Thread: Response from PowerLOC/HSTC!

Email 4: Yes OK maybe it is time for overkill then terran...

Sent: Tue 01/02/2005 18:15
To: info@hstcglobal.com; info@destinatoreurope.com
Subject: FAO Andreas & Dennis DeCoste - D3 PC & Mapmonkey

Both,

I am a licensed user of your Destinator 3 product in the UK and have been over the past few years an advocate in the Car PC community. I have in the past had your product promoted in UK PC magazines and helped encourage many people to want to buy your product.

The reason I am writing to you is that I am feeling even more let down than usual by yourselves. Previosuly I had felt let down because as there was no Destinator 3 product for the PC I had many people ask me where to get it.. And I had to tell them it wasn't available. After a while I realised it was not coming after seeing a post on Car PC community forums saying that thee wouldn't be a PC product unless 1000 people pre-ordered it without seeing the final product first.

So after seeing that someone had got the 'SDK' to work on the PC and someone had developed a decent product, now named 'Map Monkey' I was very interested and spent a long time following the software development, and while the software was in beta I purchased Destinator 3 (the SDK site said I only need a license for D3 to use SDK-based programs). This became rather popular and even Car PC retailers have started selling your product.

Not long ago I read that your company wanted to stop people using it on the PC and were unhappy that the SDK was fixed to work with maps (pretty essential if you ask me). I understand this is because some dishonest people used the software with no intention of buying your product but of course this happens with all software and not a loss when you don't sell a PC product. It's no reason to punish people who like me have legal copies of the software.

I now read that a PC version is coming out... second hand information once again of course! So what is to be done about the many many users who bought the PPC version to use on the PC? We have a license, we gave you money upfront when no real product existed! I cannot afford to buy yet another version which will for all purposes offer me nothing more that what was 'legal' as far as anyone knew until the other day.

Please can your company make a public statement either on your website, on MP3Car, wherever. We NEED to know. I've emailed sdk europe/us, support US and had nothing substantial back. Let the people know now before it's too late as there are many many more apparently waiting to buy your product (and of course a good few who have vowed never to buy your product again after being left cold and dry after D2!)

Kind Regards,

Steve