ESPIRIDION  I paid for the upgrade given the limited time of the discounted price, and just tried it briefly. Prior to today I only had a few minutes to use it, and will not use it again for a week or so.

It's very buggy.

So far it has crashed once, and I lost some of my work.

Later, while saving a file I was working on, I got a message saying that the file had been saved by another application or something to that effect.

At times it is slow and unresponsive on a G5 Dual 2 GHz with 5 GB RAM, OS X 10.5.2

Audio files sometimes work, and sometimes there's no sound at all. This occurs while using the same audio.

Selecting a media file (JPEG) displays correctly most of the time as part of the actual theme, but sometimes nothing shows up when selecting the media file.

The number of themes that take advantage of some new features is very limited.

It's a good idea, but a poor implementation so far. IMO, as it is now, it was not worth the discounted upgrade fee.  
(Version 1.0)

ESPIRIDION  I also think that their pricing approach is terrible.

I may upgrade just to take advantage of the current upgrade price, but don't think that PulpMotion Advanced 1.0 is worth it at the moment.

The advanced features are really good. Some could have been part of a regular PulpMotion update IMO. Others are limited even in the Advanced version. For example, only 4 themes actually support "Regions of interest"

With many software titles I'm happy to upgrade, and I like reasonably priced upgrades that add considerable features.

In the case of Aquafadas, my first disappointment was BannerZest's upgrade price. I kept the regular version.

Again, I may upgrade this one and hope that it truly evolves, but so far I'm disliking Aquafadas' approach regarding their "Pro" versions.  
(Version 1.0)

PIXELJUNKEY  It's not a hate thing. I want to like this product setup, I really do. But ultimately it's about being fair with people. I could ask you the reverse question: why settle for whatever pricing scheme they give you without questioning it? Why the arbitrary two week window? That is ridiculous.

What if someone purchased the non-advanced version several weeks ago and hasn't heard about the new update for whatever reason (people are busy)... and a month from now they go to get their special upgrade... why on earth shouldn't they be able to get it? Or six months from now?

Aquafadas knows *when* you bought the software, so if you bought it before-hand in 2008, then pretty much that offer should have no time-limit as long as you have proof of purchase. They're trying to squeak in extra profits everywhere they can, for a product that frankly has a lot of competition. I understand it's business and I don't deny the product itself is decent quality, but the pricing system is FUBAR IMO.  
(Version 1.0)

ANTICHRISIS  This is a very fine application for multimedia-purposes that allows even a newbie to create good-looking and exciting slideshows. The only competitor in its class would be FotoMagico, which is a great application, too, but with PulpMotion Advanced you have the chance to integrate movie clips, too.

Support is mindbogglingly fast and friendly. Wrap up: A highly recommendable, well-designed and mac-like application that one enjoy's working with!  
(Version 1.0)

F451  Why all the haters? They are giving users a two-week window to upgrade for significantly less. I no longer understand the Mac community...they complain about everything. They believe that every developer misleads them into purchasing a license at a discounted rate then actually asking for an upgrade fee when they release new applications. I am just thankful the Mac world is seeing more applications to choose from.  
(Version 1.0)

PIXELJUNKEY  And btw, now it's perfectly clear why Std version was included in a recent MU bundle... because they wanted those users to have to pay the 2x upgrade fee to get the advanced version a couple months later. Weak sauce.  
(Version 1.0)

PIXELJUNKEY  "Advanced" version has some nice updates, but basically is little more than a way to force existing users to pay double what they paid for the standard version, just to upgrade.

Sorry but the improvements made here do not justify spending either $85 (upgrade) or $129 (first time), given that you can do infinitely more with Final Cut Express 4 for just $70 more! And academic users can get FCE4 for just $50 more than Pulp Motion Advanced. It's not even remotely a contest in terms of capability and quality.

This is not a good value at all IMHO. Full price should be about $99 and upgrade should be no more than the full price of standard ($49). I don't appreciate paying for a product and then being gouged for an upgrade that is basically what the original product should have been in the first place in terms of editing media, speed, etc.  
(Version 1.0)

LEO SPILL  Small Print

Everywhere on the site and in their email promotion material it clearly states rounded figures $45, $85 and $129 yet they stick you with tax at the checkout.

Yes, it's written in tiny text at the checkout, yes it's a European company but writing pre-tax prices is a cheat to entice and then squeeze you. Their US and Euro exchange rates are off. You end up paying 40% more then US buyers on top of the listed price.

For a bunch of smart guys running this company they are also a bunch of sharks. How many Shareware companies based in Europe charge TAX ?

2 or 3 at most. It goes against the shareware ethic.

They should be more upfront on the exact price they charge. Many other Euro developers announce a price and stick to it. Most ( Read practically all ) don't charge Tax and take their VAT out of the fixed price they sell their application at. Only the greedy developers charge the tax surreptitiously at the final point of sale like AquaFades do.  
(Version 1.0)

TSANTEE  I've had what's now called PulpMotion Standard for some time and have only gone through the tutorials. But when I saw this new version I couldn't resist buying it at the upgrade price. I've only had it a few hours so I have no experience other than seeing that it launches. What sold me is the regions feature which you can see in a demo movie on the developer's site. The themes are much more elegant than with the standard version, too.

I'm disappointed that the license I bought only allows personal use of the application and that I must buy a commercial license if I want to use it on a project for a client. If someone doesn't plan to some day use it commercially I'm uncertain there's a good-enough reason to spend this much upgrading from the standard version. I can afford it just for the fun of experimenting and showing off, but spending much time with it ultimately needs to lead to some billable work.  
(Version 1.0)