Snappy Driver Installer

[overburnz]

ok, if i come across with more issues i'll send you the log file

 

[BadPointer]

Announcement
I have to bring to your attention the problem that the project is facing.

Firstly, I have to give some backstory about driverpacks. The team at driverpacks.net created driverpacks, so that drivers could be slip-streamed into Windows installation discs. However some drivers required addition tweaking at first boot or couldn’t be installed that way at all.

SamLab started as a member of the driverpacks.net team but he eventually created his own version of driverpacks which he released as SamDrivers. The first version was released in 2008 and used Drivers Installation Assistant for installing drivers. Later on he added DriverPack Solution(with adware removed) and Snappy Driver Installer. SamLab has been updating these driverpacks all by himself all these years for free. However he’s no longer motivated to go on because he’s no longer need to install drivers(he’s currently unemployed) but still has to support his family and pay the bills. SamLab explained at forums that recent delays were due to the lack of motivation. He also said that switching from weekly releases to monthly releases isn’t practical because it would be too difficult to catch up. He resumed after a few people donated but we still need to find a long term solution.

SamLab has a donate button on http://driveroff.net/(the coin at the top right corner) and I have a donate button on sdi-tool.org. We neither guilt trip users to pay nor try maximize the income in some other way. I’m grateful for each $10 donation because people do it on their own volition and the rarity of the occasion(once in 1-2 months) makes it special. Also some people are very generous and it makes a pleasant surprise.

I proposed SamLab to switch to collecting donations via Patreon where users decide themselves how much they can donate each month and we can do campaigns to raise funding to reach minimal and stretch goals. This way SamLab would have guaranteed income each month. Users on the forums liked the idea but SamLab hasn’t agreed to it yet. I think he’s skeptical that we could raise enough money.

I’m afraid that SamLab may be tempted to become a full-time employee at DriverPack Solution. They can afford it because they make a lot of money from forcing adware on users. If it happens, driverpacks would be encrypted, so SamDrivers and SDI wouldn’t be able to use them.

As for me and SDI, I find it difficult to invest my time and effort into working on SDI while the future of driverpacks is uncertain.

Neither me nor SamLab want to add adware or force users to pay. We would prefer to get enough donors to keep the project going.

I’m looking for suggestion on how we should go about getting funding and wondering if any of you can offer any help. You can share your ideas here or contact me via Skype, so that I could explain it in more detail. Also I’m wondering if I(and hopefully SamLab) could talk about it at Foolish Tech Show.

 

[alluseridsrejected]

Badpointer, I just went to your link to donate, but nothing is in English or dollars so I don't know how much I am giving or how to navigate. Snappy is a very useful tool to me and I would hate for it to not be there any more.!

 

[BadPointer]

Try accessing http://driveroff.net/ via Google Translate.
You can convert currencies by googling "10 usd in rub".

 

[alluseridsrejected]

I used google translate and it helps slightly, but when I click the donate button with 1326 rubels ($20) I get:

400. That’s an error.

Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request. That’s all we know.

 

[BadPointer]

This payment method appears to be too much troublesome for international users anyway. This is why asked him to consider accepting donations via Patreon. But we don't know how many people are willing to support the project via Patreon and decide what our goals should be. The more people participate the less each user needs to donate to reach the goal.

 

[TAPtech]

If you made this a paid product for technicians, I would certainly pay for it. Give me a good deal on a license and I'll pay you for a subscription. Maybe you should start a new thread gauging interest first.

 

[Larry Sabo]

This way SamLab would have guaranteed income each month.

I don't know how realistic it is to expect people to pay monthly to use SDI, or pay enough to support SamLab through a commission on such donations. I use SDI once in a while and thought I had made a donation quite a while ago but can't find the transaction in my records. I think most techs who use the tool would be happy to pay something for it, but it has to be easy to do so. Seems to me that's the first problem to be solved.

 

[wavey]

I've been using SDI for a while now and would be happy to pay via subscription or patreon. It's a very useful tool that saves lots of time searching for drivers.

 

[BadPointer]

SDI is downloaded from the website about 9000 times a week(downloads via SDI don't factor into it).

Russia          33.84%
Ukraine         10.81%
United States    6.38%
France           5.52%
Other           43.45%

Ultimately I'd prefer to leave it up to the people to decide if the project provides enough value to justify keeping it alive.

For my part, I can only raise awareness, make the donate button more prominent, adopt approaches that are used by Wikipedia(personal appeal from founder) or Ubuntu(users are asked to donate before downloading but they can download for free). I don't want to require technicians to pay in part because it goes against the "Free. No limitations. No premium features. No adware. No gotchas." commitment.

Maybe you should start a new thread gauging interest first.

It sounds like a good idea, but I don't know how to go about it. It's difficult for me to find the right words and I don't like begging. This is why I started the discussion with the people who used SDI.

It should be noted that people generally skeptical of driver updaters due bad past experience. While SDI doesn't screw over users and tries to do its best to pick and install best drivers, it still isn't perfect. Moreover, Windows Update in Windows 7 usually takes care of drivers. SDI wasn't meant to create an unnecessary urgency that all drivers should be updated but to solve the problem which was prominent in Windows XP. There're still parts of the world where people using old hardware running Windows XP but they're unlikely to donate.

 

[cypress]

If you made this a paid product for technicians, I would certainly pay for it. Give me a good deal on a license and I'll pay you for a subscription. Maybe you should start a new thread gauging interest first.

Great idea. I would be on board for this as well.

 

[brandonkick]

It's a tool that I have personally never used. Having said that, it seems like and most
likely is a good tool for a lot of techs. Maybe set up some type of recurring subscription?

I don't know if you'll get the money to support him full time, you'd need a lot of generous
donations or a large amount of active subscribers.

Maybe an idea would be trying to find a few extra people who can contribute to the project
as far as development/driver updates goes? Is this something that SamLab could teach
to those with decent programming abilities? You might find a few people willing to donate
some spare time to the project, and that could allow for him to at least work part time
elsewhere to keep the bills paid and his family taken care of. It would also help to reduce
the burden of how much the donations / subscriptions need to pay for. They would be
more meaningful if they didn't have to foot the whole bill.

But yea, step #1 is to get an easy to use payment method. Regardless of if you choose
donations or subscriptions... you'll need an easy way to pay.

 

[TAPtech]

How about you put a "Donate via PayPal" button right on the software? Doesn't have to be PayPal of course, whatever works and is easy to do and safe. Think about it- someone downloads for tool for FREE, they are probably a little skeptical. They get zero adds, the tool works fantastically and saves them time. A little donate button will not be ill received.

Also, you are way too nice of a guy feeling guilty for asking for money. That's silly. You're talking to a forum of people that charge people money for their services. So what the heck?

 

[BadPointer]

I wrote SDI from scratch and I'm the only programmer on the project. The good news is it's rather mature and its driver matching algorithm rarely requires fine tuning.

As for driverpacks, it's another story. These driverpacks need to be updated regularly and since SamLab put these driverpacks all by himself, he's the only person who knows how driverpacks are organized internally and how to keep track of updates. There were people who made their own driverpacks in the past but hardly anyone can take care of all the driverpacks.

SamLab has some part time job as far as I'm aware but it doesn't involve installing drivers, so I can't fault him for lacking motivation to work on driverpacks. We both are aware that the situation in our country(corruption, reliance on oil prices, collapse of national currency, imperial ambitions, confrontation with developed countries, censorship, etc) is unlikely to improve anytime soon, so we have to reevaluate our priorities.

I don't know how much is needed to motivate him to do regular updates. For reference, the minimal wage is $3138 and the average salary of a PC technician is $8164. On one occasion he wrote on his forums: "The next release will come out as soon as enough people donate". He released driverpacks some time later and thanked donors for paying undisclosed amount of money.

We need help of business minded people to find the best strategy.

It should be noted that SDI is widely used by Russians but some are unable to use PayPal and Patreon due to sanctions over annexation of Crimea and Russian banks cutting ties to western countries. On the other hand, Russians are unlikely to donate much anyway and the collapse of Ruble means that Dollars and Euros worth much more than before.

 

[bertie40]

I use SDI quite a bit. Generally it's one of the first progs I run after building a machine.

It also looks good in front of a customer, as it illustrates a software family which rarely gets seen and updated.

I would be willing to pay for a reasonable lifetime technicians license, which I've done with a few other products.

Maybe special discount for TN members ?


.....Whilst proclaiming the machine fixed, grabbing the cash and running like hell !

 

[River Valley Computer]

I use SDI quite a bit. Generally it's one of the first progs I run after building a machine.

It also looks good in front of a customer, as it illustrates a software family which rarely gets seen and updated.

I would be willing to pay for a reasonable lifetime technicians license, which I've done with a few other products.

Maybe special discount for TN members ?


.....Whilst proclaiming the machine fixed, grabbing the cash and running like hell !

Agreed with full heartedly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Eagle21]

...
I would be willing to pay for a reasonable lifetime technicians license, which I've done with a few other products.

Lifetime licenses do not provide a sustainable income for a software developer.
They are good for the consumer, but not so good for the developer.

The trend seems to be towards yearly subscriptions. So you are now renting the software instead of buying it. This is good for the developer, but not so good for the consumer.

 

[HFultzjr]

I love SDI.
Plain and simple.....none better.
If we can come up with a reasonable way to support this project, I would be more than willing to pay for it.
Question is?????? What's most reasonable and advantageous to both parties involved and how do we go about it.
My ears are open and I'm following this thread.
Good luck, I wouldn't want to see this one die.

 

[Porthos]

20 US Dollar equals
1328.99 Russian Ruble

What does that amount buy in Russia? Just an example or two please.

 

[mrapoc]

How about similar to ninite subscription? Cheap but monthly fee so everyone would feel ok with it, but you get paid. Say $10 a month times by 9000 users.