From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: August 7, 2012 10:19:46 AM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Macs and Science

Hi Stephen;

On 7-Aug-12, at 9:47 AM, Stephen W. Ramsden wrote:

I also went to all Macs in my outreach program (60,000 people yearly at schools and almost every major asto event)  based exclusively on Milton’s software.  I invested over $8,000 in cameras and iMacs/Macbooks based on this software as it is BY FAR the best live broadcasting software out there for Mac or Windows.  I also purchased several copies as I wanted to keep him in business.

I have to say I am sort of scrambling now as to what Im gonna do if ASTRO IIDC is no longer available.  Milton, I am assuming that the software I have will still work if I don’t change out any computers or OS’s right?

As long as you don't switch hardware , Astro IIDC will continue to work and your keys will be viable. For Mac licenses, If the mother board dies and is replaced, that changes the serial numbers. Unfortunately, given the junk Apple ships now a days from a Q&A perspective - that is more likely to happen than not. Since switching to intel, I have issued 3 times as many replacement unlock keys than I ever did for PowerPC Macs - and sinilar numbers of customers too.

And you can switch to windows with your existing camera gear if they do - I'm sure that's what everyone else will do. You can likely save yourself thousands of dollars (Ultra Books are 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of similar Mac products) by buying a Dell (or other) PC over Apple.

Is there anything that I can do to encourage you to at least keep a shell going for a couple more years?

Not unless we reach the 100 new full price licenses mark by September 15th. That will keep things running until January 2013.

If I decide to go back to my "Geologist Roots", I could be living in places where we have no outside communication to the world for months on end. So it could be 6+ months before I get back to people on e-mail requests for new keys. That is not viable.

Secondly, I am not going to partially stop - it isn't fair to me to continue keys and support with no source of revenue to back it. Doing key replacements and support does take a significant amount of time. So it's either all or nothing.

By the way, I will be glad to host the listserve or website or whatever.

The Astro IIDC Yahoo Group is part of Yahoo and is hosted by them. Basically i need someone to take over the administration. That means you approve whom gets on the list (to prevent spammers) and remove people whom are being disruptive (like spammers etc.) In 8 years I have had to kick 2 people off. Yahoo notifies you when a person requests becoming a member and it's a simple matter of saying Yes or No. It frankly requires a few minutes a week - even less than that now a days.

There is almost 8 years of support, tips and suggestions in this Yahoo Group, and I would like  to see that preserved if possible. But if no one steps up, then it's lost.

HTH..

Milton Aupperle

Stephen W. Ramsden

Executive Director

Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project

404-543-7616

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