Goodbye

[SpudBud]

I'm not going to pay. Corporate America kills us again. I'm sorry to go but they force us to do these things. Can't they see the subscription sites dying by the day. Sad ... so sad

[Wildman6971]

I have to agree my heart sank today when I came to Windrivers and saw that it is now fee based.

I won't be returning or recommending this site anymore.

Sorry to see that making money has become more important than helping people.

Goodbye,
Windrivers

[Darren Wilson]

OK. Put it in this perspective.

Do you charge your customers to find drivers for their systems, with or without using WD???

If you do , then what is the difference between that and WD charging for the same service???? Everybody wants something for free, and when it isn't free, everyone complains.

I bet that nobody complains at spending $30 on a night out at a club or bar, or buying something else that lasts lesss than a year. The charge is to keep the site running, not to fatten anyones pockets (although a profit may be made, but I highly doubt it).

Ok instead of complaining about it, why not start your own site up that does the same & keep it totally free & have no advertising/banner ads???? Unless your name is Donald Trump or Bill Gates, I wouldn't think that you could keep a site that uses the amount of bandwidth & resources that WD uses free for a month. Most of you don;t know Scott or the insides of what this site takes to run. I DO and believe me it is frightening!!!! Running on 4 x T1 links out of Scott's basement at one time with a quarter of the users that use it today and the bandwidth still wasn't enough. Scott paid for all this out of his own pocket as well!!!!!

If people are going to desert the site because of this, then all the better for those of us who will still use it as more bandwidth will be available to us.

I bid those that are leaving a GOODBYE, and like most that leave (including myself) we will see you in about 6 months

[WinDrivers1]

>>>Sorry to see that making money has become more important than helping people.

Oh, so let me see, the past five years I've been a nice guy trying to keep it for free as long as I could and now I'm a greedy American pig. Where were you when I ran this out of my house paying close to $10,000 a month just to keep it going for free to help people like yourselves, hoping that the advertising revenue would cover the costs. Why didn't you send me a couple of bucks to help keep it going then?? Where were you when I neglected my family and kids, putting in ten hours a day while working a full-time job to try and make things easy and convenient and make everyone's job a little easier and their day a little brighter?? Did you offer to help??? No??? I guess it's easier to sit back and complain when things don't go your way.

And why, oh why, do all these people complain and then say "I can get this stuff for free elsewhere", boo hoo hoo, well then, what do you care, stop complaining and move on...I really appreciate everyone who has supported this site in the past five years, especially Darren Wilson who's been with me from the start and all the mods and if I ever do make a load of money, I'll be sure to spread the wealth. But that ain't not happening, you see, I waited until the last possible moment to sell the site because it killed me but it had to be done, the very month I sold the site, the stock market tanked and I and others lost out, no biggie, I'm over it but get over the "sell-out" crap. If I didn't sell out, the site would have been gone two years ago when I sold, sell or fold, sell or fold, no amount of donations could have kept it going, unless... you all chipped in $30 a year, oh wait, 8 cents a day for convenience is too much, so I sold and now I have less headaches and I see my family, ya f'in hoo! You're telling ME that if you had a chance to make a milion bucks which would help your entire family, friends and charities, that you'd rather be a nice guy and help people and work eighteen hour days and not know your own kids, WOW, that sounds like a whole mess of fun cowboy, see you in the welfare line and divorce court where you can tell everyone else your big philanthropic story of being the DriverGuy, that and nickle will get you...well....a nickle.

Nextly, do you realize how many people visit this site every month, over 1 million unique visitors, that's means one milion different people and over four million visits per month by those 1 million plus people. So, for example, take the threads that are complaining about internet.com charging for the site, probably a couple hundred people ranting, most of them hardcore WinDrivers users, I love you all really but a couple hundred out of a million... WinDrivers will be around for a long time, trust me, the subscriptions are already a huge success.

Later and thanks for all the fish!

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[WebHead]

I've posted some stuff for sure (mainly to increase my post count) But I hope you haven't taken anything I've said personally towards you. I have much respect for you and the fact that you had the motivation to start the site in the first place. The only problem I have, is that I don't see the value in paying for links to mfg websites. But hey,.. it's not my website, so wtf do I care. Just stating my 2 cents. Anyway, I don't want to sit here and bitch and whine because this whole thing really doesn't affect me at all. So I would like to end here by saying, "More power to you Scott!"

[joelen]

Darren and Scott...

Well said- both of you. Keep up the good work-- sorry to see you guys taking so much flack over this-- I understand where you are coming from, and appreciate your situation.

Scott- glad that you are getting to spend more time with your family-- that is where true success lies.

Joe

[Drone2903]

You are wrong Scott;

Read the rant tread (close to 200 post now).

If YOU were still running this site as you did b4 and needed the money, I'm pretty sure most would chip in. Ask Darren. I'm sorry I was not there 4 y ago.

But that is not the case here.

Internet.conn (sorry, $cum... no ... com...anyway) whant to charge for ... a link index? That they did not build?

I'm sorry, but I dont see the value for my $ in this alone. There is got to be more 2 it than that.
So if the subscription is doing great as you say, congrats.

What we are saying is:
The main use of bandwidth is the forums.
How long b4 Internet.$$$ starts charging for something that is the main benefit of this site ?

We are all greatfull of the job you did(and I'm sure we dont know all that you have done and been through) and if anything, it is unfair that they think they can collect $$$ on what you built.

And a little warning would have been nice.

Dan

[WinDrivers1]

The forums use little bandwidth at all, usually only a hundred or so posts per day.

[Stalemate]

[quote]Originally posted by WinDrivers:
<strong>...Oh, so let me see, the past five years I've been a nice guy trying to keep it for free as long as I could and now I'm a greedy American pig. Where were you when I ran this out of my house paying close to $10,000 a month just to keep it going for free to help people like yourselves, hoping that the advertising revenue would cover the costs. Why didn't you send me a couple of bucks to help keep it going then?? Where were you when I neglected my family and kids, putting in ten hours a day while working a full-time job to try and make things easy and convenient and make everyone's job a little easier and their day a little brighter?? Did you offer to help??? No??? I guess it's easier to sit back and complain when things don't go your way.
...
...I waited until the last possible moment to sell the site because it killed me but it had to be done, the very month I sold the site, the stock market tanked and I and others lost out, no biggie, I'm over it but get over the "sell-out" crap. If I didn't sell out, the site would have been gone two years ago when I sold, sell or fold, sell or fold, no amount of donations could have kept it going, unless... you all chipped in $30 a year, oh wait, 8 cents a day for convenience is too much, so I sold and now I have less headaches and I see my family, ya f'in hoo! You're telling ME that if you had a chance to make a milion bucks which would help your entire family, friends and charities, that you'd rather be a nice guy and help people and work eighteen hour days and not know your own kids, WOW, that sounds like a whole mess of fun cowboy, see you in the welfare line and divorce court where you can tell everyone else your big philanthropic story of being the DriverGuy, that and nickle will get you...well....a nickle....
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Damn, I had no idea you put in so much time

I've always appreciated your work here, Scott, and I'm sure the vast majority also does. It's just unfortunate that we didn't have more of us expressing it (words, posts, donations, etc.).

We've been debating whether or not to subscribe here at the office - and the overall consensus was "yes".

We're seeing it as a "portal", and the proposed rates aren't that feraky if any additional services are added in the future.

What got to me personnally (as if that's actually worth anything) was not having any notice before the fact. That would have just been courteous towards the regulars.

I don't hold any grudge towards you personnally in this case. You're a super guy and your dedication was never in doubt for me. I *do* hope you got a good deal when you had to sell. You deserved it.

WinDrivers will survive...

[Thunderwind]

I presently host a site with a forum & tips and tricks, I would be happy to start a windows drivers links page for free. I would not, however be able to keep it updated like scott did. But we could have a group of people do it for free. If anyone is interested in creating such a project, please contact me: [email protected]

Thanks.

[thirdfey]

[quote]Originally posted by Drone2903:
<strong>If YOU were still running this site as you did b4 and needed the money, I'm pretty sure most would chip in</strong><hr></blockquote>

So then what are you saying? It looks like you say you would chip in the money if the site needs it, so now the site needs the money and you won't?

[Larommi]

[quote]Originally posted by WinDrivers:
<strong>>>>Sorry to see that making money has become more important than helping people.

Oh, so let me see, the past five years I've been a nice guy trying to keep it for free as long as I could and now I'm a greedy American pig. Where were you when I ran this out of my house paying close to $10,000 a month just to keep it going for free to help people like yourselves, hoping that the advertising revenue would cover the costs. Why didn't you send me a couple of bucks to help keep it going then?? Where were you when I neglected my family and kids, putting in ten hours a day while working a full-time job to try and make things easy and convenient and make everyone's job a little easier and their day a little brighter?? Did you offer to help??? No??? I guess it's easier to sit back and complain when things don't go your way.

And why, oh why, do all these people complain and then say "I can get this stuff for free elsewhere", boo hoo hoo, well then, what do you care, stop complaining and move on...I really appreciate everyone who has supported this site in the past five years, especially Darren Wilson who's been with me from the start and all the mods and if I ever do make a load of money, I'll be sure to spread the wealth. But that ain't not happening, you see, I waited until the last possible moment to sell the site because it killed me but it had to be done, the very month I sold the site, the stock market tanked and I and others lost out, no biggie, I'm over it but get over the "sell-out" crap. If I didn't sell out, the site would have been gone two years ago when I sold, sell or fold, sell or fold, no amount of donations could have kept it going, unless... you all chipped in $30 a year, oh wait, 8 cents a day for convenience is too much, so I sold and now I have less headaches and I see my family, ya f'in hoo! You're telling ME that if you had a chance to make a milion bucks which would help your entire family, friends and charities, that you'd rather be a nice guy and help people and work eighteen hour days and not know your own kids, WOW, that sounds like a whole mess of fun cowboy, see you in the welfare line and divorce court where you can tell everyone else your big philanthropic story of being the DriverGuy, that and nickle will get you...well....a nickle.

Nextly, do you realize how many people visit this site every month, over 1 million unique visitors, that's means one milion different people and over four million visits per month by those 1 million plus people. So, for example, take the threads that are complaining about internet.com charging for the site, probably a couple hundred people ranting, most of them hardcore WinDrivers users, I love you all really but a couple hundred out of a million... WinDrivers will be around for a long time, trust me, the subscriptions are already a huge success.

Later and thanks for all the fish!

10 Print "Rant";
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After reading all the crap you got in these other threads I am glad to see you stand up for yourself!! I mean, you run the site but you dont own it! Kudos to you!
I like this site but am not working in the computer field so I see no need to pay for something I wont use. Perhaps if I go into buisness I would pay it. I have the same feelings about this site as I do napster. I would much rather give the money to you then pay everyone else. Internet.com bought your site but they dont own your soul and you should reap the bennies, not the corporate fat cats.

[DANIMAL]

[quote]Originally posted by thirdfey:
<strong>

So then what are you saying? It looks like you say you would chip in the money if the site needs it, so now the site needs the money and you won't?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Are you saying it will become free after they make some money?

[Cobra]

Well said Scott. Like Larommi said, good to see you finally stand up for yourself.

I became a "regular" at WinDrivers just before Internet.com took over. If it was you personally who was still owned the site and made any and all profit from it, I'd have no problem subscribing, whether I'd actually use the service or not. But I'm not gonna help internet.com. Not for anything.

[Poseidon]

I am not the first to admit it, I do more reading and searching than posting in the forums; I only registered this past January but I have been an avid fan of Windrivers ever since I heard it mentioned on what was then <a href="http://www.techtv.com" target="_blank">ZDTV </a> over three years ago.

All I have to say is one thing – Scott – you made the right decision to sell Windrivers when you had to, and for what it is worth I agree, the fee is nominal for the convince it can and will provide those who will benefit from it the most.