#phraseexpress

I'm big into automating repetitive tasks, and PhraseExpress is a great good tool to do that. They even have a freeware version. They also state — as you might expect — that they don't provide support for the freeware version. I get this, because they need to focus their time and energy on paying customers so they can keep growing the business.

BUT — it also leads to stupid stonewalls: the newest version (v8) has likely introduced some bugs that broke some of my macros. Alas, I didn't keep archives of the older versions (like v7 — sites like OldVersion.com don't stock PE and I haven't even able to find it on other, um, dubious places).

I thought this page would help, but wait — older versions for registered users only? Why? This is pretty dumb, because if there's a nasty regression in the code, how is a user of the freeware version supposed to "roll back" without bothering you? (Windows, alas, has nothing as easy as Time Machine.) If you're going to provide self-help, it needs to be more thoroughly routed than Liquid-Plumbr® — test all the major pathways to assure there are no broken links, no circular references where Page A and Page B point to each other for help.

So I write in, and get the reply:

We kindly ask for your understanding that we do not provide personal technical assistance for freeware users.

I'll give credit for a fast response. Then I point out:

Argh — I'd like to say that I "understand" but this provides no incentive to register. :(

Then:

Did you want to buy the *old* PhraseExpress version indeed? ;-)

So I suggest:

If the older version is confirmed to solve my problems, that would be an incentive, yes.

I haven't heard back since then, but the tone of PE's reply left me cold. What could've they done better? In the same amount of time, they could've quickly sent me a link to v7 to test and win my delight. I'd feel like reciprocating. Or if they were really reluctant, they could've provided a more specific reason why old versions aren't available to freeware users. (Are they concerned that'd be a bandwidth hog?)

I hate it when a company makes a cool product but their tech support is broken. Meanwhile, I investigate competitors, and find the field is rather scattered when it comes to elegant GUI ways of recording macros — I yearn for QuickKeys as it was on my early Mac. Alas, the Windows version hasn't been updated.