🚀 go-pugleaf

"John A. Mason" <jamas@ream.net> wrote in message 
news:11tpfq632cqf851@corp.supernews.com...
> <snip>
>>
>> You don't have to use Stardock Central unless you're purchasing it 
>> electronically.  If you buy the game at retail, you can download 1.x 
>> updates from the website like any other game.  Stardock Central is just 
>> an option for users who find it convenient.
>>
>> I know some people have had problems with it back in 2003, it was 
>> literally rushed out for the release (which I think was obviously a 
>> mistake in hindsight). But no one ever had to use it.  Even today you can 
>> go to the original galciv.com site and download the 1.2 "patch" OR use 
>> Stardock Central.
>>
>> Brad
>> --
>> Brad Wardell
>> Project Manager: Galactic Civilizations II (www.galciv2.com)
>> Stardock - http://www.stardock.com
>>
>
> Brad,
> Thanks for taking the time to address my concerns. I will reconsider my 
> viewpoint going forward. I appreciate your honesty in mentioning that 
> Stardock was 'rushed out for the release'.
> I very clearly remember significant problems with Stardock, and I just 
> don't want to have to deal with it at all. I also appreciate the other 
> comments you've made about how the program was designed with Usenet users 
> in mind. However, we don't need another way to do 'anything'... forums, 
> downloading, etc.; are all established practices. I, for one, am not 
> looking for another way to do these things... just my opinion.
> Your interest in your customer's concerns and ongoing dialogue with them 
> do you (and GalCiv) great credit.

Thanks.

What happened in 2003 was essentially this -- GalCiv I was originally 
supposed to come out on February 21st 2003.  But Atari asked us to push our 
date back 1 month so that we didn't come out at the same time as MOO 3. In 
exchange they put a GalCiv flyer in the MOO 3 box.  So GalCiv I came out at 
the end of March instead.

However, Stardock Central was originally slated to be finished by end of 
April 2003 and when the GalCiv date got pushed back, there was the 
temptation (which we obviously took to) to bring out SDC a month early so 
that we could launch both.  SDC had been working great in beta for our 
non-games stuff such as WindowBlinds (www.windowblinds.net) and other Object 
Desktop stuff.  So we rushed it to 1.0.

However, while SDC worked great for non-games, it was a whole different 
story downloading a game with thousans of files and hundreds of megabytes. 
A desktop enhancement might have 50 files and be 10 megs. No biggie.  But a 
game like GalCiv was 500 megabytes and thousannds of files and it was 
clearly not ready to handle that kind of load.

But a lot has changed since then -- 3 years.  But we still look at it as an 
optional item, not something anyone would have to use.  I personally love 
using SDC because it's much more convenient.  But at the end of the day, it 
has to center around the game, not the delivery mechanism.

Brad
--
Brad Wardell
Project Manager: Galactic Civilizations II (www.galciv2.com)
Stardock - http://www.stardock.com

> Regards,
> John
>
>