Warning regarding EQ6 by Electric Quilt

i'm off to read the stuff on techrepublic site. after having a chat with my dd's b/f, he is a techy by trade... he says they've either written it into the program somehow which you could probably bypass or delete it somehow or if you have to go online everytime you want to install the program that is how they are keeping track of the number of times you install it and then steal your money. this is the main reason i did not buy EQ6 when it came out. i have EQ4 which will have to be good enough for me now. since i've had EQ4 i've had numerous new computers every few years and have had a few crashes at the odd time too. i think this is ridiculous to do when the program is not being used by a business but by a single user on their home computer for their own fun and games to design quilts. yup, i call it highway robbery of the worst kind. just my opinion fwiw, j.

Thank you for telling us about it. I have EQ5 but since I can't use Carol Doak's CD's on it the way I want, I bought the Quilt Pro and I just love it cause it makes copying her block papers for paper pieceing sooooo much easyier.

GrammyKathy

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It will be bypassed and "cracked." Then people will download it. I expect they are trying to "keep the honest people honest" with this licensing scheme.

Glad to hear it.

It is worth noting that EQ5 is still available and does not use this licensing scheme but you probably already know that! :)

Me too. If I could call and get an activation any time I provided my name, phone number, and whatever other information they needed from me to prove I was ME, then I would be annoyed but not furious. If I make

10 copies of the CD and pass them out to friends and each of those friends pass them out to friends, before long there will be thousands of copies out there. HOWEVER, MOST of those people will have NO IDEA WHO I AM. If EQ was worried about THOSE people activating the software then they would not be concerned about giving me an additional activation free of charge.

I wish someone would start giving out copies of their CD and then just tell people to call up and request an additional activation. Seriously; why pay $150 for it when you can get one activation for $40? I'm sure they would put a stop to that very quickly.

I've been calling it extortion but both work for me! :) Hopefully they will change their practices. I was excited about getting my wife the "best" quilting design program out there to go along with her new sewing machine for Christmas but she understands that I'm not in an ethical battle which I have very strong emotions and passion about.

Once again, I will be chronicling all of this at:

-tek

You're welcome and I'm glad to hear there are other reasons to go with Quilt Pro other than just their company being more ethical then EQ. I am planning to purchase this after the free trial is up.

-tek

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of buying EQ6 before Xmas but will wait awhile and maybe see what Quilt Pro has to offer.

Heather in West OZ sweltering in the 2nd hottest Xmas day in Perth Western Australia on record. It hit the 40degC mark today and is supposed to be the same tomorrow + humidity. YUKKK!!!

I have EQ5 but since I can't use

Hello!

Could you please elaborate on this? I have the Carol Doak CD, and am thinking what I want to buy as a quilt designing program.

Thanks!

Martha

It looks like Quilt Pro has a similar activation policy, but they do not state if they charge for subsequent installs.

"You may activate 1-2-3 Quilt! up to 3 times. As part of your 3 activations, you may install 1-2-3 Quilt! on a second computer (such as a laptop) or re-install 1-2-3 Quilt! on the same computer in the event of a crash. Use your activations carefully?to activate more than

3 times requires a call to Quilt-Pro Systems."

-Irene

If you have QuiltPro, you can import the blocks from the Carol Doak CD into Quilt Pro and use them in your quilt designs. I have had Quilt Pro for quite a few years. I think I started with version 3 and upgraded to version 5 a few years ago. It may not have all the function that EQ has, but it has more than I will probably ever use. Before I bought QuiltPro, a co-worker's wife had upgraded an older version to version 3 and gave me the old one to play with; of course they had added enough function that I wanted version 3. If I remember correctly at that time, QuiltPro was getting better reviews than EQ, so I bought version 3. I don't remember how long ago it is -- probably close to 10 years ago, because after I had QuiltPro, I "had to have" a color printer, and my printer is almost 10 years old. :)

I have been very satisfied with QuiltPro. As I said, it has more capability than I will ever use, but I don't do a lot of elaborate, complex quilt designs. I do like that I can take even a simple design and play with color schemes. When I first had it, I was making a quilt for a friend of DD. DD had picked out the pattern and fabric -- blue-violet, purple, and a violet-red -- with an idea for which color for each piece. For fun -- and practice with QuiltPro -- I "designed" the quilt with the colors she had picked. I immediately saw that the quilt would have way too much of the red if we made it her way, so we revised the plan before I started cutting.

Julia in MN

I do like that I can take even a simple design

This sounds like what I can use! Maybe I'll put it on the PC, and forget about trying to design on my not-yet-arrived new Mac.

Thanks a lot!

Martha

QuiltPro also has a Mac version

Julia in MN

Martha with Carol's CDs are stand alone but were made useing Quilt Pro, Darn I wish I knew how to exlain this. Quilt Pro will open up your cd and lets you change the size of it where withEQ you have to draw the pattern into the program.

If anyone else can explain this better, PLEASE do.

GrammyKathy

YAY!

That solves that problem, thanks a lot!

Martha

Wow, what a heated issue- I've been keeping my eye on the replies.

The message from many EQ6 users is clear- EQ has excellent technical support.

I have heard quite a bit from both sides of the fence but there are a three questions that the people who support EQ's marketing and licensing have not given much feed back on so I'll ask once more:

1. What would be wrong with having the number of activations included with the EQ6 purchase listed in large font on the front of the box (similar to the product name)?

1. What would be wrong with having the number of activations included with the EQ6 purchase listed next to the price instead of in "System Requirements" on the website?

2. What would be wrong with having a commitment from EQ stating that any legitimate user trying to activate the software will be provided with an activation when needed on their web site? I understand this could lead to some casual copying but it certainly will continue to prevent the eBay bootlegging that I've heard robbed EQ of so much revenue.

I've summarized the comments I've heard from both sides as one liners on my blog here:

There are 5 claims both sides agree on.

There are 47 claims on the EQ marketing/activation support side.

There are 51 claims on the other side.

Feel free to add your own in the comments.

-tek

Are you STILL complaining? Don't you have anything better to do than to simply join groups with the sole purpose of complaining to anyone and everyone that's unfortunate enough to hear your squeaking & mewling? :)

Do you have anything else to contribute? Perhaps your review of the bezier curves in the PatchDraw worktable? How about any tips on importing fabrics? What's your best method of printing templates? Do you prefer the 1/4 seam allowance or not? Anything *other* than complaining??

I'll bet your wife is busy playing with EQ - probably happy for you to be off complaining so she can design quilts in peace and quiet! :)

HTH! Connie

Howdy!

Why? What's the problem w/ coming to this ng to bitch & complain? I mean, isn't that what many of us do? At least it's quilt related.

R/Sandy -- wondering if tek makes some good points... w/ or w/out EQ ;-D

C'mon, Sandy ... name one regular here who came here specifically to complain. Not talk about quilting, not talk about family, friends, inspiration, fabric, etc.... just purely to complain and instigate trouble. Here specifically to exact a bit of revenge.

And BTW, there *are* ways around the whole 4 activations thing ... aside from buying new ones, of course. But they require a tiny bit of planning and computer-savviness ... something he doesn't think the average quilter is capable of, I'm sure. :)

Hugs!! Connie :)

Howdy!

Oh, I wouldn't presume to name names.

Repeating some of the best advice I've seen here: If you don't want to read the posts: move the mouse. ;-)

Happy New Year!

R/Sandy -- happy w/ a non-moderated newsgroup

It does seem kind of "funny" to me that people are bitching and complaining about bitchers and complainers. It's like the silly story about the person who screws up their face in two-year-old style and screams, "I HATE intolerance!"

I'm mostly a deleter. Although sometimes I do read the rants because I discover that I am secretly thinking the same thing.