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Ad Muncher 5 will be free
MilesAhead:
I don't remember trying it. When it goes free perhaps I'll satisfy my curiosity. So I take it that it only eats ads when it's hungry? :)
Innuendo:
I used to be one of Ad Muncher's biggest supporters. There was a time when it was the ultimate piece of software and its author could do no wrong. Unfortunately, missing features, broken promises, release dates being perpetually pushed back, the author disappearing for well over a year and the crummy treatment of customers when they dare to ask difficult questions has eaten away all that good will.
About a month or two ago I discovered AdGuard. The current release version is pretty good, but the beta version is where it's at. As a bonus, people who volunteer to be beta testers get free licenses so there's been no entry fee for me yet.
So far I like what I see. It's as good as Ad Muncher *used* to be. It supports gzip, https, and all the other things that Ad Muncher's been promising for years and won't/can't deliver. This version 5 of Ad Muncher will have to fairly spectacular for me to entertain thoughts of going back. Forget for a second the promises of it being free. It's *still* been in development for 6 years and no one has seen so much as a screenshot or a feature list yet. Anyone can promise something's going to be free if it's never going to exist. Maybe General Motors should promise that the 2015 Pontiac GTO will be free when it's released as well. :)
Josh:
I think my biggest issue with this, aside from the whole potential advertisement of third party products later on, is that the only way this information has been disseminated is via Murray's blog. Why is this information not on the Ad Muncher front page? What about an email to previous purchasers? What about a newsletter being sent out via the list I signed up for previously? My thought is that it is because they want people to continue to buy licenses for v4 until v5 is released. I can understand this from a sales and business perspective, but the problem with that is that there are people making a purchasing decision based on incomplete information. What happens to the guy who buys a lifetime license a week before the product goes live? OK, they have a 30-day refund policy, but what about someone who purchased 31 days prior? What about the casual buyer who does not check the forums to see the topic, of which there is no OFFICIALLY POSTED topic, that the users have created regarding the announcement? If I were a new purchaser who found out the product is now free after dropping over $100 for a lifetime license, I would be EXTREMELY pissed and would demand a refund.
Just my two cents but this announcement should be on the product homepage or should have been withheld until he was ready to not receive new orders.
Innuendo:
Josh, this is only one more mis-step in a long line of mis-steps. It's like any other disaster. People's attention are captivated by the drama, but as time goes on they get numb to the misfortune playing out and walk away shaking their heads.
Right now as far as anyone knows, Ad Muncher v5 is merely a tortured vision in Murray's cow-addled mind with no basis at all in reality. No one has seen a product roadmap, a UI mock-up, or the now infamous demo video he was supposedly made months ago of Ad Muncher v5 in action. The biggest news on his blog is a post announcing his research findings regarding toast sweat.
No. I'm serious.
Josh:
It appears they are still sending out "renewal" notices to customers on yearly plans. The emails DO NOT mention that their product will soon be free.
Why does this seem unethical to me?
Ad Muncher 5 will be free
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