jfm
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 114
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- Montreal, Canada
Just pledged for a small 5$/month for now.
Shouldnt you already charge at least 50$ for this (for now)?
Shouldnt you already charge at least 50$ for this (for now)?
Snappy Driver Installer
- Thread starter JustInspired
- Start date
If there is a fully featured free version of SDI then naturally many people will take advantage of this and not pay to use the software. SDI could be set up like other paid software with a limited free version and a fully featured paid version.
For example, the free version could install sound drivers only, and the full version would install all drivers. You would need to write additional licensing routines, provide product keys to the paid customers, develop a routine to handle and blacklist stolen keys, and so on.
Something to think about ...
wavey
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 265
- Location
- Liverpool, UK
The benefit of paying is that you are helping to ensure the longevity of the product.
Freeloaders are freeloaders, that's life unfortunately.
Freeloaders are freeloaders, that's life unfortunately.
BadPointer
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 90
We really don't want to be like other driver updaters which rely on turning basic functionality into premium features or tricking users into installing adware.
Their owners also spend a lot of resources in advertising on the Internet. They pay major bloggers and websites to write articles about their software and pay websites to place them prominently. A lot of people know about these products, but SDI isn't even on the radar.
Snappy Driver Installer was first released in February 2014. It started out as a fork/rewrite of DriverPack Solutiоn which differentiated from it by having no adware, no premium features, being faster(hence its name), taking great care in picking best matched drivers, not leaving traces in systems and being honest to users.
Previously I worked on DriverPack Solutiоn(DPS) and made significant contributions to it. It's worth mention that it's a commercially successful project and its annual revenue is about $1 000 000. I worked as a volunteer and made no attempt to claim any of that money. DriverPack Solutiоn uses the same old driver matching engine that I wrote a long time ago and no one touched it since I quit the project because no one else understand how it works. While the software hasn't been updated since 2013, a new version comes out each month thanks to SamLab's driverpacks. Users are already used to its defects such as installing touchpad drivers on desktops, installing both Realtek and Creative at the same time, scripting errors, etc. SamLab still tries to make his driverpacks compatible with DPS but it causes bloating of driverpacks because in order to trick DPS into installing the correct driver, he has to duplicate the same driver multiple times. Also he can't include some drivers because DPS would renders PCs unbootable trying installing them. I'm not fixing these issues because I no longer support DPS and users better off using SDI anyway.
Even though SDI outperformed DPS in every way and doesn't include any adware, DPS is vastly more popular and recognized. It has to do with the fact АrtX put a lot resources into advertising and trying to capitalize on adware. His employee went on saying on forums that they target housewives because they're easily tricked into installed adware and don't complain about poorly picked drivers due to not being tech-savvy.
I need to give some backstory explaining how I get involved in the first place. There's not much information about the project on English speaking forums, so hopefully people will be able to piece it together to get a better idea on how things unfolded.
Back in 2009 I started working as a PC technician at a company that had over 1000 PCs and there was no Internet due to a security policy. So I started looking for software that would help me with installing drivers.
The best one that I found was Driver Pack Autorun(it was re-branded as DriverPack Solutiоn some time later). It used driverpacks from driverpack.net(they're meant to be slipstreamed into Windows installation discs) and rely on DPInst.exe to do the actual installation. At the time it didn't support 64-bit systems, couldn't update drivers(only missing drivers were installed), didn't provide information about drivers that are available for installation. Users were supposed to click on red mark and hopefully red marks turns into green marks. You can see how it looked back then on Wikipedia(link).
The software was advertised as being released under GPL. I joined the project in 2009 and put source code at Google Code, so that multiple people could participate in the development at the same time. Over time I made significant contributions such as support for 64-bit systems, changed GUI to displaying list of drivers instead of list of driverpacks, optimizing for speed(indexation of 700MB driverpacks used to take about 6 hours on my PC), added tooltips displaying information about drivers, rewrote driver matching engine(that improved chances of finding the best matched driver and enabled updated old drivers).
However I had some disagreements with its founder(АrtX).
I was arguing for providing as much information about drivers as possible while АrtX wanted to show users only one big button "Install all". I was opposing keeping records in registry about drivers that failed to be installed, so that DriverPack Solutiоn wouldn't be suggesting installing them again because it deceived users(it looked like drivers were successfully installed). I also opposed stuff like forcing adware on users, changing home pages, OEM logos, loading from the Internet JavaScripts and many other things I'm having trouble recalling.
At one point АrtX decided to make new version available only for users who ordered DVDs with the software. New version was advertised as having brand new driver matching engine, speed improvements, 64-bit support, ability to update drivers, creating log files. All these improvements were made by me and I opposed forcing users to pay for that. I didn't mind АrtX taking all money from DVD sales(it's a good service for people with slow/expensive Internet) for as long as the new version would be available for free. Negotiations didn't go too well. АrtX end up making new version available only via paid DVD.
Website said it would be released for everyone on March 1st.
When March 1st came, the note was changed to March 15th.
When March 15th came, the note was removed all together.
The new version finally appeared on April 20th but was heavily loaded with adware.
АrtX put the source code into his own private source code repository breaking his promise of being Open Source. I continued working on public repository at Google Code where I made further improvements into its core functionality. SamLab kept updating driverpacks and releasing SamDrivers each month. It included my version of DPS since it was free of adware and it was on the cutting edge at the time. Eventually АrtX merged his private branch back into public Google Code. While it brought some improvements to GUI, it also brought some nasties which included adware and encrypted scripts. It took me same time to clean it up make it easy to disable, so that SamLab could include DPS in his SamDrivers.
DriverPack Solutiоn is written in JavaScript. АrtX choose it because he was familiar it. Over years I tried to push it to the limit but JavaScript isn't meant to do heavy lifting and some problems with DPS couldn't be solved without a major redesign. This is why wrote Snappy Driver Installer from scratch in C++ and the rest is history.
Their owners also spend a lot of resources in advertising on the Internet. They pay major bloggers and websites to write articles about their software and pay websites to place them prominently. A lot of people know about these products, but SDI isn't even on the radar.
Snappy Driver Installer was first released in February 2014. It started out as a fork/rewrite of DriverPack Solutiоn which differentiated from it by having no adware, no premium features, being faster(hence its name), taking great care in picking best matched drivers, not leaving traces in systems and being honest to users.
Previously I worked on DriverPack Solutiоn(DPS) and made significant contributions to it. It's worth mention that it's a commercially successful project and its annual revenue is about $1 000 000. I worked as a volunteer and made no attempt to claim any of that money. DriverPack Solutiоn uses the same old driver matching engine that I wrote a long time ago and no one touched it since I quit the project because no one else understand how it works. While the software hasn't been updated since 2013, a new version comes out each month thanks to SamLab's driverpacks. Users are already used to its defects such as installing touchpad drivers on desktops, installing both Realtek and Creative at the same time, scripting errors, etc. SamLab still tries to make his driverpacks compatible with DPS but it causes bloating of driverpacks because in order to trick DPS into installing the correct driver, he has to duplicate the same driver multiple times. Also he can't include some drivers because DPS would renders PCs unbootable trying installing them. I'm not fixing these issues because I no longer support DPS and users better off using SDI anyway.
Even though SDI outperformed DPS in every way and doesn't include any adware, DPS is vastly more popular and recognized. It has to do with the fact АrtX put a lot resources into advertising and trying to capitalize on adware. His employee went on saying on forums that they target housewives because they're easily tricked into installed adware and don't complain about poorly picked drivers due to not being tech-savvy.
I need to give some backstory explaining how I get involved in the first place. There's not much information about the project on English speaking forums, so hopefully people will be able to piece it together to get a better idea on how things unfolded.
Back in 2009 I started working as a PC technician at a company that had over 1000 PCs and there was no Internet due to a security policy. So I started looking for software that would help me with installing drivers.
The best one that I found was Driver Pack Autorun(it was re-branded as DriverPack Solutiоn some time later). It used driverpacks from driverpack.net(they're meant to be slipstreamed into Windows installation discs) and rely on DPInst.exe to do the actual installation. At the time it didn't support 64-bit systems, couldn't update drivers(only missing drivers were installed), didn't provide information about drivers that are available for installation. Users were supposed to click on red mark and hopefully red marks turns into green marks. You can see how it looked back then on Wikipedia(link).
The software was advertised as being released under GPL. I joined the project in 2009 and put source code at Google Code, so that multiple people could participate in the development at the same time. Over time I made significant contributions such as support for 64-bit systems, changed GUI to displaying list of drivers instead of list of driverpacks, optimizing for speed(indexation of 700MB driverpacks used to take about 6 hours on my PC), added tooltips displaying information about drivers, rewrote driver matching engine(that improved chances of finding the best matched driver and enabled updated old drivers).
However I had some disagreements with its founder(АrtX).
I was arguing for providing as much information about drivers as possible while АrtX wanted to show users only one big button "Install all". I was opposing keeping records in registry about drivers that failed to be installed, so that DriverPack Solutiоn wouldn't be suggesting installing them again because it deceived users(it looked like drivers were successfully installed). I also opposed stuff like forcing adware on users, changing home pages, OEM logos, loading from the Internet JavaScripts and many other things I'm having trouble recalling.
At one point АrtX decided to make new version available only for users who ordered DVDs with the software. New version was advertised as having brand new driver matching engine, speed improvements, 64-bit support, ability to update drivers, creating log files. All these improvements were made by me and I opposed forcing users to pay for that. I didn't mind АrtX taking all money from DVD sales(it's a good service for people with slow/expensive Internet) for as long as the new version would be available for free. Negotiations didn't go too well. АrtX end up making new version available only via paid DVD.
Website said it would be released for everyone on March 1st.
When March 1st came, the note was changed to March 15th.
When March 15th came, the note was removed all together.
The new version finally appeared on April 20th but was heavily loaded with adware.
АrtX put the source code into his own private source code repository breaking his promise of being Open Source. I continued working on public repository at Google Code where I made further improvements into its core functionality. SamLab kept updating driverpacks and releasing SamDrivers each month. It included my version of DPS since it was free of adware and it was on the cutting edge at the time. Eventually АrtX merged his private branch back into public Google Code. While it brought some improvements to GUI, it also brought some nasties which included adware and encrypted scripts. It took me same time to clean it up make it easy to disable, so that SamLab could include DPS in his SamDrivers.
DriverPack Solutiоn is written in JavaScript. АrtX choose it because he was familiar it. Over years I tried to push it to the limit but JavaScript isn't meant to do heavy lifting and some problems with DPS couldn't be solved without a major redesign. This is why wrote Snappy Driver Installer from scratch in C++ and the rest is history.
BadPointer
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 90
Besides, SDI is an Open Source project.
https://sdi-tool.org/development/
DRM wouldn't work anyway because anyone with basic programming skills can easily remove limitations.
Larry Sabo
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 3,325
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada
Just pledged $5/month. Keep up the great work, BadPointer. BTW, you are to be congratulated on your command of the English language (as well as software skills and altruism).
BadPointer
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 90
Thanks for the donation and thinking highly of my English skills. I wish my English would be good enough to be able to blend into English speaking communities but I feel like the way I write gives away my foreign origin.
Larry Sabo
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 3,325
- Location
- Ottawa, Canada
Not in the slightest!
cypress
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 1,493
- Location
- South Florida
I had no idea English was your second language until now. That's very impressive.
wavey
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 265
- Location
- Liverpool, UK
Pledge made.
I think it would help if BadPointer wrote a short Creator Post
I think it would help if BadPointer wrote a short Creator Post
brandonkick
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 852
@BadPointer,
I commend you for all your hard work, and for sticking up for what you believe in.
This is a great tool, and has a place in the tech market. You can make good money
off of this. As is against my nature, I will make a pledge to your patreon. I do not have
any reservations about supporting you in any way, I just feel that this should be a paid
product. If it's always going to be available as free, a lot of people are going to go the
free route.
It's like sticking a bunch of pies in the middle of a grocery store, with a sign that says
you can pay if you want to pay but you don't need to pay. I again commend your attitude
that you wanted to make this available to everyone and not force a fee but if you genuinely
want to support yourself and SamLab using this tool and Sams driver packs then you need
to charge for it. I can see you hitting your goal if it's subscription only, I have a harder time
seeing you meet the goal if paying is optional. I want you to succeed and this project to
be able to support it's future development and the people who work on it financially.
I commend you for all your hard work, and for sticking up for what you believe in.
This is a great tool, and has a place in the tech market. You can make good money
off of this. As is against my nature, I will make a pledge to your patreon. I do not have
any reservations about supporting you in any way, I just feel that this should be a paid
product. If it's always going to be available as free, a lot of people are going to go the
free route.
It's like sticking a bunch of pies in the middle of a grocery store, with a sign that says
you can pay if you want to pay but you don't need to pay. I again commend your attitude
that you wanted to make this available to everyone and not force a fee but if you genuinely
want to support yourself and SamLab using this tool and Sams driver packs then you need
to charge for it. I can see you hitting your goal if it's subscription only, I have a harder time
seeing you meet the goal if paying is optional. I want you to succeed and this project to
be able to support it's future development and the people who work on it financially.
BadPointer
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 90
What should I write? I tried to keep my message as short as possible because users have a short attentions span and I don't expect them to read a wall of text.
I don't expect the campaign to reach these goals and this why is I had so much difficulty choosing them. They should be used as guidelines. We, however, may need to reach some minimal survival minimum. SamLab released recent driverpacks when users managed to pony up about $30. We can be considered altruists but altruism can go only so far, especially if it affects our families.
Patreon provides a viable model for raising funds but in our case most international users aren't aware of SDI and Russian users can't justify spending money on it because they already had to dramatically cut their spending due to the collapsing economy.
Last edited:
brandonkick
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 852
I can respect those points.
I would really hope your work on SDI and SamLab's on Driver Packs doesn't affect your home lives...
if anything it should make them better. You guys do good work, and have made a good product through
the sum of your efforts.
I don't want to fight you hard on your values, but you guys deserve to be paid for this. If that's what it takes
for the project to continue, if you have to charge money to make this your focus so that the project and more
importantly your family doesn't suffer (yourself included) then you need to charge and you shouldn't feel bad
about it. Like I said, either way I'll still contribute.... but I think a subscription model is the way to go in the future.
I guess you can wait to see how the optional donation system works out, who knows... maybe I'll be wrong and
enough voluntary donations are made to sustain this work. That would be nice.
I would really hope your work on SDI and SamLab's on Driver Packs doesn't affect your home lives...
if anything it should make them better. You guys do good work, and have made a good product through
the sum of your efforts.
I don't want to fight you hard on your values, but you guys deserve to be paid for this. If that's what it takes
for the project to continue, if you have to charge money to make this your focus so that the project and more
importantly your family doesn't suffer (yourself included) then you need to charge and you shouldn't feel bad
about it. Like I said, either way I'll still contribute.... but I think a subscription model is the way to go in the future.
I guess you can wait to see how the optional donation system works out, who knows... maybe I'll be wrong and
enough voluntary donations are made to sustain this work. That would be nice.
wavey
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 265
- Location
- Liverpool, UK
You could copy something from here https://sdi-tool.org/ you can also place a download link on the page.
a few lines to say you would like patrons to support the app etc.
Also a patreon link in your Technibble signature (if this is allowed).
a few lines to say you would like patrons to support the app etc.
Also a patreon link in your Technibble signature (if this is allowed).
BadPointer
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 90
I updated the message that is displayed after clicking the download button and the Patreon page, so that they convey a greater degree of urgency.
It is possible to build a business and sell a product based on open source software. Red Hat, Google, Apple and Untangle have successfully done it.
A list of business models for open-source software is shown here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software
One option is selling professional services.
"Another possibility is offering open-source software in source code form only, while providing executable binaries to paying customers only, offering the commercial service of compiling and packaging of the software."
Fraser Corrance
New Member
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Seattle, WA USA
I have used tools like this in the past and ran into some issues on some select laptop models (mostly Sonys). I like the fact that there is a 'create restore point option'.
gadgetfixup
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 1,017
- Location
- NWI
$5 a month pledge as well. Thank you for your work.
BadPointer
Active Member
- Reaction score
- 90
You can make your own theme from scratch or modify an existing theme.
It should be noted SDI doesn't support PNG, GIF, JPEG and other popular formats and you'll have to convert your images to WebP. I know that it's not a widely used format but it has better compression rates, supports both lossless and lossy compression, alpha channel, animation and so on. Hence, there's no point in adding support for common formats.
Also the markup language that is somewhat complicated, so feel free to ask me how to achieve the desired effect.
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