It think this thread and every other Colorbyte slam like it, on the internet, should be printed and mailed in large canvas bags to Colorbyte Software in Fla...along with one sack that contains a large Alligator.
They really piss me off. First off, when i was using 5.6 I experienced a fair anount of instability, unexpected "DEMO" invasions, quirky Spoolface stuff...generally things were ok and then out of nowhere.."Image Print has left the building". Most of time it happened at night so support was unavailable..so i would figure it out..I never even used support and when I needed it, it was gone..machine driven e-mail responses..support us, send us money if you want support.
It didn't really bother me to much because I am fairly handy at solving issues like this, or, I have patience and I love the program itself..despite the discrepancies in the greyscale profiles. actually, to many users...there is a built in discrepancy in that IP can do dramatic things to the range in an Image, sometimes not desirable. Using the program properly can be a bit dodgy at first.
If you ever visited the IP Yahoo group you probalby found many subscribers who were a bit confused. It seems the 6.0 to 6.1 has reduced the number of those confusoids. I was one of them at first. Sort of wondering where my nice crisp contrast went when I opened images in IP with the wrong settings or expectations.
Anyhow..The program is to expensive, The support sucks (because you have to pay big bucks), the upgrades are WAY to expensive. At least with Apple's upgrades you get fairly robust improvements (most of the time) for your money. That said, the improvements from 5.6 to 6 were fairly marked. For me, the Gray profiles were worth it because they are much better.
The one thing that IP brings to the table, especially with the factory tuned K3 printers, is that the profiles are excellent...who wants to spend time building profiles that are not going to be as good?...not me..i wanna make pictures and not screw around with peripheral b.s. Having these profiles is a great thing. I spose though, that if you onyl use one or two papers it becomes sort of moot...you could have two or three top quality profiles built from a reliable source.
Ok but still, IP pisses me off...I do beleive the writing is on the wall for them because Epson is getting closer to supplying drivers that are equal to IP..It will be interesting to see what Canon will bring to the table with it's new printers via their drivers. Anyhow, things aren't what they were and Colorbyte needs to get a grip and get ready for the, inevitable, end of the honeymoon.
It is very difficult to swallow all the add on's that they get you for...auto print, high upgrade fees, support, lite vs. not lite...consider that the giant sized PHOTOSHOP is an immense program and you get everything for one price...about 500 clams...not a bunch of add ons..like 150 extra for Cmaera Raw, Bridge, etc.
Sorry, I begin to repeat myself when I get crinkled. I guess I would like to love the actual company as much as i do the product. They leave a bad taste in my mouth and I hate that it has to be like this. I would like to like my lovers for more than just the intimate moments we spend together at night, making prints.