OLIVER BREIDENBACH  "no substantial "moving forward" has actually occurred"

Thank you for this comment. Actually some substantial moving forward has already occurred, but we have not communicated this well. We have had to make changes to the app in version 3.4 in order to make it work with our sales and support backend, a couple of serious bugs have been fixed and we have added a new theme. All these things benefit existing customers and new ones.

By the way, sales have picked up substantially since we released PhotoPresenter 3.4

Best,

Oliver.  
(Version 3.4)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  I am very happy about the attention the PhotoPresenter acquisition has brought us. Thanks for all your comments, which will help us to determine the future of PhotoPresenter.

By our careful calculations, an $8 app is not going to be able to finance the ongoing development and marketing necessary to move it forward. In fact, $8 would barely cover the costs of selling that can't be avoided (credit card processing, customer sales support, invoicing, book keeping...) An $8 app can be a good surplus income for an individual developer, but there is no way a professional developer can break even on $8.

Best,

Oliver.

CEO, Boinx Software Ltd.  
(Version 3.4)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  The answer is simple: We think PhotoPresenter is worth much more than $19.95. So even at $19.95 it is a bargain.  
(Version 3.4)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Dave,

the Apple Store (and all the retail channel) sells what they have on stock.

The new price of iStopMotion Home is US$49 which is the same as the US$39 suggested retail price for iStopMotion 1.10 plus the $10 update fee. You pay the same for iStopMotion 2 wether you first purchase the 1.10 box at the Apple Store and then update or purchase iStopMotion 2 online.

It is perfectly normal that retailers have previous versions on their shelves when an app is updated.

You may also note that iStopMotion 2 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or newer while iStopMotion 1.10 runs on 10.3 so there are customers who actually require the version 1.10

Best regards,

Oliver Breidenbach

Boinx Software Ltd.  
(Version 2.0)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  SJK,

I take full responsibility for the fact that it is far too easy to make that mistake. We learned from that fact and will in the future change the name of the app when we make a major update, so that, when you download the new version and copy it to your applications folder, it does not automatically replace the old version.

Regards,

Oliver.  
(Version 2.0.1)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  SJK,

I take full responsibility for the fact that it is far too easy to make that mistake. We learned from that fact and will in the future change the name of the app when we make a major update, so that, when you download the new version and copy it to your applications folder, it does not automatically replace the old version.

Regards,

Oliver.  
(Version 2.0.1)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Mark,

I can assure you that we work hard to avoid people missing their daughters special days and I am sorry to hear that it did not work out for you. I can certainly understand why you feel so strongly about it.

Your point about Kagi is taken and I will certainly pressure them to improve their service. It is not as easy as you think to set up your own payment service when you operate internationally. We rarely get complains about them from our customers and usually the issues get resolved quickly.

Of course, instead of making the update, you could have chosen to stay at FotoMagico 1.8 if you feel that $30 is not justified for the new version, couldn't you?

Best regards,

Oliver Breidenbach

Boinx Software.  
(Version 2.0)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Mark,

I am very sorry to hear that you feel ripped off and that you have trouble with your project. We do our best to serve every customer as good as we can and have certainly no intention to rip anybody off. Since we got no purchase record from Kagi, I am sure that your purchase was not completed and that therefore you will not be charged any money. (If, by "being billed by Kagi" you mean that you got a purchase record, it also contains your serial number, BTW.)

As for the contacting us at Boinx, there are several email addresses noted on our website (boinx.com/contact) as well as a contact form at boinx.com/fotomagico/support. While we might be a bit behind in answering all questions following the launch of FotoMagico 2, I am sure that all emails and requests are answered. The team is hard at work to get everyone helped as soon as possible.

But I can find no trace of you trying to contact us. I am upset that instead you choose to publicly discredit our company and our product because of some technical problem you apparently have with the reseller.

I hope you don't mind me asking why you rate the product with just one star and still obviously use it in project for customers? And why you feel ripped of by a $30 update fee when you apparently use the application to make money? I am sure that there are more significant costs associated with your project. We design our products to make it as easy as possible for you to get your work done and I think we deserve our share for that and the new possibilities with FotoMagico are worth the update fee.

Best regards,

Oliver Breidenbach

Boinx Software  
(Version 2.0)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  TheUsher: you are certainly right, it is a serious issue.

Luckily, we've identified a workaround: http://www.fotomagico.com/facts/export_fails.html

Also I should point out that only a small number of users were affected by this.

A fix will be released as soon as possible.  
(Version 1.8.1)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  MacUser UK October 2006 issue reviews FotoMagico 1.7:

"Although there are other slide show programs, none rival FotoMagico for its ease of use, flexibility and the superb professionalism of its output. A joy to use."

Rating: 5 Mice (of 5)  
(Version 1.7)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Here are some recent reviews of FotoMagico:

Dutch MacFAN Magazine (No.67 Nov/Dec 2006) reviews FotoMagico and scores it with 4.5 of 5.

FotoMagico on the iLifeZone.

Mike Fox on Lexar Digital also has a couple of nice examples.  
(Version 1.7)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  FotoMagico 1.7 was just named Apple Design Award 2006 Best Mac OS X User Experience Runner-Up.  
(Version 1.7)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Moe nice reviews of Mouseposé:

Softpedia: "A great program that puts other similar ones to shame. It’s not only the functionality but the elegance and good looks that make it a winner. After all, a presentation is supposed to look good, and Mouseposé if anything, will make it look even better."

ExtraBITS: "Mouseposé 2 incorporates a couple of valuable improvements."

Adam Pratt of Adobe on his blog Scratch Disk: "It's really a great teaching/training tool."  
(Version 2.0)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Upgrade Policy:

Since there seems to be a bit of confusion about this, let me quickly explain our position:

Mouseposé 1.x was free. It required a license which was mailed to you at no cost when you filled out a form on the web.

Mouseposé 2 now is 9.95 for everyone because nobody has paid for it before. 9.95 is hardly a steep investment. In many places, it won't even get you a decent six pack.

Oliver Breidenbach

Boinx Software.  
(Version 2.0)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Mouseposé 1.x was free, but required a license key which was mailed to you at no cost.

US$9.95 is hardly a steep investment, about as much as 3 packs of cigarettes or a six pack...  
(Version 2.0)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  MyMac.com published a raving review/tutorial for FotoMagico: "It's here, it works, it's affordable, and it comes with timely tech support. It's easy to learn, very easy to edit and export, and really impressive in its final output."  
(Version 1.6)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Ian,

First, it would be nice if the é actually displayed as such, because it is quite consistently something else in a lot of places.

Sorry about that. We surely would like to have it read Mouseposé here as well.

Second, if it faded in quickly, rather than just turning on and off like a switch, it would look better.

Good suggestion. It's on the todo list.

Third, it would be a lot easier if you could paste in the license code rather than having to type it out. ( on that note, the program said it was valid when I still had two characters to type in. Odd.)

The behaviour you describe is indeed odd. If you have your license copied to the pasteboard (using Command-C) before you enter the registration dialog, it will be recognised automatically. We are working on a web page to illustrate this.

Fourth, as was already said, it would be nice if it was invisible - No dock icon, no menu bar item.

It is very complicated to have a cocoa application which does not either appear in the Dock or as a Menu item. We are certainly looking for options.

Fifth, there isn't much point in being able to activate it from the menu, because if you can access the menu item, you must have use of your mouse, no?

You can alway use the hotkey which is F1 by default but can be set using the prefs.

Enjoy!

Oliver Breidenbach

Boinx Software  
(Version 1.3)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Check out the review by macNN: Rating 3.5/5. "Over all, this is a great program, once you figure out its many features."  
(Version 1.5)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  iStopMotion 1.9 has been reviewed favourably by macNN. Rating: 4/5  
(Version 1.9.1)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  Despite all these noble efforts, Spam has not decreased. Spamming Spammers is not going to stop them, they know their trade and can work with Mail rules (and regex) just as well as you can.

Amazingly, there is a technical solution to the spam problem, but the IT industry seems to be unwilling to implement it. They prefer a "war" were spam is fought with more spam. Sorry, I don't buy into it.  
(Version 4.2.4)

OLIVER BREIDENBACH  The 1.2.4 beta was a long and bumpy ride. With the release of 1.2.4 final, all known issues have been addressed. Customer feedback indicates that 1.2.4 is the best release so far.

In order to achieve a higher quality level, we have added a Quality Assurance Engineer who is also the primary customer support contact to our team.

Customers who did not have problems and the professional reviewers in the press continue to give FotoMagico the highest marks. You can see many of the reviews quoted on our weblog.

Best regards,

Oliver Breidenbach

Boinx Software   
(Version 1.2.4)