Goodbye

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 :(

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

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 ;) ;)

>>>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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I've posted some stuff for sure (mainly to increase my post count) :D 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!" :)

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

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

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

[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 :eek:

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...

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.

[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?

[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!

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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.

[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?

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.

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.

Scott - thanks for being honest, now go home and enjoy your family, and phuk em for the time being

Hopefully i havent said anything out of line, and I hope things turn out great for you Scott, doesnt seem fair at {b]Too take all the flack[b] for something that isnt ur fault.


Well Good Luck

Right on dude...people ALWYAS think that if you charge for something , then you MUST be rich... seen it all to often when i was STARVING as a tech , but people still wanted **** for free...

I have sat in the chatroom , and defended this since yesterday , and , while im not happy about it, i DO understand that , hey, its a real world out there , and good things do cost. One shot of $50 per year is gonna be a hard sell to my corporate off , but its all relative , as they were completely ok with the $30k + that i blew on Exchange 2k upgrades.

People need to get used to this , the internet IS NOT going to be the same place it used to be , as the websites lean farther and farther away from advertisong only revenues and more to REAL PROFIT generation. Guess what people? BANDWIDTH COSTS , SERVERS COST , Maitenance COSTS. maybe not you , if you are in your dorm room running off the .edu's T1 , or at your business, but rest assured , the cheapest t1 _I_ can have dropped for MY office is $1100. an guess what , a T1 isnt THAT much bandwidth when it truly comes to hosting a site that takes hits like this.

Im sure that if we could all donate bandwidth and reliable hardware , we could have kept this site free. but we cant just send bandwidth in an envelope up to chicago , or wherever the hell the server racks are.

as for WHY he is NOW charging , BLAME YOURSELF! if you ALL clicked the banner ad's EVERYTIME you used the page, scott would have made plenty money. but no , and im not saying im anybetter than anybody , as i tune banner and popup ad out completely, all im saying is that im not completely blindsided, nor am i angry with scott.

Dudes gotta eat,and hell , hopefully he will get to be VERY rich , as this is HOW he deserves for this to turn out.

and yeah , im still bitching about $50 , but if thats what it costs , thats what it costs , and thats what ill just have to pay , even if i have to pay for it out of my pocket.

but what do i know? im just a guy who likes to help out for free in the chatroom...oh , its a good thing my office pays me a salary , cause as much as id like to sit in the room 18 hours a day , somehow i dont think i could go to the grocery store and say "hey , i help in the windrivers chatroom" and have them say "great , pick out whatever you like , and you can just have it"

greedy american syndrome , wal~mart mentality... i want something but i cant afford it , so there fore i can get somthing subtandard... friggen drives me crazy...

[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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Damn straight Driver guy! You tell 'em. Most folks just don't see the time and dedication that is needed to create something or the cost to maintain it. Heck, hosting a site that gets no hits costs about $100 or less for sign up and about $500. over 5 years. That's if you get few hits. Now, if you get a ton of hits - the unlimited bandwidth of your server contract suddenly changes and you get kicked or you get bills for $ the likes of which you never dreamed of.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for everything that you have done over the years to bring everyone together up here. For creating a family, though rife with growing pains we are all a part of a whole that you created. Some of us would be lost without this place and you are owed more than a debt of gratitude. Thank you Scott for all of your time and patience. Thank you for my Internet home page. Thank you for making things easier for techs everywhere. You are a man amongst men and I wish you luck with this site and any future endeavors.

Please read my statement <a href="http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum3/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=18&t=000692&p=15#00 0213" target="_blank">here</a>.

I will pay because you have helped me so much in the past, Scott. The bill has come in the mail, and I don't mind paying it. I will put in my 3000 cents to keep Windrivers afloat.

yeah i hear ya .. well i;m one who bashed at first but seeing it from the other side really makes the picture clearer . I think the big problem is not that it act. cost us money . Its that we had it for free then tooken away from us .. thats so much different than not having it at all .. well goodluck guys . i hope it works out .

-tony

i think everyone just needs to take a pill and lay down til the temptation to rage passes.
so the owners have decided to make this a 'pay for play' site, ok, 2 of my favorite streaming audio sites have started charging to listen. it's nothing new and it will become more prevalent every day. broadband providers have begun raising rates also for the same amount of bandwidth.
scott has done yeoman duty here, we all know that, and i am sure there is LOTS we don't know about. keeping a site this large updated and running smoothly is a time-consuming (and generally thankless) task.
i have seen countless rants against the mods (and scott too) over meaningless, childish things. frankly, i don't think i would have put up with it. i would've closed the site.
so if you don't want to pay...don't...drivers are everywhere. can you say Google? i bet you can.
but, lay off the Driverguy for business decisions that are in all likelihood out of his hands.
God bless you scott...you have helped countless people. don't let the silliness of a few get you down.

After quietly reading all of the posts, I have to admit that Scott is in a position that none of us want to be faced with. This site was his baby, a thankless effort. Now he is employed to keep this site running, but has little control over policy. Many people have said they would have no problem contributing if it went straight into his pocket. Well, its a little too late to contribute directly to that endeavor. However, I think it is time to show some appreciation on his behalf. Scott, do everyone a favor tomorrow. Set up a P.O. box and post it to the Forum. You have several years worth of Christmas gifts just waiting to be delivered.

You can pay for the site service or not... But I am ready to pay respect to the Father of Windrivers.
God Bless.

[quote]Originally posted by -=Longhorn=-:
<strong>After quietly reading all of the posts, I have to admit that Scott is in a position that none of us want to be faced with. This site was his baby, a thankless effort. Now he is employed to keep this site running, but has little control over policy. Many people have said they would have no problem contributing if it went straight into his pocket. Well, its a little too late to contribute directly to that endeavor. However, I think it is time to show some appreciation on his behalf. Scott, do everyone a favor tomorrow. Set up a P.O. box and post it to the Forum. You have several years worth of Christmas gifts just waiting to be delivered.

You can pay for the site service or not... But I am ready to pay respect to the Father of Windrivers.
God Bless.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Thats one of the nicest things i have read in a very long time, i am all for it

Scott,

Sorry to see you doing this song and dance as well. Like you, we tried many different things on 3dfiles and tweakfiles and the usual parade of people come through not understanding we are at a serious crossroad in this market. Many, many sites are going to subscription or partial subscribtion and during what should be the highly profitable months. Many sites (like ours) have been shut down.

I predicted the downsizing of the net years ago (obviously if there was room for 100,000 websites, there would be 100,000 television stations, pretty simple to see this one coming) but it sucks to watch.

People dont understand many of these successful websites require 24\7 attention. I took no vacations and worked all sorts of nutty hours including holidays while putting my family and health on the back burner for 4 years. During the final year and at the end, I did well financially, but the sacrifices I made were not worth it. I think if I could take it back, I would seriously consider it.

I have been kicking back the last couple of months getting ready start up another website and give it a go (with a fresh attitude). Its in the building stages, but will be similar to what tweakfiles was. It will be located at <a href="http://www.majorgeeks.com" target="_blank">http://www.majorgeeks.com</a> (theres nothing there now). I hope you and your visitors stop by. We should be up and kicking in a couple weeks.

hope all goes well scott...i will continue to try to help in the chatroom..but as most know i rarely post in the forums anymore..not that i ever really did...only reason i even registered is so i could moderate the cyrix forums...was a life long dream and scott made it happen...thanks again man...
weck

Don't let it get to you, Scott, this must have been a toughie.

It's easy to feel deprived if something that was free starts to cost. But it's also easy to miss the point: it was never free - it was just that somebody else was paying for it.

If it's what must be done to secure the survival of WinDrivers, I hope it is successful and the Forums can remain a no-charge site. I can't see why anyone would pay to post tech help. But as long as access is free, I'll be here, for what that's worth.

Speaking as a newbie compared to some, I have to admit I use this site more than any other site. It has everthing in one place, and for a newbie that means a lot. My time is valuable to, and if I can save time here it means more time for more valuable things,i.e. family, having a life. So I think I will go on supporting this site. A simple rule is you get what you pay for, and if you ain't paying, then stop complaining!

[quote]Originally posted by -=Longhorn=-:
<strong>After quietly reading all of the posts, I have to admit that Scott is in a position that none of us want to be faced with. This site was his baby, a thankless effort. Now he is employed to keep this site running, but has little control over policy. Many people have said they would have no problem contributing if it went straight into his pocket. Well, its a little too late to contribute directly to that endeavor. However, I think it is time to show some appreciation on his behalf. Scott, do everyone a favor tomorrow. Set up a P.O. box and post it to the Forum. You have several years worth of Christmas gifts just waiting to be delivered.

You can pay for the site service or not... But I am ready to pay respect to the Father of Windrivers.
God Bless.</strong><hr></blockquote>
--------------------------------------------------
Here-Here

:)

You know when I used to use an independant driver,or utility,I would read the read me file.Sometimes it would say send $$ or a pic to their address.I did,and I would send both,and I would write on the back of the pic,I'm behind you.I've been utilizing this site since "98",and if it's at all possible,I would like to send both to Scott aka. Driver Guy.I'm behind you.

All comments aside,

I cannot understand, how someone (read: internet.com management primate) can really expect people to fork out for this re-direction service. Are people really so fscking lazy, that they cannot live without it?

Dear Internet.com,

Blow me.

Ta.
-Cameron Jones
Network Administrator

[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>

No. I'm saying that if this site was Scott's, and the money went to Scott, I'd be the first in line to send $$.

But I'm not sure about sending the same $$ to a cie. that took what was a free service, DONT ADD ANYTING TO IT, and all of a sudden decide to make a $ of it.

1- The $ isnt going to Scott
2- A warning of some sort would have been in order
3- It needs value added something
4- Scott, I like the suggestion you setup a PO box. I think u should.
:rolleyes:

What about us 'Grant Based" non-profits? I can't see how we are going to be able to use grant money for a subscription to a web site. Sure is a nice site to search for drivers for all of our outdated equipment. Goodbye Windrivers.

--Oh, and the no warning thing wasn't very nice or professional.

[quote]Originally posted by Danimal:
<strong>

Are you saying it will become free after they make some money?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Are you asking me to clarify a question that i asked to clarify someone's statement? Is that even possible? Then again, now I'm asking you to clarify a question that tries to clarify a question that tries to clarify a statement. My head hurts now, I'm going to go lay down.

I appreciate all of Scots hard work over the years and I can understand the need for some sort of payment. The difficulty is the broad range of users on this site. Seems that many are corporate and USA based, so charge them by all means for using the facilities that Windrivers offers. Many of us do not belong to companies and are not USA based, I personally cannot afford the subscription price nor the added difficulty of not having a credit card to convert UK pounds into US dollars. Maybe, a corporate and a personal user price scheme would be more advantageous in the long run. Say $10 for a years personal membership? Is it possible?

Why I am not supprised.....

Actually Internet.com were quite smart to make windrivers into a subscription base. Thinking about it this site have the Avid users demographic thay will be willing to chip in for a site like windrivers to stay up as It was. Normaly when you have a comunity like Windrivers it is quite simple so make a subscription service.

The wrong thing is the way it was done IMHO.
Looking at anandtech making a subscription service for example,-
** The main services are still being offered for free.
** The subscription only give you an advantage, Faster server accsess and goodies.
This way without hurting any body's fealing they made some Extra $$$ from the Avid comunity users by actualy giving them a better service/more optional services without hurting the general users.

I guess that internet.com idea is to make the site more "Corporat" orianted. What I am afraid is that the general visitors to this site are not corporat oriented. If they were they's click the banners that are oriented toward them and the site will stay as it is.
I will LOVE to put my hands on the site statistical data.

If you will look at sites like <a href="http://www.geekvillage.com" target="_blank">www.geekvillage.com</a> were web masters try to come up with ways to keep on with the web market ad as it is you will see that it is much more complicated to run a site then you think.
My small site cost me more money then it made me so far and I am only looking at server hosting and domain registration. If you will add to this the work I have put into it I am way behind any profits. But my site is more of a Hobby to me, and the adds in it is more of a joke. Now you try to run a site with 4Mil page impressions a month. Web masters are digging under the flors for ways to keep on with there sites, not to mention lifes....

In windrivrs case Scott was not supposed to do the marketing/ad serving mony thinking and such. Internet.com ware supposed to do so and they Blow it up. (Big Time).
Sites like tom's hardware are selling merchendise directly from the sites. Anandtech are giving a Optional subscription service. Sites are selling T-Shirts (much more simple then you think since there are services that do all the work for you).
But here - internet.com - instead of finding advertisers and products that will sell to the site demographics they decided to set up a subscription fee that the demographics will not agree to.

I don't envy Scott. He made the best site I know on the web and the way he is repayd by the Stupid organisation that own his site is to see the site crumbling down.
I hope the site will stay up cause he trully deserve it.

GOOD BYE WINDRIVERS!!!!!!!
I'm have deleted you from my favorites and will never return!!!!

David G. Senn

[quote]Originally posted by sennister:
<strong>GOOD BYE WINDRIVERS!!!!!!!
I'm have deleted you from my favorites and will never return!!!!

David G. Senn</strong><hr></blockquote>

If it was really one of your favorites you would support the site, now wouldn't you?

[quote]Originally posted by Venom:
<strong>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.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Ditto...

[quote]Originally posted by Darren Wilson:
<strong>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 ;) ;) </strong><hr></blockquote>

I think the hardware companies should start charging for drivers too! And maybe M$ should start charging for IE! That would rock!

Ok, so I was being facsicious.

I don't charge customers to install drivers. :D

[quote]Originally posted by sennister:
<strong>GOOD BYE WINDRIVERS!!!!!!!
I'm have deleted you from my favorites and will never return!!!!

David G. Senn</strong><hr></blockquote>

You will be missed.......wait a second, who are you again?

:p