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Thread: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

  1. #1

    Default Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Regarding Transparent corp,

    I found this thread on the Microsoft homepage: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...=1543001875672




    Some are speculating that Transparent corp's in the process of 'rebranding' the software to resell to people later, an attempt to make more money from past customesr......which is why they've shut down the activation site and are renigging on their promise to issue license keys for existing customers.

    The group is getting together. Some have emailed support to see if a solution can be worked out so we can activate our software on older machines. Some are talking about banding together for legal action if our support emails are ignored. If you have purchased any Transparent corp product and are unable to activate your license, you might want to join us. A discord server (https://discord.gg/sF7JFRA) and a Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1822860054508308/) has been set up for those who have The more people who sign on, the more likely the case will get attention and/or gain traction.

    thank you

  2. #2

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Quote Originally Posted by ixixy View Post
    Regarding Transparent corp,

    I found this thread on the Microsoft homepage: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...=1543001875672




    Some are speculating that Transparent corp's in the process of 'rebranding' the software to resell to people later, an attempt to make more money from past customesr......which is why they've shut down the activation site and are renigging on their promise to issue license keys for existing customers.

    The group is getting together. Some have emailed support to see if a solution can be worked out so we can activate our software on older machines. Some are talking about banding together for legal action if our support emails are ignored. If you have purchased any Transparent corp product and are unable to activate your license, you might want to join us. A discord server (https://discord.gg/sF7JFRA) and a Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1822860054508308/) has been set up for those who have The more people who sign on, the more likely the case will get attention and/or gain traction.

    thank you
    I don't think they are planning any rebranding. My theory is that they are all in with brain.fm and don't want others competing with their market- especially using their own software.

    I hope Transparent comes around and at least fulfills their promise to support for a year.

  3. Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    All the software are moving to subscription based also the music industry so it seems TransparentCorp members have also chosen the same route like all others. I guess Lawsuit wont help here I guess most of the software companies have a way out.
    Also seems the software was getting outdated and hard to maintain. I hope brain.fm app would comeup with similar features and support biofeedback and audio strobe features.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Ex-members have a right to sue for damages since Transparent corp sold lifetime licenses that are now worthless since they cannot be activated.
    Members paid upwards of $1000 for a lifetime license.

    We have documentation/emails of what was bought and what was offered. Transparent corp is not obligated to keep their software updated forever, they are however obligated to allow us to access our paid software with our activation/license keys....because they sold lifetime license.
    https://web.archive.org/web/20130521...om/tcn/faq.php

    They also promised to extend support by a year:
    https://filestore.community.support....a-9db318da41a3

  5. #5

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Good news / Bad news

    Bad news first: It appears that future support for Mindstudio/Neuroprogrammer has come to an end. The folks at Transparent corp are moving on. This means that your software will most likely not run on current and/or future versions of Windows.

    Good news: If you are willing to run your software on earlier versions of windows (windows 7 for example) then there is now a way to activate your license. This facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1822860054508308/ has been in contact with the folks over at Transparent Corp. Adam @ TC is providing activation codes upon proof of purchase.

    To activate your version of MindRead on an earlier version of windows and to keep up with the news read more here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1822860054508308/

  6. #6

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    I looked at that Google doc for activation on the Facebook page and it is requesting a hardware ID -- who on earth runs the same Win7 computer for 10 years without it changing the hardware ID? Hint: hardly anyone, so it cuts Adam (owner of Transparent Corp) work of activating paying ex-customers by 95%. Adam might as well be running that scheme because it only benefits him. And honestly I don't see how this would prevent this lawsuit mentioned here and on FB, because Adam is not restoring access to the software it sold to but a few customers by the way this Google form is set up. Plus the only way to retain access to the software I bought is to run it in a VM perpetually, because hardware IDs will never be the same. Even though Adam personally promised me some years ago that he would up my activation limit because I run different PCs and VMs. So all that is a lie now, which I will prove.

    Which brings me to my main point: Adam's way of closing Transparent Corp and the activation of the programs is an exit scam. Do you think I am using words that are too strong? Or do you think that the way Adam has navigated this is scam-like? You decide after I post my interaction with Adam regarding purchasing a license for Mind Workstation. As you'll notice, I tried my best to make sure I wasn't purchasing something that would get abandoned or that would lock my out of activating the product in the future. I told Adam I very much disliked the activation software the Transparent Corp uses/used because it would lead to exactly the problems we are having now. I was right. But he tried to explain it away and did so rather well at the time -- "well" only because I believed him when he asked me to take him at his word. Well, that is exactly where the problem lies. His word means nothing. I have Win7 as host OS, I also have a Win7 in VM right now, I can not activate my copy of Mind Workstation. He lied to me. I will prove it. After I purchased Mind Workstation Pro and played around with it and found out what type of activation method they used, I was disappointed as I knew it could/would lead to our current problems. So I wrote to them:

    Hello,

    I purchased Mind Workstation Pro last night, and have been exploring it a bit further.

    When purchasing, I had no idea what sort of activation method you guys used for the software, or how that might impact my usage of it.

    If there is one thing I have a pet peeve about, it is software companies that impact the end user where it comes to licensing methods. I'm afraid to say I'm finding this is the case with Transparent Corp. It is imperative to me that I can have (semi-)portable copies of my software, or at least that I can have the guarantee to run the software on any offline system, without in any way requiring online access. This is not the case for Mind Workstation. It requires access to the internet for me to activate it on a system, whether directly or indirectly.

    I come to your company with good faith, but I've seen enough software companies (especially with more or less fringe products) go out of business completely, so to then have the activation of the software I paid $270 for to be dependent on the online status of a small software company, it is simply not right. If one is Microsoft, then OK, but in this case I cannot agree with it.

    One of the reasons this is such a pet peeve with me is because I also build and maintain computers, and deploy Windows images, etc. So my systems don't only constantly undergo hardware changes (and so hardware ID changes), plus I am never long on any Windows installation. So needless to say I feel rather impacted by your software's activation methods.

    It is not that I can't achieve what Mind Workstation (Pro) achieves, but I need several programs to achieve it. Since I mostly use binaural beat tech (so far) I've been using a tone generator that allows for quite accurate tones (.xxhz). I'm not interested in the visual tech capabilities, but purely in audio.

    Is there not some master key I can get just for my own license, that will work with offline activation? I want to be able to use this program 40 years from now if I wanted, I don't want myself and my $270 to be dependent on some server being online or not. I feel that the good faith with which I approached your corp is not met in a reciprocity of kind.

    I tested my license in several VM's, and indeed I can't save the activation state. I'm coming to the conclusions this is not acceptable to me. Is there any solution to this? I love the software, but I simply can't accept the activation methods. I think you guys use some kind of virtualization tech or at least a Spoon directory is created in AppData. I respect the concerns any software maker regarding licensing, but if you start discouraging your own customer base I don't think the 'gain' is worth it. I understand you need to make money, but you have to understand then when I pay you that money, I expect freedom with your product. It is not the case.
    So this is the response I got from Transparent Corp, from a guy named "Joe":

    Hello

    Once activated, you do not need an Internet connection. If you're having problems activating the product, let me know and there are some things we can do. You can get an off-line registration key here http://www.transparentcorp.com/produ...fa=&hwid=&aid=

    You always have access to your activation info in the Members Area http://www.transparentcorp.com/members/. Transparent Corporation has been around for over 10 years, and are still going strong with new programs and improvements on the horizon. I can assure you, we are not going away anytime soon.

    I understand your needs with your computer. We have other users that do the same. If you ever have a problem activating the product, just contact us here at Support and we will fix it.

    Best regards
    Joe
    This didn't sit well with me -- BOY HAS TIME PROVEN ME RIGHT. Reply by me:

    Hi Joe,

    Thanks for your reply.

    I understand I can get a registration key by providing my hardware ID at the online database. But what I was talking about was activating the product on a computer or VM that does not have internet access. Meaning, for me to activate Mind WorkStation on any of my computers/installs/computers with hardware changes, etc/ I would need to go online with the hardware ID and then get the key from the online database. This is what I don't want. I want a key that I can always activate on any PC/config without having to go online to retrieve it. Like I said before, my computers go through so many hardware changes and installs, it will necessitate me to have to get keys from the online database every time.
    At this point, Adam (owner/founder/developer of Transparent Corp) gets involved and wrote me the following. It is rather long so I will post only the relevant parts:

    Tue, Jun 4 2013 7:29pm - Adam H
    Hi xxx

    This is the developer of the application. Joe asked me to chime in to let you know if there is a way around it.

    Unfortunately there is not. Let me address a few of your concerns:

    1) If we do go out of business, we will provide a way for our customers to continue to activate it, probably by simply releasing a version that requires no activation or taking it open source. We will NEVER abandon our customers. This software is too important to me and the industry to just let it die if our business fails. But, as joe points out, that's not happening any time soon.

    3) Hardware changes. I have gone to great pains to ensure that even if you regularly make hardware changes your installed key will remain valid. I'm a hardware tinkerer myself. I admit it's not a perfect system, but I tried my best with what I'm working with.

    4) I would also like to sincerely apologize. Obviously I'm a big tech nerd myself and have had many companies do exactly what you've described. I've also seen companies do what I just promised to do and take things open source if things go south. In any case, I feel I should explain why we do it. When we first started the company we had a very lax license system. As expected, it was quickly cracked. But we didn't expect it to affect our bottom line significantly. I thought that honest people would buy our product, and even people who cracked it at first would eventually buy it. Unfortunately, we were quite wrong, and nearly went under. We went from a decent number of orders to nearly none overnight. As you explained, if we were microsoft, no big deal, they can compensate for that via OEM installs, etc. But, for us, we simply had no choice but to make it do a hardware-based activation scheme. There is no better solution at the moment, to my knowledge. No matter how good the license system and encryption is, if one key works for all installations, the program's license system is pretty useless.

    5) I thought I should also mention that if you do decide to remain with us and do not seek a refund, I will personally make sure your activation limitations are configured such that you should never have a problem getting one. (for most people, we have a yearly limit that is almost never reached, even for hardcore hardware users such as yourself. But, for you I will increase this even further).

    Again I'm sorry for the trouble. I understand your concerns. And a refund is no problem if that is the route you decide to take. I'm sorry I can't offer a better solution.

    Take care!
    Adam

    So let's break this down:

    "If we do go out of business, we will provide a way for our customers to continue to activate it, probably by simply releasing a version that requires no activation or taking it open source. We will NEVER abandon our customers."

    They have effectively abandoned their customers. This google form activation joke is not a solution and is a cop out and a breach of trust and him doing a full 180 on his word. He did not release it to public nor make it open source. This part is what made me decide to not request a refund and trust him. He didn't live up to what he told me he would do.

    Hardware changes. I have gone to great pains to ensure that even if you regularly make hardware changes your installed key will remain valid. I'm a hardware tinkerer myself. I admit it's not a perfect system, but I tried my best with what I'm working with.

    Not true. The whole point of retaining access to activation implies older machines with hardware changes or new machines. And he did not honor that at all.

    I thought I should also mention that if you do decide to remain with us and do not seek a refund, I will personally make sure your activation limitations are configured such that you should never have a problem getting one.


    We can see how that panned out.

    Conclusion: he should keep up an activation server and a customer support base for activations. It is the least he can do. If he can't afford it, he needs to release the source code or create an installer that doesn't require activation, as he told me he would if they ceased operations. His word turned out to be false. This is the only conclusion that can be reached from the above.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    I am the "guy named Joe" that answered your original support ticket. In my and Adam's defense, I offer the following:

    At that time (June 2013) I was gainfully employed full time by Transparent Corp. We were producing online webinars to address the #1 complaint- the software was difficult to learn all of it's capabilities. A new version of NP3 was also in the works, not just bug fixes and minor improvements, but a new NP4, as well as major additions to MWS. Adam had invested thousands of dollars into the project that never materialized. During the next year, Adam partnered with a marketing expert that convinced him, rightfully so, that much more $$ can be made by selling the milk instead of the cow, and would be a lot easier to do so. Without any warning, I was let go by Adam, who was choking back tears as he did so. He left me with a respectable severance payout, which he didn't have to do.

    So brain.fm was born, and Transparent was left to die. Since then the corporation gained many investors, of which Adam has only a small percentage of ownership. He has been granted a large sum to conduct research on sound based entrainment, which is his main focus at the time rather than his forgotten software.

    I consider Adam my friend, and can vouch that if left to him, he would make things right, which he still may do. I believe that the trouble lies in corporate red tape, greed, and ignorance of the other members that now own the rights to Transparent software. Any software that can produce BWE sessions as good or better than brain.fm is competition and a threat. Transparent software was just a thorn in brain.fm's backside that festered with the Windows debacle, so they simply removed it. Maybe we should get Dan Clark, the CEO of brain.fm involved and see what he has to say.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Hi Joe, thanks for providing the background.

    Your reply made me approach the character of Adam with a little more reservation, although he clearly expressed intentions and promises he could not keep, so my assessment of those aspects of this debacle remains legitimate. Besides that, it was Adam himself who, as you indicate, got involved with marketing people who indicated to him to ditch his paying customers. Let's not mince words here, this is what he did and he did so consciously and willingly. So he did not keep his word, he sold out for his own skin in this, and left his customers out to dry for his personal gain. Sorry, but there is no sugarcoating this. He went into this with eyes open and *we* were the element he could compromise on. No one. I repeat, no one would have bought those licenses if they thought he would do something like this. In short, he ended up not deserving the respect given to software companies when customers buy their products. Things are inherent to such purchases. One of which is trust that the company won't end your license on a whim. Do you realize how many hours it takes to get frequencies and tracks figured out? I bet you do. For Adam and/or the company to then desert those customers and end their usage of the software is a low move. This is exactly why I wrote in that time, to make sure my concerns were addressed or I would have asked for a refund, as indicated in the exchanges above. So yeah we got ripped off.

    If the company he has hitched to now considers the programs in direct conflict to their bottom line, then I am certain there was a clause included that prevents Adam from releasing the code and/or a free versions of the programs. So personally I don't believe there is anything to hope for there.

    I appreciate you getting back to me but sadly my assessment of what happened still stands although I don't wish any personal hurt to Adam (even if he made the choice that put us in the cold).

  9. #9

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Quote Originally Posted by ucktra View Post
    Hi Joe, thanks for providing the background.

    Your reply made me approach the character of Adam with a little more reservation, although he clearly expressed intentions and promises he could not keep, so my assessment of those aspects of this debacle remains legitimate. Besides that, it was Adam himself who, as you indicate, got involved with marketing people who indicated to him to ditch his paying customers. Let's not mince words here, this is what he did and he did so consciously and willingly. So he did not keep his word, he sold out for his own skin in this, and left his customers out to dry for his personal gain. Sorry, but there is no sugarcoating this. He went into this with eyes open and *we* were the element he could compromise on. No one. I repeat, no one would have bought those licenses if they thought he would do something like this. In short, he ended up not deserving the respect given to software companies when customers buy their products. Things are inherent to such purchases. One of which is trust that the company won't end your license on a whim. Do you realize how many hours it takes to get frequencies and tracks figured out? I bet you do. For Adam and/or the company to then desert those customers and end their usage of the software is a low move. This is exactly why I wrote in that time, to make sure my concerns were addressed or I would have asked for a refund, as indicated in the exchanges above. So yeah we got ripped off.

    If the company he has hitched to now considers the programs in direct conflict to their bottom line, then I am certain there was a clause included that prevents Adam from releasing the code and/or a free versions of the programs. So personally I don't believe there is anything to hope for there.

    I appreciate you getting back to me but sadly my assessment of what happened still stands although I don't wish any personal hurt to Adam (even if he made the choice that put us in the cold).
    I feel your pain bro. I am staying positive that something acceptable will be worked out. If it takes a lawsuit to get people seriously listening, so be it.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Transparent corp legal action/class action lawsuit

    Hello,
    I've also invested more than 1000 hours into the work with NeuroProgrammer3-Ultimate (I've bought it 2015), and I'm also very disappointed about Transparent/Adam. On the Windows10 machine it doesn't function no more. All tries to uninstall the Windows updates brought nothing!
    I understand that they've abandoned the MWS/NP3, but I want to use the Software I've paid for, be it without further support, without Windows10, but at least under Windows7.
    To shut-down the activation server is incredibly discourteous! For this is there no exculpation!
    Last edited by Titus; 01-01-2019 at 01:50 AM.

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