Right now there is a lot of angst being expressed on this forum which I feel is a bit over the top. I’d like to take some time to discuss and ask that all read this with an open mind, perhaps after a breath of fresh air, and a glass/cup of a preferred beverage, to allow the mind to clear some and the passion diminish.
I am not affiliated with TL (Topaz Labs) in any way save for having been active in the beta test program since 2008. Back then TL was a very small company of, if I recall correctly, 8 individuals. I have met several of them individually at product conventions and enjoyed my conversations with them. During my time “working” with the company over these 13 years I have experienced what I will refer to as 3 phases of corporate behavior. I should like to address each individually. The first runs from my initial association with TL until shortly after the release of Studio 1. The third runs from about two months ago and is current. The second occupies the time between. What I shall refer to as “corporate” behavior will be what I experienced during the many beta test programs in which I have been involved.
Phase 1. When I began beta testing for the company all the products were just plug-ins and nothing was stand alone. The betas were thorough, lengthy, and resulted in products that were ready for prime time (RFPT), and better than most other companies releases, when released. Interaction with the engineers was timely, and many, many suggestions made by the testers were rapidly incorporated into the product(s). It was also a time when company employment appeared to be stable and you knew with whom you were working. The beta test programs were fun and you felt like you were a significant part of the program! This was also the time of almost weekly hour long training webinars hosted by both TL employees and outside professional trainers/photographers. These were really helpful and I believe are still out there on the TL Youtube page. In this area TL really outshone all its competitors. You are all familiar with those products, they are all still available on the download page, and are the group of products we all remember as being upgradable for life. Unfortunately, I do believe that many of us may have taken that “lifetime” idea to mean our lives and not that of the product. The life of those products, although still available, is over and so TL has been faithful on its promise of lifetime upgrades. But that lifetime has ended. Whether or not one agrees with the end of product support, that is, and always was/shall be a corporate option as it is with every other product and not limited to software. I think we all truly know that. So it is unfair to claim that TL has broken its contract with us.
Phase 2. Shortly after the release of Studio 1 things began to change. Many of those in the employ of TL left, with new faces appearing regularly. The webinars greatly diminished and were not of the quality previously experienced. More importantly, the betas became rushed and never finished with all kinds of ridiculous excuses, feedback was abominable, products were routinely released NOT RFPT, updates were of the M$ type where one thing would be fixed and a working feature broken or removed, and new products were released before the current one(s) was/were functional. A good example being the replacement of Studio 1 with Studio 2 which is far from RFPT. Studio 1 being a poor replacement for PhotoFXlab which held great promise and then was just history. This also was the into of the AI line of products and a new support program which was NEVER fully explained or developed. This was the start of no longer offering lifetime product upgrades but such was never delineated and users were left with an ASSUMPTION that was false but not addressed until Eric’s recent letter. I realize that there was a screen capture shared which showed Gigapixel as having the lifetime provision but to be honest I have never seen that on any TL page. I’m NOT denying what that graphic shows, but I’m wondering about it’s origin as it is not in line with the TL policy that began with the release of the AI programs. However, if it had it’s origin on a web page write-up with the writer simply applying the lifetime upgrade policy based on history this could account for the mis-understanding. Again, I’m NOT challenging what was shown, just suggesting that it is possible to not have been of TL origin. In any event, the programs, the support, and the training provided by TL during this time was truly unacceptable in my NSHO.
Phase 3. This last phase started about the beginning of this year. Beta testing began with a major thrust of returning to actively working with the beta testers, engineers rapidly responding to the comments of those testing the products, greatly expanded beta programs, and an apparent cessation of building new products before those out were RFPT. I’m not suggesting that everything is now perfect, BUT, in the past 2 months I have experienced GREATLY improved performance of everything TL related. Based SOLELY on this two month experience, I’m hopeful of seeing the old TL return to the delight of us all. I think that the potential for this occurring is significant.
Now, with all that said, let’s take another look at what is occurring. TL has discontinued support for what are now called “Classic Plugins.” Their life support has run out and are no longer up gradable precisely because they are no longer being upgraded. TL has fulfilled their “contractual” agreement. They still work and are still available. IF you still like them this might be the opportune time to download the entire set and save them.
Since these are no longer being supported, this might be the opportune time to make a group REQUEST of TL to 1) make them freely available in a manner similar to what was done with the nik plugin software AND 2) ask that either the requirement for a serial umber be removed or, if not, then at least continue to support that aspect of the software. That said, I can see a reluctance to fully implement such a policy simply based on the downloads page stating that many of the “Classic” options are now incorporated in the Studio programs. Still . . . . . . . . . it never hurts to ASK. 
The support of the new AI generation of programs, which has generated all the uproar, are those that many find not up to par. I believe this will change over the next few months and that we should all make use of the currently available free upgrades to see what they will do. After that we can make a decision, based on product performances, as to whether or not we will remain customers. Jumping ship now when nothing had changed and won’t for several (6) months doesn’t make sense. Silly to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Let’s see what develops between now and August. In the meantime, TL labs has heard all of us and has replied to several responses already. Perhaps, after having had a time to thoroughly review all these more than 800 responses, they will determine that it makes more sense to sell “X” products at “Y” price and keep the customer base happy and active than it does to sell 1/10 “X” products at 10"Y” price. I think this comes under the no-brainer category. I believe the prudent thing would be to wait and see. IF TL doesn’t see the advantage of lower pricing/more customers vs higher pricing/fewer customers, then there will be plenty of time to jump ship.
Now I’m an old turkey - still think a phone is something that sits on your desk. I come from the Unix era where the philosophy was one small well written program to do just one task VERY well. I’m not a fan of one program to do everything not so well, think M$, Adobe, Studio, etc. I think it would be a great approach if TL would adopt this Unix philosophy and write all its software to follow this approach. Use program X to do a specific task and then hand it off to program Y to accomplish the next task. In a sense that was what we had with the “Classic” plugins although they were called from a host program. To a degree this is what Studio does but as written I find the Studio gets in the way. I know this is exactly pertinent to the current discussion, but chew on it a bit; it may make more sense after giving it some thought.
Thanks for letting me comment.
