Update within one year for free - or not

[Conrad]

I've chosen the buy-version and was told, that the price includes 1 year free updates. Not even half a year later I was offered an Update - at a "special" price. I've answered, that I expect a free update. Well, I nevver got an answer ...

When I select "Hilfe > Nach Updates suchen" in my local installation, I'm told, there is no update available ...

Even until today they state on their German Website: "Profitieren Sie beim Kauf dieser lebenslangen Lizenz ein Jahr lang von kostenlosen Updates und technischem Support."

[Regor250]

There is a catch as you found out, updates aren't upgrades and ACDSee rarely, but occasionally release updates... to the current version. Upgrades to new year version (e.g. 2021 to 2022) are never free, unless you subscribe to ACDSee365

[Conrad]

Thanks Regor250!

Well, that fits the picture I'm getting more and more of ACDSee: Lots of smoke and mirrors -but the details don't fit after all.

Guess my search for a good Lightroom alternative didn't come to an end :-(

[Framon]

As Regor250 explained, updates between annual releases are rare.
However, I think you would be wrong to go back to LR, but this is just a personal opinion.

[Conrad]

Framon

I was very happy when I found ACDSee, because it is a very powerful program and it offers some really intelligent solutions.. But then things came up like this issue and I feel cheated ... or the non-destructive-discussion that really raises doubts in the technical competence of the producers ...

I don't think I will go back to LR – but I'm starting another round to search for alternatives – though I'm aware of the fact, that I won't find the perfect program.

[hectorsm]

Framon

I was very happy when I found ACDSee, because it is a very powerful program and it offers some really intelligent solutions.. But then things came up like this issue and I feel cheated ... or the non-destructive-discussion that really raises doubts in the technical competence of the producers ...

I don't think I will go back to LR – but I'm starting another round to search for alternatives – though I'm aware of the fact, that I won't find the perfect program.

Sorry, but there's no such thing as a Lightroom alternative. Lightroom is one of a kind software that does most things very well. I was also a lightroom user and I started looking for alternatives since they announced their subscription only model. I finally settled with ACDSee 2022. All the so called alternative will have very significant differences that go well beyond cosmetic or user interface.

If you find a bug in ACDSee, you are entitled to support for one year or until the next version comes out which could sometimes mean less than a year. I don't remember seeing anywhere that update for features enhancements was part of the deal. Unless you are referring to camara raw support which is part of their promised support. I don't remember Lightroom adding feature in their non subscription versions either, but I could be wrong.

Having said that, I understand your frustration. I've run in to workflow issue dealing with the way ACDSee manages the files. I use other software as part of my workflow. ACDSee does not work well with other software. As you already know ACDSee moves Jpegs from the original location which causes issue with all the other software I use. The creation of the extra image files and additional space consumption could be an issue with some people. I could keep going on on these kind of details but this not my point. My point is that you'll need to decide what works best for you. I picked ACDSee as my primary software because it has an good and fast DAM, overall good user interface, lower cost and it was non subscription. As far is shortcomings in terms of file handling, I just hold my nose, and just try to work around it deficiencies since it's the only package comes close to what I need.

I suggest you look around and take you time searching for other alternatives. I recommend that you rank the feature that matter to you, because no matter where you look, you will most likely will have to make a compromise of some kind. Good luck on your search!

Hector

[Greyfox]

Conrad

ACDSee Ultimate 2022 was released in September 2021 as build 15.1.0.2798

There has in fact since been two free "updates" for the U2022 version released. They were build 15.1.0.2910 in March 2022, and build 15.1.0..2922 in April
If you Google ACDSee Ultimate Release Notes, you will be able to see what changes were made in each of these releases.

It is only normal for maintenance releases or updates relating to the current major version to be free.

[AliGW]

[USER="25255"]There has (sic) in fact since been two free "updates" for the U2022 version released. They were build 15.1.0.2910 in March 2022, and build 15.1.0..2922 in April

To wit, Help | Check for Updates.

[CanonFan]

Conrad - I hear the frustration! Sounds like a misunderstanding of expectations. It seems that you purchased the product mid-cycle, and expected upgrades to the next version as it was within a year of purchase. ACDSee will support the current version through a year of product cycle, but after that they move on to the newer version and the older version typically no longer receives updates. (Tip - ACDSee usually releases a new version in the fall, and beforehand they usually have great deals on the current version…. But it will not receive much in the way of updates as a newer version is around the corner….)

As a non-professional enthusiast, I have been able to use a version of ACDSee for about 3 years. Much less expensive than other alternatives and does everything I want (and more).

ACDSee does have a subscription model that would continuously receive updates (as long as you subscribe).

For me, ACDSee has been extremely cost effective and a very capable DAM and editing software.

[Dennis See]

I mainly use it for the DAM feature (asset management). Best product I found (especially the UI on navigation)
(But face recognition is painfully slow, scanning at about 1 to 3 seconds per picture, so it is hardly usable)

[Framon]

Framon though I'm aware of the fact, that I won't find the perfect program.[/FONT]

You are unfortunately right, perfection does not exist in anything!

[hectorsm]

(But face recognition is painfully slow, scanning at about 1 to 3 seconds per picture, so it is hardly usable)

I never noticed the slowness since I just let it do the work in the background. AI algorithms for face recognition could be very complex requiring heavy processing. The slowness does not surprise me a bit. Although is very possible ACD can improve on that.

Hector

[Dennis See]

I never noticed the slowness since I just let it do the work in the background. AI algorithms for face recognition could be very complex requiring heavy processing. The slowness does not surprise me a bit. Although is very possible ACD can improve on that.

Hi Hector, right, face detection runs in the background but my CPU is at 100% or over 90% most of the time while it is running. I have over 200K photos, so I gave up knowing that the results would not even be 50% accurate (I had done it before while on a trial version). It would be nice if I could just turn it on for new photos I load, but the software won't work that way. Once I turn it on, it will scan the existing DB automatically.

[Greyfox]

It would be nice if I could just turn it on for new photos I load, but the software won't work that way. Once I turn it on, it will scan the existing DB automatically.

Dennis,
With Auto Face detection NOT enabled in Tools\Options\Face Detection, in Manage mode you can still select a folder, use Ctrl+A to select all of the photos in it, then in the Tools menu select Face Detection then Redetect Faces. That will run face detection only on the selected images.

In view mode, you can also run face detection from the tools menu.

Note however that if you subsequently edit an image that has had the face previously detected, because the option to automatically re-run face detection if the file has changed is no longer enabled (is now greyed out) you will need to manually run re-detect on the image yourself.

[Dennis See]

... in Manage mode you can still select a folder, use Ctrl+A to select all of the photos in it, then in the Tools menu select Face Detection then Redetect Faces.

Thanks. That's a workaround. What I wanted was to turn it on for newly loaded photos only, but not the existing photos. But it's okay that I turn it off as Face Detection still requires a massive amount of manual renaming/correction.