Oh yes? And if my neighbour decides to pollute the air I have the choice to close my window? Give me a break.
Tor

Tor...

I think you may have missd the subtle joke.

You can turn off Net Notify in the preferences.

I saw that. I might consider accepting the choice to turn it ON. But this is an unaskedfor nuisance that not only adds itself to the product, like a logo on a piece of clothing, but actually interferes with my use of the product. It would be illegal in Norway. I demand to be asked BEFORE I am subjected to that kind of thing.
Tor

You're accepting communication by having it on.... hence.."notify"

Better off to leave it unchecked if it's a problem.

mike

Many people are finding all sorts of ways to reduce spam in their emails. In fact, many ISP's are doing it at the mail server level, all with varying degrees of success.

Your post sounds like this is the first time Vegas has reminded you of the offer that expires in 2 weeks. If that is true, I would say they set up the reminder (which can be disabled easily) very intelligently. New versions of Vegas don't come out every 2 months and neither do the popups. I think they deserve kudos considering how busy most people are and that a chance to save serious bucks on an upgrade can easily be lost in a normal email.

If the popup was an offer for other Sony products, I'd understand your frustration, well, at least a little more. But in any case, a loss of your creative thoughts due to a single popup (which can be disabled easily) is somewhat confusing to me.

This is not intended to throw gas on the fire - just a toss of two pennies in the pot. Hope it doesn't come back.

Tbone

i am actually with TorS on this one, though maybe not as pissed as he seems to be. i tend to equate this feature to negative option billing, you get the product / service whether you want it or not and you have to take action in order to prevent it. The companies rely on people just saying "meh"

if i sign up for email notification after i register my product or through a newsletter than i am asking for this sort of information and i am telling them where i want sent so i can deal with on my own terms. With a pop up in the software it just seems to be taking the advertising and marketing to that point where it shouldn't go.

btw, what law have they set up norway? have any other countries adopted the same idea? links?

i realize i am definitely in the minority on this one, but two cents are two cents. :)

I agree it is a pain, any popup is-- I'm amazed any reputable company uses them due to how they seem to infuriate the very customer they want to reach,,,
but a simple fix in Vegas

I read an intriguing marketing study a few weeks back (if i find it again i'll post the link). The DMA contracted a research firm to study the effectiveness of popup ads. Much to their surprise and great distress, it was discovered that those companies who advertise with popups generally see very noticeable drops in sales, and many end up going bankrupt if the popups are their major form of advertising. It seems that people hate them so much that most folks will boycott any company even slightly related to a popup they've seen on their screen.

Of course, this was exactly what the DMA didn't want to find out so they surpressed the research. Fortunately the research company had secured the right to publish independantly.

They aren't ads. They are reminders. When a new version of Vegas is available, they'll let you know. If you don't want to be notified, then simply turn it off.
It's not against the law in Norway. A simple search on Google will explain all of that. It merely influences how Norwegian government makes business decisions. (in this case, against Microsoft)
Needless to say, you can have your name removed from Sony's mail list, you can disable popup notices of new versions or sale information on version 5. I've disabled mine on default, and only seen one popup ever, which prompted me. It's also how I found out about build 4f, the updated version of ACID, when I ran my ACID app a couple of weeks ago.
Geez, Sony puts an ad on this page, gets people's shorts in a knot. They notify you of update availability, it gets people's shorts in a knot. It's not that they are loading popups for libraries, other products, etc. They are for updates related to your product or other relevant information to the product you bought. And you have the ability to shut it off. No big deal. When you're in a grumpy, unpleasant, and uncreative mood, go to Prefs and disable it. In the forums, I'm sure you'll eventually hear about new builds.

This has been in ALL version of Sonic Foundry apps that I knows of (I can trace it back to VV3 & SF 4.5 XP). The first thing I do is disable it in the options. No biggie (since it doesn't turn back on with update/patches, stuff like that).

Also, how's it a bad thing? I turned it on yesterday (by accident) and it told me the upgrade discount ends JUNE 4TH. :) So, i have an extra 4 days to get it. :)

What does annoy me is that i've gotten a CC offer by sony, 5-7 e-mails about buying Vegas 5 for $560 & V5 + DVDA 2 for $800, but NOT 1 e-mail about the upgrade price. That annoys me.

I Imagine it can be quite an unexpected surprise when somebody has made your Computer do something that was not asked for.. Also.. A little Unnerving.. If a program does something thats part of its routine fine... But when an outside intelligence without permission suddenly demands your time A Knee-jerk reaction is to react with anger... Surprising really that advertisers dont realise this..

I do apreciate that this is Information and perhaps would be better If net notifys default was set at off...I just turned mine off because it keeps requesting internet access... I dont know much about How it sends information but about five different parts of Vegas want to call out to sony...Perhaps trying to escape the hammering I give the effects..

Mark, you could do a film about it? - G

I just don't want popups in Vegas. Stop them.

Why don't you just turn them off then? Since you know it's called Net Notify you probably know there's a preference for it?

I'm not trying to put you down, just curious.

I have to side with TorS on this issue as well. However I will go a step further and say this is not just a Sony thing but it for sure is a "thing". It is simple for people to just say "Well turn off that option if you don't like it" however my feeling has been "Why not leave it *off* by default and give the user the option of turning it *on*?"

I have gotten into the habit of installing software and as soon as I launch it going into the settings and looking for something that says "Auto update" or "net notify" or the like and turning it off. In a way this is the same as all of the online registration schemes and online order forms and so on - you fill out all your info and you get to that last, or close to last, page where there are all these checkboxes and they are all checked. If you take the moment to read them thay say things like "By checking here you agree to allow [COMPANY] to send you informaiton about special offers" and than there is another one that says something like "by checking here you agree to recieve information form third parties on their products". The ones that I find the most cheeky are the ones where the form will have *required* fields and one of them is your email. Than you go on and see these checkboxes and it says, in the small print, that by filling out your email you have given the right to recieve product offers and deals via email. because the email is *required* you can not opt out. The other is the form where the box is *unchecked* but if you read the small print it says somehting like "Unless you check here to not recieve email from thrid party companies you will be acknowledging that you wish to recieve such email."

Thing is that there used to be a certian acceptablity factor with "freeware" or "shareware" programs that would run in "ad" mode until you purchased them. I find it almost insulting when you go out and spend 500 - 1000 (or more) on software and find it has pop ups for whatever reason, turned on by default. Actually forget about the cost - the fact that you pay for something should be enough. Windows as an OS we all know has phone home issues out the butt...I tell you no matter how hard I try to stop it I still get pop ups about a newer verison of IE or WMP being available. I know and I don't care because what I have works just fine and the fact that ie is out there checking for things that I don't ask for bothers me.

Look at this another way - you sit down with a client and you open the app of your choice on the Windows platform. You are sitting there showing them something. Suddenly you start getting "update available" pop ups all over. It is a scenerio that could happen because it is what is going on more and more. And the more "prosumer" software comes into play where non-computer/non-'professional' people run it who just leave everything at it's default the more likely it is that this scenerio will be reality.

I have to tell this little story - yesterday I was picking up my daughter at school and one of the other parents was telling about how their computer kept getting "attacked" and people were hacking into their home computer and installing all kinds of programs on it. I wanted to open my mouth but didn't. These are people who not only click on email attachments but will willingly click "ok" to anything that might pop up saying a "newer version is available" or "You need to install this to do that". You can't expect them to understand how to "turn off Net Notify". Don't 'cha think that Sony and other companies should hold some responablity by having anything internet/network "auto update/notify" related disabled by default? With clear install options that state "If you would like to be notifed of updates click 'Yes' now" rather than just not saying anything?

That's just terrible that Sony would let us know that we can get a great deal on the upgrade of Vegas....how could they do such a thing! That's it, I'm going to just use Windows Movie Maker now for all my videos :) <end sarcasm>

Would'nt be very Interestin would it ?.. I can see the Plot now... Hmmmm Checkbox ON checkbox OFF..:)

Don't waste any sarcasm on me. I bought the upgrade weeks ago. I have accepted email notification (and it keeps on coming in the plenties, long after the purchase). I am not complaining about that. Period.

I have owned Vegas since Vegas Audio - been in on every step since. I have owned Sound Forge much longer than that. Before today I have not seen these programs pop a sales message once. I would never have turned on Net Notify willingly. But there it is, ON. Either someone has interfered with my computer or its on by default. That is what I object to. It's not like it is a criminal act, but you'd have a strong case going after a Norwegian company on such an issue. In most of Euorope, I believe. If you return a coupon to get brochures or information, unless you actively put a cross in a box, it is illegal for the company to send you anything other than what you asked for. And that is what Sony just did.
And don't tell me it's not advertising. If you must call it something else, call it spam.

The difference between an email (or a trditional advertisement) and this, is that this goes straight to the user interface of the application. THAT is why it must go. It is intolerable.
Tor
Tor

>>>That's just terrible that Sony would let us know that we can get a great deal on the upgrade of Vegas<<<

Sony aside - you really missed my point by a million miles. Did you sign up to get email updates/product notifications from SoFo (or Sony)? If so than great. I am on the SoFo (Sony) email and mailing list. No problems with that because I asked to be put on it. This is not what I was saying at all. (Actually I asked to be on the SoFo email list - never did I ask to be put on the Sony list. But I overlook this because it is about the product, not the company.)

TorS my Comment was too Grazie... if you read me post before .. Recommended Making a Film... Just a bit of tongue in cheek fun.. No Sarcasm from this direction....Honest..

It all depends upon how you look at it. Some see it as an intrusion; others see it as a service. If enough people are annoyed by it, it will be turned off by default. I think we have a total of three so far in this thread. Not quite at critical mass yet...

Edited to add:

TorS said:
"You have absolutely no right to do this. NO RIGHT!"

Say, huh? Is that a violation of your civil rights or your human rights?

"never did I ask to be put on the Sony list. But I overlook this because it is about the product, not the company."

Every day I get hundreds of Spam emails, I didn't ask for any of them. Just a part of life if you ask me, there are options to disable it if you don't like it, just like there are spam filters. At least they give you the option of turning it off if you don't want to be notified. Seems like a minor inconvenience if anything, not a extreme violation of your rights as a human being.

Man I hate poke at this again but, if you have "Use Net Notifiy" checked in prefs. you have agreed to accept the pop ups. Do you have it check TorS?

Here is the help file wording.
"When this check box is selected, Vegas will periodically display information from Sony Pictures Digital at startup. Clear the check box to bypass the Net Notify dialog."

I have mine checked but never got a pop up about upgrading, so has everyone else recieved -or not- this pop up TorS got. I've gotten a total of five e-mails about it.

Again sorry to poke but we all should read the agrement a little better or take copy to a lawer. It does seem to be headed for the "pay to play" that Bill Gates has in his head. Now with Vegas 5 needing .NET to run, I can see it now "Vegas 6, just connect to Sony servers to use the app. no need to download."

Hunter