I don't think you can blame it on anyone but the developers. Who decides when and what to release? No one can tell me that the dev's were forced by those folks to release something that's probably better than the last release, but... erhm... BUT not what they announced. Look at the release notes. Almost anything that is new from 3.47 is either not complete or not even implemented at all.
So, I'm not really happy about this release and I do understand everyone else who isn't, no matter if paying customer or not.
Yes, this release is half-baked. So I ask myself: "why was ist at all released?" If all that stuff that we were waiting for is coming shortly, there wouldn't have been any need for this release.
But because of this release, there's a lot of space for speculations. If you were part of a team of software developers and had a revolutionary new version almost done, and your software was mainly freeware but you had a handful of people supporting it, would you release a half-baked version just because everyone is saying "release it, release it!", especially if this release wouldn't make any difference to those people who didn't pay for it BUT piss of your paying customers? I wouldn't do that, that's sure!
Again, I do like DT4! It's free and useful.
Some people called the 4.00 release "vaporware". And I think in some way, they are right. 64bit support for example. Last weekend, one of the developers wrote in the official forums (just two days or something before the release) that 64bit support will be included. He also wrote that DT4 was not going to be released on monday. As we all know, it was released on monday and without 64bit support. If you have a look at those forums now, you will see that admins are writing "it's coming in a few days". Again: WHY IS THAT?
The was no pressure, no publisher, no financial aspects. Only those you try to blame. So if the DT team gives in to them, it's only the DT team's fault. They would have had all the time in the world to make DT better. I mean, when did the final beta start? Like end of last week? When was ist released? This monday? Could that have something to to with the fact that it's working only for a few people AND no one has a clue why it's not working for others?
You know, I myself had been thinking about getting a pro license for some weeks. But know, I'm afraid that, as muJi.fiGHt3r pointed out, I would only get a standard DT4 with some useless blow-up features.
I know, it's getting repetitive, but think about it again: why the hell should you cause all this trouble (pissed customers, loss of future customers like me) if you got the final version almost done and it's just some days or weeks to the release?
If there's anyone here who still doens't understand me (all others, stop reading now
):
In my opinion, the only explanation for this behaviour ist that there IS no "real" DT4 coming shortly. All those longed-for features are NOT to be finished soon.
Still, of course I apreciate the new version. I didn't pay for it. And as you might found out by reading my post, I'm very happy about not having payed for it!
And EDIT (as I just read DABhand's reply):
I never ever cried or moaned for anything! I never signed the forums asking "will it be out this week?" or "please release asap" And again: even if many people do, it's no excuse!