Well it has been a crazy two weeks since my last post, it seems I under estimated the community response, it’s just amazing… thanks everyone! As I mentioned in my original post, my hope was that all the products would continue on in some form or another. However there were a number of obstacles that needed to be sorted before I could happily allow them to go on.
So what was the end result? Given the level of user support, it seems I had no other choice other than allowing Drive Bender, PoolHD and Cloud Xtender to live on! As for my involvement, I’ve decided to remain involved as a hobbyist… that is I will remain active on the forum and play with the code when possible.
Now this leads us to how this is going to work. While I’m not comfortable selling a product that does not have dedicated support or development, we still need to generate some cash to keep the lights on. My original idea was to make all products freeware… however this does not help with the “cash” portion of my last statement. So I’m going with a super low $5 USD on Drive Bender (I’m actually calling this a donation), and freeware on Cloud Xtender. As for PoolHD, this will now use the Drive Bender license so users can use whatever platform they choose (if you are an existing PoolHD user, simply email support and you’ll get a Drive Bender license, this will be compatible with the next PoolHD update). When is this going to happen, well by the time you read this it should be all sorted.
Once again I would like to thank everyone for their kind words… it’s very much appreciated. See ya on the forums!
Great news Anthony.
Thanks.
Just coming across this. Great news! While I already have more than enough DB licenses I’m going to snag a few more to help “keep the lights on”. Also looking forward to expanding use of CX as that product continues to mature (something tells me Anthony has a few updates in the works).
Drive Bender has been such a help to me, when I read your “all good things” post, I actually tried using storage spaces to see if it could replace drive bender. The short answer is not even close. It was so space inefficient, folder duplication is a much less storage intensive way to do backups. I have 7 drives ranging from 250gb to 3tb all in an ancient tower and drivebender handles them like a champ. I stream all my media from this machine to a bunch of different platforms, roku, smart tvs, kodi on raspberry pi, drive bender never causes any issues and it just has so many more options than any raid array. Please keep those lights on. Thanks!!
I wonder if your business may actually grow at the $5 price point. I know many people who would have balked at the $40 I paid, but will go for $5 easy.