Unified Color (HDR Expose) - what's wrong with them?

[PeterAit]

I am beginning to wish I had not bought this program. The support people have been sitting on a serious artifact issue I submitted weeks ago without any communication or resolution. Then today I get an email about a new version of HDR Expose and when I download and run the installer it re-installed the old version I already have! Finally, when I check for updates from within the program, I am told an update is available but the web page I am directed to does not exist. $119 for this sort of Mickey Mouse crap?

[kirkt]

I got the email too.  I was able to click the link in the HTML email (see attached screenshot).

Here is the link that the email takes one to:

http://unifiedcolor.com/download-hdr-expose-3

I tried the new version for about 10 minutes.  Firstly, when I went to the download page, you are required to enter your name, email address and fill in a Captcha.

Fine - I did that and the download started, except the resulting web page that renders after I clicked on the "Download HDR Expose 3 Installer" has a message near the top of the page (below the nav bar) that said something to the effect of "Captcha reuse detected" - does this mean I have aided some criminal syndicate in signing up for a robo-junk-mail account?

Also, the update included the advertised pano batch conditioning, etc.

I did a simple merge on a dataset that I use all the time to evaluate various aspects of HDR applications - it has issues in it that I see how well applications can handle, etc.  The updated version of HDRExpose 3 made a merge that took the noisiest pixels from the shadow areas and even up into the darker mid tones - WTF?  It is the exact opposite of what most HDR applications are able to do, including the previous version of HDR Expose 3.

Something is not right.  I am going to call them and find out what the hell is going on - I rarely use this software, but I have been using HDR techniques for a very long time and I like to have my options - I have been using this product since it was HDR Photo Studio 1.  Not good.

At this point, you are not missing anything, don't waste your time downloading it.

I can only imagine that my email account is going to be sending junk mail to the universe - you're welcome!

kirk

[kirkt]

I called them  - got an answering machine.  I emailed support with my concerns, will post here if I find out anything.

When I received the email, by the way, I did not initially try to update via the email link - I fired up HDRExpose 3 to update through the application.  The application told me there was no update available.  That's why I went through the email link.

kirk