US Cutter Monoply?

[slopchops 1]

I have something that has been bothering me. I bought a US cutter and I am well pleased with it but the sign program that I received with it is worrying me. When I bought it, the program was sent to me via email to be installed on my computer.

No discs or CD-Rom furnished. Non-transferable.

Now if my computer crashes and someday it will or if I sold my cutter and stuff I would have to include my computer as the sign program is non-transferable.

I talked to Ken about this and he confirmed it and said another sign program would have to be bought.

I asked how much, but he would never tell me.

This does not sound ethical at all.

Comments?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

what program were you sent?

Save the program. Convert it to an ISO. Burn it to a disc. Write down the activation code and serial #. Problem solved.

There is a reason sign software is the way it is...so that people can't just make a copy and pass it on. It is a very limited market and the cost of keeping it updated is high.

[Guest crshirts]

From what I've seen I think thats what everyone does, used cutters usually don't include software

from my limited experience.

Carl

[slopchops 1]

what program were you sent?

Save the program. Convert it to an ISO. Burn it to a disc. Write down the activation code and serial #. Problem solved.

There is a reason sign software is the way it is...so that people can't just make a copy and pass it on. It is a very limited market and the cost of keeping it updated is high.

I don't know much about computers. What is a ISO and how do you do it?

[Jay2703 704]

Download a Demo copy of USCutter Signblazer. It is set up to work on all USCutters. Burn it to a disk and send it with. USCutter is still selling theirs with the same trial version.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

an ISO is a bootable disk image.But if you are not familiar with computers,you would never make it. So,just burn the program to a disk and use it to reinstall.

[Rodger 527]

I have something that has been bothering me. I bought a US cutter and I am well pleased with it but the sign program that I received with it is worrying me. When I bought it, the program was sent to me via email to be installed on my computer.

No discs or CD-Rom furnished. Non-transferable.

Now if my computer crashes and someday it will or if I sold my cutter and stuff I would have to include my computer as the sign program is non-transferable.

I talked to Ken about this and he confirmed it and said another sign program would have to be bought.

I asked how much, but he would never tell me.

This does not sound ethical at all.

comments ?

I understand your view  BUT it's like " looking a gift horse in the mouth " IMHO . I think USCutter is basically giving the software to people who buy cutters from them . It is part of the deal but their prices would still be great if no software came along with the cutter . They could give a 90 day free trial of software & sell just as many cutters  IMHO . You would not have to sell your computer anyway , It would be done just like transferring the resgistration to another computer owned by you ( or the new buyer's computer ) . Main reason is keeping the software from being shared .

regards , Rodger

[rebjr 0]

Ol' DevilDog,

I don't know about in today's modern world, but back when I was in business for other than to pass the time of day, most software was not transferable. Even today many softwares are not able to be transferred from one owner to another. As well, many non-program type softwares, such as the leading embroidery design suite is not transferable.

Seems to be a real case of what the market will bear, and the market continues to bear this burden.

[Jay2703 704]

When I bought it, the program was sent to me via email to be installed on my computer.

No discs or CD-Rom furnished. Non-transferable.

Comments?

Do you still have the email? It sounds like it contained the software much like a disk or CDRom would. Re-install from the email.

[slopchops 1]

When I bought it, the program was sent to me via email to be installed on my computer.

No discs or CD-Rom furnished. Non-transferable.

Comments?

Do you still have the email? It sounds like it contained the software much like a disk or CDRom would. Re-install from the email.

No, the best I can remember it went straight into my hard drive. I may be wrong.

[kenimes 42]

I have something that has been bothering me. I bought a US cutter and I am well pleased with it but the sign program that I received with it is worrying me. When I bought it, the program was sent to me via email to be installed on my computer.

No discs or CD-Rom furnished. Non-transferable.

Now if my computer crashes and someday it will or if I sold my cutter and stuff I would have to include my computer as the sign program is non-transferable.

I talked to Ken about this and he confirmed it and said another sign program would have to be bought.

I asked how much, but he would never tell me.

This does not sound ethical at all.

Comments?

Which prorgam? SignCut and SignBlazer both can be transferred to another computer system.

[slopchops 1]

Signblazer Elements for US cutter.

Does that sound right to you?

[kenimes 42]

Yes.

Go ahead and load SignBlazer on the next computer, and use the Trial Mode.

[slopchops 1]

Yes.

Go ahead and load SignBlazer on the next computer, and use the Trial Mode.

This sounds like the solution but, are not all UScutters provided with a "Key" that is a number emailed to your sign computer? I think the reason for this key is to prevent the program from being copied and used or resold. Comment on this?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

you are correct. However,Signblazer is currently in transitional mode after being sold.l They are not sending out new keys at this time. Or answering email,or providing support.

This is NOT the fault of US Cutter. The phone number for the office of the attorney general in Australia is: + 61 2 6250 6666

[slopchops 1]

you are correct. However,Signblazer is currently in transitional mode after being sold.l They are not sending out new keys at this time. Or answering email,or providing support.

This is NOT the fault of US Cutter. The phone number for the office of the attorney general in Australia is: + 61 2 6250 6666

Which goes back to my original post. If no key number is furnished for a new computer then one is at USCutters mercy and have to buy a new software program at their price. A monoply.

What good would the phone number for the Australian Attorney General do? It would cost more in phone calls that the cutter is worth?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

would you explain to ME..and everyone else..how what goes on with Signblazer in Australia..is US Cutter's fault? When they sold you the software (or GAVE it to you with the cutter),they acted in good faith because at the time Jerry was still alive and there was no indication that SB would ever be sold.

In short,the beef you have manufactured in your head is with Signblazer and your ONLY legal recourse is to sue SIGNBLAZER for not honoring their commitments.

If you buy a computer or TV at Walmart..and the company who made it goes out of business...you can't blame walmart. US Cutter offers support for their cutters ONLY and anything beyond your warranty is just at their descretion.

[Rodger 527]

    I think the dilemma on this forum is the amount of people that may be going into business for themselves for the 1rst time . Seems some only think of what they should get as a consumer . After being on the other side , they might curb what they think should be given away or furnished for free . Being fair .. is what should apply , That includes seeing the other sides position . In this case USCutter has no responsibility legally or morally . It's nice to be all " family " , but to stay in business , money has to roll to pay operating costs . I bet that is why everybody goes to work as an employee or as an owner , to make $$$ , not friends . It's great to make friends & giving some things away is good customer relations, but no company has bottomless pockets .

[BannerJohn 1,324]

you are correct. However,Signblazer is currently in transitional mode after being sold.l They are not sending out new keys at this time. Or answering email,or providing support.

This is NOT the fault of US Cutter. The phone number for the office of the attorney general in Australia is: + 61 2 6250 6666

Which goes back to my original post. If no key number is furnished for a new computer then one is at USCutters mercy and have to buy a new software program at their price. A monoply.

come on,slop..you are old enough to know what a monoply is. You can buy software from anybody,anywhere,that will work on your cutter.

[slopchops 1]

you are correct. However,Signblazer is currently in transitional mode after being sold.l They are not sending out new keys at this time. Or answering email,or providing support.

This is NOT the fault of US Cutter. The phone number for the office of the attorney general in Australia is: + 61 2 6250 6666

Which goes back to my original post. If no key number is furnished for a new computer then one is at USCutters mercy and have to buy a new software program at their price. A monoply.

come on,slop..you are old enough to know what a monoply is. You can buy software from anybody,anywhere,that will work on your cutter.

No I didn't know you couldn't buy sign software from anyone. I am not very good with computers. They didn't have them in school rooms when I went. We did have manual typewriters, no electrics.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

my mistake. I thought you said you had been in the sign business for years.

[firemalt 10]

Chops... there are a handful of other software programs that will work with your USCutter, SignBlazer is NOT the only program that will allow the cutter to work.

Maybe Ken, John, or another USC staff member can post a list of all known software programs that will work with each model USC offers?

[haumana 1,220]

It's all good guys ... step back, take a deep breath. 

I think the main thing is that you got cutting software. It doesn't matter how your received it - many companies sell their software by electronic form. It is up to the consumer to burn a back-up of the executable file, and to safe guard the license number that was issued to it.

It sounds to me that you have everything working, and that somewhere along the lines you were sent a valid activation key. That's your copy. It just happens to be in electronic form at the moment. Burn it to a CD, write down the activation number. If you decide to sell you cutter, you can provide the CD with it. 

If you want to install SBE on another computer, then you need to purchase another license number. I would love to have SBE on all of my computers I have, but it's just not financially practical for me - especially since I'm not "in the business" and know that I will offset the cost with my next job.

[firemalt 10]

Humana... SBE has gone out of business. You can not buy and recieve an activeation code for the full software anymore. The other thing one can currently do to get SBE, is download the trail version(which is free). In your case... this might be something you could look into doing since it's all free.

Just to clarify for Humana... I think Chops thought his USCutter would ONLY work with SBE program, and was a little ticked off that he could only put it on one computer, and then the fact that the software wasn't able to update became another issue.

[Graphic Systems 1]

I have something that has been bothering me. I bought a US cutter and I am well pleased with it but the sign program that I received with it is worrying me. When I bought it, the program was sent to me via email to be installed on my computer.

No discs or CD-Rom furnished. Non-transferable.

Now if my computer crashes and someday it will or if I sold my cutter and stuff I would have to include my computer as the sign program is non-transferable.

I talked to Ken about this and he confirmed it and said another sign program would have to be bought.

I asked how much, but he would never tell me.

This does not sound ethical at all.

Comments?

I think that every plotter / printer company is going this rout with there programs. If they would give you the DVD or CD and you turn out to be some hack then you would be selling there program to anyone who had five hundred bucks in there pocket. Just think if Flexi or Omega did not have to have a dongle to run the program, you could just go to lime wire and download the program or you would find hacked coppies of only half the program for half the cost. If you read the fine print on all graphics programs you will see that you dont own that program , you just bought permission to use it. They can distribute there programs as they see fit because of the fact you do not own it and it keeps there program from being distributed by a hack!