Aurora Freeware Edition

So we will still get a 1.1 version with the full help file soon right?

Well I have been using Aurora for 3 years (maybe 4) still works just as well as it did the day I bought it.  Still hasn't crashed and as always I can leave the house and not worry bout the show. Free or paid w/e. I hate seeing the company fold but understand that this is a very small market and only a few of us are even crazy enuff do to this. Most think mr. christmas from Home Depot is animating their lights. Sad but true.

Queb,

You will not need DMX fixtures to take advantage of DMX... the hardware vendors have been gradually opening up their hardware to DMX firmware.  The DIY crowd has done a great deal to push things in this direction.  All this means is that you will use your same hardware (an ACx16 for instance), but drive it with the DMX protocol instead of the D-Light protocol. 

baelinc,
As a paid customer, you will obviously receive priority over the freeware customers when it comes to software support.  We're still actively updating the program (that hasn't changed); we're simply being honest regarding future timelines and the level of support attention that we are able to give to new customers (and pricing the product accordingly). 

We could have chosen from two other paths:
1 - Just close up shop and go away (leaving everyone hanging)
2 - Keep stalling and providing less than the best service

Aurora has had a few years as a version 1 product.  As with every version 1 product out there, we learned a lot along the way and wish we had done some things differently.  The optimist in me believes that the market will turn around.  When it does, we'll be able to make a comeback having learned our lessons for version 2. 

Slinkard,
If the market can't support version 2, then I may consider drafting the official architecture and making letting it be developed as an open source community project.  Actually, I'd love to port Aurora over to Linux but haven't had the time to put into learning a new development environment.

As for version 1, some contractual obligations prevent release of the source at this time (I looked into it), but if development really stalls beyond maintainability then I might be able to abstract those out into supporting DLLs making the remaining source available for community use.  In any case, I can guarantee this will not happen prior to September.

I'm not opposed to the idea... if you wish to continue to discuss it, let's move the discussion into a new thread.

That is good news for people just starting out... But not so good news for the people who have already paid for the product and have been waiting for updates to fix their $99 program that is now being given away for free.

As someone who doesn't see himself buying any DMX fixtures... wow.  As far as giving away the same product that I paid for, well, that's irritating to me but then I'm sometimes known as a grumpy old fart.