The 'Ol Subscription Support Run Around

[ryan]

Contacted my support hotline a few weeks ago because, like many on this list; my upgrades were missing from the Subscription Center.  In response support said to hang in there for a bit as there were download issues being resolved with many Subscription Center accounts.

Logged in today after waiting a few weeks.  Now every single link to any page beyond the account splash in my Subscription Center account is broken and errs out, regardless of browser used.

Found the support hotline in an old email thread (since link to it on Subscription Center was broken) and reached an agent who told me there's nothing he can do because I reached the tech support department.  I asked if he could simply upload my upgrade via FTP.  He said indeed he can, but he won't as he's not allowed to do so.  He then gave me the "proper" number to call for my issue, but not before asking me who previously acknowledged Autodesk was having issues with the upgrades - in one of those Scotland Yard voices.

I called that number (during business hours).  On the other end of the line, a brief recorded message closed with "goodbye" and hung up on me.

So I called back the support hotline and said the number didn't work and to send the upgrades now.  The agent (a different one) is uploading the upgrade to me via FTP.

About a year ago I had a similar issue with my Subscription Center account, where every link in it led to the wrong page or was broken.  That matter took about a year to get fixed, no kidding... paying for Subscription for a year but the webpage didn't work most of the time and the support hotline was rarely answered when I called.

So here we are at the crossroads of Smoke on Mac being decompatibilized with the rest of the systems product line amidst resurrecting old support issues.  My subscription policy is up at the end of next month.  Is it worth renewing???

[moreymichael]

I just bought my first cut of NUKE, and will no doubt upgrade to NUKE Studio when it comes out. However, as an old-timey Flame/Inferno guy, there is no question that Flame is the best on-line finishing tool ever devised. With a room full of clients, or just a really short timeline (no pun), Flame will get you there with speed and grace.

Unfortunately, as a freelance who works mostly from home on his own gear, I only get on a Flame when I work a day here and there at the facilities. So I'm torn between the two AD products: Flame, which is brilliant and out of reach, and Smoke, which is my day-to-day interface... the plain sister Mary to my beloved but unatainable Elizabeth (come on, guys...it's okay to for a dude to read Jane Austin). 

AD & your local supplier may or may not play fair with you. After a long-standing relationship, my former company bought a new Flame, then was told 3 months later our raid was no longer supported. A 60K upgrade. Certainly legal, but not cool when you've worked with a supplier for 15 years, and not even a nudge and wink..."maybe wait a few months, friend." 

As for Smoke 2015, it's a good enough product, but it doesn't talk nicely to Mavericks, and no, it's not quite fair that we permanent license holders are the "unwanted" Lennon son, cast aside and cut from the will. I'll be stuck with my permanent 2015 forever, wondering how it would have performed if only it would run on my MacPro. AD are under no legal obligation to generate a fix version for us "Julians", and why would they, when we are basically telling them we will no longer be paying for their service. From anyone else's point of view, a sensible business decision. 

So the real question is, do you stick it out and work with what you've got, or do you move on, explore other options? At least, at this moment in history, there are exciting options either already there, or just on the horizon. As a busy freelance, I either adapt or get out of the business.

My 1.5 cents

[remi]

hello,
I'm still in subscription until the end of December.
I received an email inviting me to download the new version of smoke, but I do not see the extension one in my download area.
How should I proceed?
thanx

[Anonymous]

Yeah the old stock sell.. happens everywhere. Timing's a bitch sometimes. Only thing in defence of the sales guy is they get told some things the same time we hear, you wouldn't tell your clients hey dont book the online yet im getting a faster machine next month and make no money for a month so that kind of happens.

Try this for size, in 1977 video post started to take off in the UK. TVCs docos, the newly touted home video players all promised much more post required. It was clear that 2" quad VTRs were long in the tooth, the AVR3 was an awesome deck but helical scan and visual search were being offered on newer technology. The main options at NAB that year were Ampex with A format VPR1 and VPR20, IVC with the IVC 9000 2 inch helical and lower quality decks such as the Toamco eiaj recorders. It didnt matter what you bought that year, there was no right choice. Within two years C format ruled the roost and that was that. Another one is VHQ Singapore, Eric Lomas bought a Flash Harry literally weeks before Henry was released. I don't think he ever bought another Quantel box again...

But that's not the kind of thing that you're talking about with disk drives. Fibrechannel in the new box is 16x, thats a lot of transfer speed for 4k. But if you dont have the need then your older 8x or less raid still works as well as ever. Its hard to get annoyed that a raid becomes unsupported. Unsupported doesnt mean it doesnt work and you have to throw it away, it simply means if you buy a new one you get better performance. This happens every day in real life. When you buy a car, you dont get upset theres a better model next year. Buy a computer dont be surprised theres a better one next year. Tech moves fast and you buy what can do what you need today and you plan your business model in a manner that allows fast returns because the write down has to be three years or less on all this stuff. Thats when you have to look at the ROI for your type of work, market segment etc etc and make a calculated call. I have a very nice ROI spreadsheet that works this stuff out for me. Same with my aircon spreadsheet, it calcs all the power consumption of my kit and turns it into BTUs then works out HP sizes of AC units and the cost of running them. Dull stuff but part of staying ahead of the risk/return curve in a competitive business.

I bought a brand new flame as you know on the fastest z820 ever a month before the z840 was announced. Not upset at all. Its paid off already. When the z840 is live and part of flame release Ill buy just the computer, slide over all the cards and repurpose the z820. You just have to have a plan.

best regards

Mike

[waltersoyka]

All nicely said, Mike.

I am surely one of those "video pros" that Autodesk was trying to attract with Smoke. Learning Smoke over the past few years has been fantastic, but my biggest takeaway has been that what I really want is Flame. Now that's quite an up-sell... 

While I understand the positioning and can see the direction for Flame, I have no idea where Smoke is supposed to sit in the market or what its direction might be.

[jamesgrean]

Yes, Flame is great.

But 99% of individuals don't and can't own one, because of cost. Mike Parsons, Sam Edwards, and.... who else personally owns a Flame?

Not a single freelancer in my region of the world.

So what's the solution for us? Where is the middle ground? Post houses in my region are NOT buying Flames. They're downsizing. This means the freelancer flame artist community is growing, and there are less Flames to do the work on. Where does that leave us? We all become Nuke compers. Because Flame, currently, is not a viable solution for a freelancer. Praise it all you want, we won't and can't "cross-grade" from Smoke to a Flame, no matter how much we want to or how much Autodesk wants us to.

[Anonymous]

Hi make no mistake it was a terrifying experience buying into Flame in this time in my place and with my tardy paying clients. I just instinctively felt it was right and so I went with it.

From the second the cash left my pocket I had buyers remorse, fear that Id done the dumbest thing of my life, that I actually KNEW i actively disliked many of the changes to the last time I used flame day in day out. Then it arrived and 2015 ext1 had a raft of bugs that convinced me id done the dumbest thing and it literally sat ther for two weeks while I finished the jobs I had in smoke, nuke and avid. 

Then I made a service call and they installed ext2. Recursive batch.. wow. Reel groups.. wow. Dual monitor and library, pretty cool. Theres a lot i still disike, theres a lot Im complaining about, theres a long way to go and a part of that IS bridgeing the market to freelancers. Right now in my market there is not one freelance flame artist comfortable with anything after the pre anniversary edition.

If I was autodesk they need to allow none flame owners to lease flame assist. Make it a progressive leasing program whack on a surcharge where 10% of your leae goes into an escrow  account until it covers 60% the cost of a flame license then give the freelancers flame hardware and let them lease a flame. Survival is going to be a numbers game, only AD know what that number that is. But in reality not every car owner is gonna have a ferrari and flame is perhaps only ever going to be a niche product cos not everyone can drive it.

mike

[ryan]

Oh my god here we go, a push to get folks into flame because the Smoke experience is failing.

Just make Smoke work, including the subscription support service.  Stop charging for broken features and support.

I must admit I chuckled upon reading the Smoke 2015 Extension what's new list: wow, so if I renew my recently expired subscription I'll get a version of the application where Action won't crash in a color bit depth above 8-bit and my comps won't suddenly be dark coming out of paint?

Unreal.