Why can't others be like Stardock?

from Stardock Forums
I recently had a harddrive crash and lost everything on my PC at home. In restoring my PC to it's former state, I was able to quickly redownload all GalCiv updates, re-register my Drengin.net account and download the latest beta, download the full version of WindowsBlinds 4 and a bunch of skins... Stardock Central just makes doing this such a breeze! Thank you Stardock.

In contrast with this I also wanted to re-download Symantec's Norton Personal Firwall which I had purchased on-line (no cd). First off, I had to pay an additional $7.00 to re-download the the product that I already paid $50.00 for a few months ago. This is what they call purchasing "Extended download service". I call it ripping off customers. So far I haven't been able to get it downloaded and their tech support hasn't been too helpful. I'm sure I'll eventually get it working again, but it will be the last Symantec product I ever buy.

Oh yeah, I got a second hard drive and back up everything now. ;p
649 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Yeah that is what happens with some of those big name companies, I personally don't get anything from them.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Yeah. Hey, I'm all for companies making a fair profit but when I asked Symantec about getting a cd they wanted to charge me $10 for the "media" and then another $10 for S&H. 20 bucks to mail me a cd for software I already bought?
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Best to burn it onto your own CD once you've downloaded it so that in future you've always got it handy.

Personally I don't believe in relying on net downloads to get the packages anyway but that's just me :p
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
It's the practices of companies like Symantec that cause people to not trust downloads. Companies like Stardock can change this thinking.

I predict that in a couple of years from now, about the time GalCiv II :d goes gold, direct purchases from software developers will be a lot more common -- especially with broadband internet access becoming a lot more common.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Heck, compare the much hyped "Steam" to Stardock Central. What a mess Steam is. While Stardock Central works as advertised, has more features, and supports more software.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
It's the practices of companies like Symantec that cause people to not trust downloads. Companies like Stardock can change this thinking.
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I spoke to customer service rep at symantec the other day. Peter Norton sold the company 2 years ago and is now retired. If Norton was still running the company he founded, I bet they wouldnt be so greedy.