version. NB: the qualifying product (license only 'on' the dongle via the fact of upgrade) is invalidated by this so that whole argument about how simple a matter teh dongle is is again shown fallacious.

[Hink]

outside of the fact that this is supporting the poor customer service of Steinberg given all you've been through over the last couple of years Jan I think it would be awesome for a fb friend to start a gofundme to raise the money to replace it...just my two cents and truly from the heart, f Steinberg, time for the community to help one of it's own.