I stopped waiting for the upgrade. The beginning of this post, we are talking about July...of last year! Anyway, I have successfully integrated x-cart along with aMember. There have been a massive amount of tweaks, but I thought it best to let aMember do what it does best and leave the cart functions to a time-tested solution.
Yeah...It sort of feels like any day they are just going to email us out of the blue and say, oh and by the way, we aren't going to be offer ANY more support for this product. There hasn't been an "actual" update in about 2 years now (other than the required security update). It seems like the technical support gets worse and worse every time I email them (the last 3 emails I received were such bad english I honestly couldn't even GUESS what they were trying to say)/ The normality is to offer a small venue of communication just so the users have a small sense of peace regarding these issues. But this feels like all of the signs of "we're gonna be abandoned any day now."
Yeah, I agree. There is so much that could be done, and might have been done if Alex continued to keep the script updated. I really do not believe there is any new work being done. It's too bad, this was a good script. Now we will start looking for an alternative that is kept up to date. Any one out there have any ideas?
chrome, It sounds like you're asking for a little too much. The script it and has always been supported. Its also TRIED , tested and true the best. That being said, email support and you'll get a response. I think the things you're asking to be done are things you could have implemented by hiring a coder. There is really no reason for Alex to have to implement Ajax and lightbox into amember. I actually think the suggestion and using that as your basis to say "time to look for an alternative" rather ludicrous. aMember is the best system of its kind for this plain and simply. Version 3.09 wasnt too long ago. This is a solid script. The support is solid. I have nothing to gain by posting these comments I think though it seems as if many of you are trying to distract potential buyers and claiming their isnt support, well thats weird cause I'm still getting it and I know others that are as well. I would still give a wholehearted two thumbs up for aMember. I believe Alex should ONLY offer maybe 30 days of support and move onto a paid/support model after that. I think that simply providing lifetime support is a crazy thing to expect when you've only spent $170 bucks or so.
Eleven: First off, I was replying to boo... Second, I am NOT trying to distract potential buyers. The script does work fine, but as my post says, "so much more could be done". The statement a few years ago that a "version 4" was due out soon is what sucks. I know it's not wise to commit to release dates, but is ANYTHING being worked on? 3.09 was only a security setting. 3.08 was long ago. I certainly do not expect free support either. I'll gladly pay several hundred $$ more for a "version 4" and 6 month support contracts. At present it just doesn't make sense to order extended support contracts. I agree with you, aMember works fine, but COULD be improved, you know it! My point with looking elsewhere is that if this is the end of the road with development, then it will eventually become outdated, while the rest of the web moves forward. For now, we have not heard "boo!" from the developer on this issue.
Not my intent to flame, so if it sounds that way I apologize in advance. It is not a matter of implementing Ajax and lightbox but rather support in the core to ALLOW for this. Today the way that login post works does not allow for this without significant modifications. I agree 100% that support of the existing code base has been great for me. That being said, I am on the look for alternatives that provide the functionality my customers and clients require. While you are right that anything is possible with customizations, where the issue comes in is when the customizations fall outside of the templates and require changing the code code. These kinds of changes limit, or complicate, your future upgrade and support issues and come at a higher cost across the board. What I am in support of is balancing industry trends AND an open dialog with your users to understand their current and future needs. One without the other alienates one or both..
I had no problems with support. The last time I needed a new behavior and they actually coded it for me overnight. Support is there but I'd also like to see the new version, although I'm starting to wonder if i could just use 3.09 and move from there on my own. Yes, it is strange that they are keeping everyone on hold for such a long period of time...
Just to calm everyone down on this issue... If you open a ticket and ask Alex, he'll tell you that indeed they are working on a new version. It is a total re-write, so it will take a considerable amount of time. My biggest concern was for future support and there is no indication that Alex is asleep at the wheel. Once a Beta is released, that would be the time to evaluate the new script and offer suggestions.
I went ahead and purchased 3.0.9 but in a mean time it changed to 3.1.0. Yep, 3.1.0 is out, and the only place you'll find out this if you download latest version. No announcement, not even on the marketing shpill page. Promised AJAX and other improvements are there but I'm having problems with submitting signup form in FireFox. IE works fine. All validation is AJAX based, which is a nice touch. CAPTCHA is added, but for some reason it is the only element that's not being validated via AJAX... I had problems upgrading using upgrade kit. Ended-up creating manually new country and state tables and loading them manually, but still am unable see this data in CP/Settings/Countries... I submitted tickets. Feel like I'm the lab rat unwillingly. Good thing my site is still up on other server, howver I'm days behind where I'd like to be in terms of migration. Here's the list of changes: 3.1.0 (May-21-2008) - 2-level Affiliate Program implemented along with improved affiliate transactions viewing; - "Quick Search" (below the admin menu) has been improved and will now seek for payments as well as for members; - Javascript validation on signup page has been improved and powered on JQuery (must see!); - AJAX checking for unique username on signup page has been implemented; - aMember lifetime will be automatically fetched from aMember website when needed; - aMember now can fix/fetch lifetime license without uploading any files; - Taxes and discounts works now correctly with PayPal and WorldPay; - New Tax editor interface implemented - Improved performance of "Rebuild Db" function; - Improved updating customer records on subscription expiration and relation to plugins; - Improved admin user lookup - it will now search for payment too (by payment# and receipt#) - Import process is now splitted to 2 steps: upload file, then define format - Admin log recording and viewing implemented (all important actions are now logged in aMember CP) - CAPTCHA image verification for signup implemented (aMember CP->Setup->Advanced) - If directory amember/templates_c is exists and writeable, and there is .htaccess file inside, Smarty templates caching will be enabled automatically. This will increase performance of the script up to 200% in some situations; - It is now possible to cancel recurring billing from aMember CP (for cc_core plugins); - Db settings editing for integration plugin have been improved and simplified; - Additional checks added to ensure "Secure Root URL" is configured correctly in aMember; - Added (again) "Send Pending E-Mail to Admin" option; - Cron errors and problems will now be logged to database; - aMember now have full database of countries and states, and AJAX-powered interface implemented to select state on signup, profile, credit card info page and on admin side;
Well, it's a pity my free upgrade period has expired. I am browsing through the demo admin panel at http://www.amember.com/demo/admin/ which has already been converted to 3.1.0 and can see some improvements here and there. And yes, the submit button on the demo signup form does not work in Firefox. But maybe it should not as it is just a demo. From what I have seen, it seems to be rather a minor upgrade (which is OK). The 2-Tier affiliate system is a move in the right direction but it's still impossible to create a separate affiliate account - you have to join as a member (even if a free one). This could be a limitation for some. The new tax editor may be an improvement, but aMember still completely ignores the EU VAT calculations so no progress at all in this area. Overall, it seems to be a nice little upgrade, but I'll probably wait for the 4.0 version. Beside, my current aMember code has so many modifications it would be pain to upgrade. Tomas
Thanks for the details. Any ideas if this is this the: It sounds like a stop gap until 4.0 given the fact that SMARTY is still there, etc. I wonder if/how this effects the time line of 4.0?
It is not. In fact, I observe a few inconsistencies, and I have not gone far from signup yet. I get a lot of incorrect registrations on the current site because people type their email address with typos, which will appear OK to validation script. I was under the impression that the new release will have 2 fields for email, just like it is for password, where they'll have to re-type email again. This is the best way to validate email. I asked CGI to add it to this release.
Yes, the problem with FF is real. I've tried on multiple machines with FF 2 and even 3 Beta. I noticed at least one roll-back already. The new version has two tables for Countries and States. CP had a tab for them but after I downloaded upgrade kit for 3.1.0 I noticed that tab disappeared from Settings horizontal bar. Might as well, because it was producing blank page and clearly not what was intended. Again, I looked at it via FF, possibly it worked in IE. I am a little disturbed with the lack of cross-browser testing. Don't even want to think what Safari would show as I have at least 10% of users on macs.
I just bought the new version for a new site...thankfully. Just getting ready for the install. I came in here when I saw the new version was 3.10. I have several other sites running 3.08. I will post back any issues that I run into. I am excited to see the new features.
If I see a post from Alex, I'll install the new version and begin beta testing. But so far this may just be an alpha or like someone else mentioned a stopgap to quiet (us) whiners. Hard to believe it would take Alex two years for this upgrade.
Perhaps a way to generate some income from renewals for those of us that have been long time expired waiting on a new version to renew. ;-)
I agree with many on this posting. I haven't invested in the software for a while either. Mainly the same reasons about development/improvement.
First let me say that chaning the template system requires a whole code re-write. Secondly, Smarty does allow you to make the changes you all so desperetly want, the fact that you can't get it to work says more about your coding/template skills ;-) That said, I run like 20+ sites and Amember is one of the most stable scripts out there with virtually no security issues. The major update was some time ago and there are no reports of new issues, so its worth the money and I earned the script back many many times. Alex take your time, and Ill be happy to test
Noboby is really saying it's not a good product. There are no rival alternatives and I know that because I have looked. Also the value of the software is not in question. I still say there are things that can be improved and maybe lucky for you to have the progamming skills to do what you want but a lot of us dont. I do think interacting with customers however busy is still important. I'm sure I am not the only one that has made suggestions we feel are useful and have not even had a curtious reply. I certainly have and even if I had the advice of how to achieve it then I might of had a go or been optimistic at a hint that "they just might" of been included.
If you have a need that you can express clearly enough for me to code I might do it, whether I charge as custom, to sell it or freebie depends on the amount of work I would have to do. If you want (anyone) go to my site and post a request. But you must be able to explain what you want clearly if you want analysis as well that would not be free. Larry