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Old 06-15-2006, 07:15 PM  
IniCom
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 13
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Someone pointed this post out to me and I feel it's important to revisit the issue given some recent developments. There are some issues that should be addressed.

First, the threat of a class action lawsuit doesn't hold much given several factors. The purpose of the fee for ioFTPD was originally to support the project and the people who wrote scripts for it (the scripter's pool). When ioFTPD came under iniCom control, we carried the same pricing structure over with the same intent. Even at its highest sales point, the $10-$25 for ioFTPD didn't cover a full-time developer which is why D1 needed us to support the project.

When a license is purchased, users are given access to the beta product with the incentive that when (ok, purely for legal purposes I'll add "assuming") the final is released people who have supported the project will be given a final license at no additional cost. Keep in mind that the $10-$25 price was set to support the project. I can assure you that when the final product is released the pricing structure will have to change. Additionally, it has always been stated, and known that ioFTPD is a BETA product in current development. There is no complete feature list, expectations of a bug free product, or promise of continual development. In fact, there was a period of time where there was a question whether or not ioFTPD development would continue at all (before iniCom took over the project).

As far as stringing people along, that's hardly the case, or basis for a law suit. I can't help but wonder why a class-action hasn't been brought against 3D Realms for "Duke Nukem Forever" (Come on, even I can't defend that project). We're a year behind, yes, but we're far from deceiving consumers. A law suit will do nothing but hamper the development of ioFTPD as well as the rest of the projects we're working on by consuming resources with baseless lawsuits. Now on to the real issue...

As NeoXed stated, as iniCom has stated in the past, and as we all know, both ioFTPD users AND iniCom have been burned by DarkOne's handling and dropping of this project. I'm not going to revisit the history of non-commitment on D1's part, the money we've already put out, the missed deadlines, or any other reasoning to everyone's frustration. It's time we move past all of these statements.

Simply put, we're doing what we can. Alan (_panic_) is putting in as much time on the project as we can afford given other projects. I can't and won't ask more from someone who puts in as much overtime and dedication as he already does.

I want this project to move forward as much as everyone else and I'm open to any suggestion to get this project going as fast as we can. For the past several weeks iniCom has been talking/working with NeoXed to come on with our development group to explicitly work on ioFTPD. NeoXed understands the project's history and has developed for the program in the past. His efforts are voluntary with the understanding that performance will be rewarded. It's definitely welcome as it will allow many more hours to be devoted to ioFTPD development. Alan will continue as programmer and director of product development, ensuring that ioFTPD and FlashFXP continue in the same forward moving direction.

Lastly, one of my biggest concerns is that someone would feel the need to jump directly to this conclusion instead of talking to us first. iniCom has always been a customer oriented company, and we do our best to make ourselves available to our customers. If anyone is dissatisfied with the product, its development, support, or anything else, we would be happy to discuss, and work to resolve any issues.

-Jon L. Hill
President/COO
iniCom Networks Inc.
http://www.inicom.net
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