Here is a copy of a letter just sent to technical support. Any comments ?
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Dear sir,
I have been a loyal customer of yours for many years and versions. I have never used a cracked/pirated copy of your game because I understand that cycling games are not for everyone, it's a small market. Therefore it is important that small developers like yourselves are supported.
For the same reasons I have stayed loyal even when you release software that is full of bugs.
However not being able to install software that I have bought and paid for is the limit. Your activation/deactivation system DOES NOT WORK.
My PC died recently. I built a new one at the weekend. I simply moved the hard disks across and despite being entirely different (motherboard/processor etc) 80% of the software (of which I have a LOT) ran. No reinstall. No fuss. Nothing. The rest just needed a quick re-installation. By Sunday the only problem I had left was Pro Cycling Manager. I tried to uninstall it. The de-activaion crashed. I tried to install it again and the activation system crashed, but not before it used another one of my precious activations. I tried again and again it crashed and used another activation.
Don't you realise that the majority of people BUY your software ? Don't you realise that people who pirate your software do so regardless of your protection ? Don't you realise that your software was cracked within hours of it's release ? Don't you realise that you are ONLY penalizing genuine customers??????
I LOVE CYCLING MANAGER. I HATE YOUR STUPID COPY PROTECTION.
I will buy the new version of PCM2011 this year, as I always do. PLEASE do not penalize me for being a loyal customer.
I enclose the last crash test. Please reinstate my activations.
I think I was quite mild when you consider that I paid for a product and I am not allowed to use it. There's a much stronger word I was considering. the F word... that's right... FRAUD.
CrueTrue wrote:
Unfortunately, I don't think that complaining about the protection system is going to change anything (although I understand the need to complain).
People have been complaining about Starforce ever since it was added to PCM. No change so far.
Alas you are probably right. It's the stupidity of it that galls me the most. Cyanide have a DEVOTED group of followers. One only has to look at the amazing work done by the modding/database community and the fans(like me) who will buy the product each and every year, to see how much people are prepared to invest supporting Cyanide. It is this 'loyalty' that I feel Cyanide is abusing. Why? because I know that those who do run a pirated version are unaffected by this activation nonsense. That's completely counter productive.
I fully understand and support efforts by companies to protect their investment. But not by using a system that punishes real paying customers and letting pirates have a free ride, it is supposed to be the other way around. Of all the protected (dongles, STEAM etc.) software I own ONLY Cyanide's refused to acknowledge that I was a legitimate user.
I know those of you who are happily playing away(as I was until recently) are probably wondering what all the fuss is about, but just you wait till it happens to you....
Same thing happen to my PCM 2009. I sent the error report to them 2 days ago but I haven't recieved an answer yet But I also have PCM 2010 so I am still happy
However it is never fun when something you bought isn't working.
But I also have PCM 2010 so I am still happy 
