Cases in point… you can still buy themes here from companies that don’t exist anymore. Michael David design has been AWOL since 2015 I think, but his themes are still sold. His website is still up, and one could buy stuff unaware the company is a ghost.
BLT, Brandon Lee, is another. Zero activity on Twitter since 2017, and his website is offline. Yet, you can still purchase his themes here online.
Do they still work? Maybe. Especially if you are running an older legacy version of RW. That being said, I am sure there are many aspects that simply won’t work anymore. I am sure there are other products too, I chose those two because I have a bunch of their work. Caveat Emptor.
Our views are probably more aligned than they appear. I’m certainly not one who thinks that NC products were overpriced. I’ve just posted that I would like to see RW developers charging more in order to keep things viable. It’s crazy that we go and request support for a $9 stack which is 4 years old! How can dev’s survive that? All I want is a professional platform where you can trust products to have a good lifespan and be supported - and I’m happy to pay for it.
And I completely agree with you about the ghost companies - it would be really good if RM took some ownership of this problem. No denying NC took a much better approach. I still however believe NC could have given better notice and offered some basic support - however, time to move on
Thanks for taking my comments with the grain of salt they were intended to have. I never found Nick lacking in professionalism, service or quality. We are on the same side, fighting in the trenches.
It is outrageous for a developer to abandon his customers like this. He wiped away his reputation when he abandoned his customers with no notice. On his site somewhere he states his sales were over 2M. As customers we deserved better.
Outrageous? Unfortunate, maybe, but outrageous no. Drive around anywhere and you will find score of businesses abruptly closed. None of us know what was behind his decision, and how long he deliberated over it. I am sure it wasn’t made lightly. Btw, this was the final message on his website (and there were a few of them I believe). Personally, his reputation is fine in my book. He just chose to move in a different direction. I wish him success on his future endeavors. Checking out on this tempest in a teapot.
“THANK YOU to everyone in the RapidWeaver community for the years of kind words and support of my work. At this time, I’m ending the sale and production of my RapidWeaver add-ons. Product support will limited to Knowledge Base and general setup inquiries. For premium RapidWeaver add-ons, I fully endorse Joe Workman, Elixir Graphics, Yabdab, and Yourhead Software. Going forward, my focus is dedicated to FALCON Design. Thank you.”
It is outrageous for a developer to abandon his customers like this.
Why?
He wiped away his reputation when he abandoned his customers with no notice.
What are you talking about? As a customer you purchase goods and are entitled to the use of those goods insofar as the contract of sale permits. Show me where it says he has to hang around and support you when its not working for him? Were you retaining him for support in any kind of official capacity with a contract? Did money change hands for these services?
On his site somewhere he states his sales were over 2M.
What’s that got to do with anything?
As customers we deserved better.
According to what? What is is that you thought your purchase entitled you to deserve over above what you got? You think the add-on developers can exist on fresh air? I am continually blown away by the arrogance of the RW community when it comes to expectations from developers.
Ah… good spot. Never noticed before with that cart the https call is to https://js.stripe.com/**** under the covers. I wonder if it ever puts customers off though not getting the green padlock on a cart/checkout page.
I guess I will agree to disagree. I like developers who support what they sell. One day he was selling his stuff, the next he wasn’t. He will answer your email if he feels like it. That will never be ok for me. If it works for you, you are much easier to please than I am. I like to be treated the way I treat my customers. No hard feelings mate…
JohnJ: You do realize he is now working a different job. When an employee leaves a company, does he still owe the prior company time and effort towards his old position? Please, you need to lower your expectations or learn to code yourself. Nick Cates produced some fine products that worked when I bought them, better than my new vacuum cleaner that promised to pick up every little dog hair.
I agreed to disagree… that is all you will get from me… no hard feelings. I watched several developers who left their companies in the hands of other compitent developers. That is what I feel Nick should have done. He claims he sold over 2 million dollars worth of his products. Instead of taking care of his old customers he said thank you and disappeared. Gave an email address that he ignores… outrageous!
I’m sure every business just gives away their products or blueprints after they’ve made their millions. Yup. Seems to me that everyone feels entitiled to tell others how to run their businesses, but I’d be willing to bet that if they were in that situation they’d be kicking and screaming.
Bottom line is that the product worked and still works as intended for the Safari version it was released under. Apple did not share instructions on how to future proof software snippets, code, apps, or anything else to anyone nor they should. I’m sure Nick’s, just as my crystal ball stopped working a long time ago, and we simply have no way of knowing what will work when, for how long, and how efficiently.
Ps. I think I have the vacuum cleaner you two are talking about.
We had a look at the brands like siemens, but the material is not at par with SEBO and we would like our cleaner to last quite a while. The 5 year parts and labour domestic use guarantee speaks for itself.
