Heads up guys. I just read an annoucement over at Photopost were they have said they are keeping the photoshop and vBgallery separate for the time being but they may be intergrated it into one product further down the line.
As you have no doubt heard, PhotoPost has acquired the rights to vBAdvanced Gallery over the weekend. Although the product name is changing to PhotoPost vBGallery, we intend to continue selling and supporting the product alongside our existing PhotoPost Pro product.
We see the two products as each having a unique niche. PhotoPost vBGallery is a streamlined vBulletin specific application with a healthy yet paired-down featureset and a very tight vBulletin integration. PhotoPost PHP Pro is a feature-rich gallery with every bell and whistle, that works standalone and with several forum-types.
Down the road, it may make sense to combine the products in a way that all of our customers can get behind, but for now they will be separate products.
Please find below some answers to your most frequent questions:
I heard about this on Sunday and have been without download access and support, what is the timeline for this?
We received user license data, forum user lists, forum threads, and forum posts, from vbadvanced.com late Sunday night. Sunday night and all of Monday we have been hard at work integrating this data into our systems. Our support forums are online, and your user account has been imported from vbadvanced.com. You can post your support questions to our forums, or you can email us at [email protected], your choice.
Regarding downloads, we are working to import user license data this evening and plan to have this completed overnight tonight. If you already own a PhotoPost Pro license, you will be able to to link your PhotoPost vBGallery and PhotoPost Pro licenses into one single login for your convenience.
Update: Emails have been sent to all vBGallery customers with new login information to access the Members Area. Please check your emails - if you haven't gotten one, you should get it shortly as this is an automated process.
What about pricing?
We intend to keep the vBAdvanced Gallery license fee priced the same. Prices may increase or decrease in the future as the market warrants. Pricing should not affect you as a current customer, though, since you already purchased a license, unless you plan to add additional licenses.
What about the powered by notice on my site?
You will be able to download PhotoPost vBGallery 1.0.1 (vb 3.0 or vb 3.5) from our site, overwrite your .php files, and run a small script to change the powered by notice. Nothing in the files has changed other than the name of the software and the powered by notice. In exchange for doing this, we will add one year to your members area/download access for free. If you decide not to change the notice at this time, that's okay, but we ask that you do eventually change the notice within 90 days from now.
If you already purchased the branding free option, then you need not display the powered by notice.
What about PhotoPost's support, I heard it sucks?
Out of 6,000 customers, we have about 50 (0.8%) that have had unresolved support issues and/or feel that they have not been treated professionally. These 50 customers switched from PhotoPost to vBAdvanced Gallery or other software, and continue to tell others about their experiences though several years may have gone by.
We want to win-back those customers and exceed the expectations of all of our customers by offering professional, courteous, and competent support. We wholeheartledly feel bad that those customers feel that they were not treated well and we want to do everything we can to remedy any outstanding issues.
We have already expanded our support staff with the acquisition of vBAdvanced Gallery and we are working hard to meet your support needs. We ask that you please give us a chance - as the president of the company, I want you to know that you can always contact me directly if you ever feel that you have not received prompt and outstanding support.
Aren't you just trying to stomp out the little guy?
We are the little guy! We're a small company, made up of a small number of people that work very hard at what they do. We work because we love our products and we love to solve problems and to bring solutions to our customers. Bringing vBAdvanced Gallery on board made sense for us and we think you as the customer will benefit too.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post in our forums or PM me.
Thanks,
Scott Wainner
President/CEO
PhotoPost
We see the two products as each having a unique niche. PhotoPost vBGallery is a streamlined vBulletin specific application with a healthy yet paired-down featureset and a very tight vBulletin integration. PhotoPost PHP Pro is a feature-rich gallery with every bell and whistle, that works standalone and with several forum-types.
Down the road, it may make sense to combine the products in a way that all of our customers can get behind, but for now they will be separate products.
Please find below some answers to your most frequent questions:
I heard about this on Sunday and have been without download access and support, what is the timeline for this?
We received user license data, forum user lists, forum threads, and forum posts, from vbadvanced.com late Sunday night. Sunday night and all of Monday we have been hard at work integrating this data into our systems. Our support forums are online, and your user account has been imported from vbadvanced.com. You can post your support questions to our forums, or you can email us at [email protected], your choice.
Regarding downloads, we are working to import user license data this evening and plan to have this completed overnight tonight. If you already own a PhotoPost Pro license, you will be able to to link your PhotoPost vBGallery and PhotoPost Pro licenses into one single login for your convenience.
Update: Emails have been sent to all vBGallery customers with new login information to access the Members Area. Please check your emails - if you haven't gotten one, you should get it shortly as this is an automated process.
What about pricing?
We intend to keep the vBAdvanced Gallery license fee priced the same. Prices may increase or decrease in the future as the market warrants. Pricing should not affect you as a current customer, though, since you already purchased a license, unless you plan to add additional licenses.
What about the powered by notice on my site?
You will be able to download PhotoPost vBGallery 1.0.1 (vb 3.0 or vb 3.5) from our site, overwrite your .php files, and run a small script to change the powered by notice. Nothing in the files has changed other than the name of the software and the powered by notice. In exchange for doing this, we will add one year to your members area/download access for free. If you decide not to change the notice at this time, that's okay, but we ask that you do eventually change the notice within 90 days from now.
If you already purchased the branding free option, then you need not display the powered by notice.
What about PhotoPost's support, I heard it sucks?
Out of 6,000 customers, we have about 50 (0.8%) that have had unresolved support issues and/or feel that they have not been treated professionally. These 50 customers switched from PhotoPost to vBAdvanced Gallery or other software, and continue to tell others about their experiences though several years may have gone by.
We want to win-back those customers and exceed the expectations of all of our customers by offering professional, courteous, and competent support. We wholeheartledly feel bad that those customers feel that they were not treated well and we want to do everything we can to remedy any outstanding issues.
We have already expanded our support staff with the acquisition of vBAdvanced Gallery and we are working hard to meet your support needs. We ask that you please give us a chance - as the president of the company, I want you to know that you can always contact me directly if you ever feel that you have not received prompt and outstanding support.
Aren't you just trying to stomp out the little guy?
We are the little guy! We're a small company, made up of a small number of people that work very hard at what they do. We work because we love our products and we love to solve problems and to bring solutions to our customers. Bringing vBAdvanced Gallery on board made sense for us and we think you as the customer will benefit too.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post in our forums or PM me.
Thanks,
Scott Wainner
President/CEO
PhotoPost
Comment