AmorFati

Someone seems to not understand that we didn't get what we PAID for, that's slightly different, don't you think baloo?

Well, that's even more "cooler". So the new app is the old one just using the new API (meaning parsing different XML, what a job), just re-released to screw current customers and forcethem to pay for premium. Very well, Groundspeak. Even more cheating than we expected :-(

I gave it some more thought and I came up with an alternative settlement to 3 years of PM I requested. If Groundspeak wants to stop development of the current app, so be it. But the current API should be kept up and running. So I will be OK, if the app gets pulled from the Marketplace, so noone else could buy it and be cheated. I already have a XAP downloaded, so I will be able to install it anytime in the future in case of hard-reset of the phone. Groundspeak should however postpone the date of the API termination to... let's say end of 2015. This way there will be a slow but continuing decline in the number of users using this API. At that time almost noone will be using it I guess. I think this solution should be easily acceptable for both sides. I can live with the app in it's current state even if it has the nasty bug in the cachelist. It's no longer freezing, it supports resuming, so I don't complain much.

Oh! Could you please tell me, where could I have read and agreed the EULA BEFORE I paid for the APP? Because the only place, where one can read it, is INSIDE the app. By the way you did not understand, what I tried to explain about casual geocaching. And please don't ever again try to determine, what is or what is not a problem for me, this is some kind of bad habit in here. It seems like anyone should be sporting for at least ten caches a day with Colorado in hand and Premium membership paid. Well, guess what. Different users, different tastes. I just wonder, if those hundreds of thousands of people, who created and maintained caches are so happy with Geocaching being a paid service, so they are giving their effort into Groundspeaks revenue for free. I paid for a smartphone app, because that is the way I want to enjoy Geocaching. If I wanted to get more serious, I would have spent on PM and a GPS device. Instead I decided to pay for an app with a specific set of features, which I want to use. It's as simple as that.

Geocaching apps for iPhone, Android and WP7 cost 10 USD. Other platform users are free to use theirs with unlimited listings (as in number unlimited not in cache type or whatever), which IS NOT a premium feature. This feature is now being taken from WP7 users, who already paid for it. Today I picked up some caches, so how an average use of the application for an occasional cacher looks like: Me and my wife were on a walk around our city. I said: Hey, what if I looked for caches around? I launched the app, had it list surrounding caches and went through all the details, because I wanted just easy-to-find caches (no mysteries, no multis, no whatever, just classics) and I wanted them on our route. In the new app without a PM, this is something I will not be able to do, because I will be limited to just three cache details a day. Know what? Than I'm done with Geocaching. I don't use apps and services, that bother me. I noticed a not so strange thing: Many, almost all, of those, who are trying to bagatelize this trick Groundspeak is playing by saying that we should just get a PM to be able to use features we already paid for, already are PMs. In Czech we have a saying, that the one, who's well fed doesn't believe the hungry. As an occasional cacher (I pick up about 0,54 cache a MONTH) I'm not interested in switching my current and already purchased business model into one Groundspeak considers more profitable (on my expense of course). I will most certainly not pay USD 30 a year which makes USD 4,7 a cache for me. Is it that hard to understand? With this change, Groundspeak is slowly but effectively turning Geocaching into a paid service and throwing those, who are not willing to pay, off the board, because the limitations of being a basic member make Geocaching almost unusable. I also am not happy with the reccomendation to settle with Groundspeak politely and privately. At first I don't consider three months of free PM an adequate value to exchange for closing support of the old app. I don't want premium features, I just want to be able to get unlimited cache details (which IS NOT a premium feature, anyone can do it on the website). The decision is entirely up to Groundspeak, so if they choose to settle with PM, I would request three years of it as I stated before. Not because I'm greedy, but because I want the one and only feature they are taking from us, paying customers. At second I don't agree with Groundspeak cheating on its customers and settling the disagreements only with those, who beg them personally and quietly. I feel, that Groundspeak should step up, apologize to ALL cheated Windows Phone users and offer a reasonable solution of the problem they caused trying to boost the revenue of this community-driven service. I really don't consider an e-mail notice that they are closing the business fair. Of course I personally still didn't get that e-mail about the termination of the service. It is true, that Groundspeak published an update for the current WP7 app yesterday. I don't know what it fixed, but I certainly know that there's still the bug in the cache-list, which makes it almost unscrollable, because the caches are to responsive for tapping, so details keep popping up even if I try to scroll through the list. This doesn't happen with any other WP7 app I'm using.

Andronicus, I'm probably repeating myself, but it's not up to you to decide, how much is too much for me to spend on Geocaching. This is entirely my choice. I chose to spend 10 dollars. Even if I wanted to spend a thousand, I would still want to get the value I gave the money for. The ammount doesn't matter. What matters is that I am a paying customer, but Groundspeak is not willing to fullfill its part of the deal.

OH MY GOD! Would you please stop platform wars and other examples of stupidity in this thread? 1) We, Windows Phone users don't care about other platform's users views. 2) We paid 10 USD for an app with a certain set of features, that is being discontinued, which we feel is WRONG. 3) We were not getting premium features in that app. 4) We most certainly WON'T pay for a PM to use the new app with the old set of features, because 5) We are being cheated by Groundspeak! 6) What we want is to keep the same set of features WE ALREADY PAID FOR, mainly unlimited number of cache details, not just 3 a day. It's ones independent choice to use Windows Phone as well as it is ones independent choice to or not to spend 30 USD on a hobby. It doesn't matter if one can't afford 30 USD or just feels cheated on, so won't support Groundspeak ever again or both. If you trolls still don't understand, it's not your business which platform we use and how much money we spend on our services. And mainly it's off-topic here. Could you please finally drop the platform fight and let us discuss the trick Groundspeak is playing on us and hopefully wait for some input from Groundspeak itself? Windows Phone being a small platform argument is absolutely irrelevant, because Geocaching app is not free, in fact it is one of the most expensive in the WP world at all. I seriously doubt, that Groundspeak didn't profit on it considering the ammount of time their reluctant development had to take. Andronicus: How could the new app being so awesome? Why didn't Groundspeak make the old one as awesome? I can guarantee you and Groundspeak that I will not want PM (I state it as a FACT) after my trial (which I didn't get) expires, because I don't want to support companies who try to cheat on me. And once more: The 10 USD app DID NOT give us the same privileges as premium membership. It gave is a "privilege" to list more than three caches a day which is standard on other platforms and which is what we paid for. The new app is taking this from us. By the way I BLAME GS for trying to increase its revenue by cheating on paying customers.

I certainly FEEL penalized. If the Live app had been released at the very beginning, I wouldn't care. On the other hand I PAID for a then time-unlimited service, which GS now considers ended and to continue the same service forces me to pay MORE MONEY, which BTW for an occassional cacher is insanely pricey. 1) As a customer I DON'T CARE, which API the application uses or what it's technical background is. 2) I PAID 10 USD (and really, pricier than this are just fullblown navigations like Navigon) for an app with a certain set of features. 3) Groundspeak closes support on this app, re-releases it for free and ASKS ME FOR MORE MONEY to get THE SAME SET of features. 4) I feel cheated. 5) I didn't get the e-mail, so I don't even have the code for one month premium trial. 6) I also feel amused for Groundspeak moderating this topic but not being able to produce a single line of explanation, excuse and settlement offer. I might for example consider this issue settled for three years (approx. the time I bought the app for - device lifecycle) of free premium membership (which costs more than 10 USD, but is the only way to get the same set of features I paid for - which BTW is GroundSpeaks own decision and problem to settle, not mine). Were other platforms in this position? Did other users paid, were cheated on and forced to pay again? Even if they were, it's still cheating.

Geo Minions, that simply isn't true! The new app will only be better, if you PAID Groundspeak MORE MONEY. I already gave them enough, seen their incompetence and inability to create really usable app and now they(re tossing all paying users off the ship, because they want us to pay again and more? Not for the app but for Premium membership, because without it the app will be almost useless: For example: When I geocache, I usually don't care for 3 nearest geocaches around me. I care about GCs on my routefrom point to point. Funny niether of those has to be among three closest. I already paid for this service and most certainly will not pay again. Not ever. BTW why could almost every other developer UPDATE their apps to Mango, just Groundspeak took their time and finaly screwed the users up?

Something else I thought of... Something I already paid $10 for is now going to cost me $30 dollars yearly. For an app, $30 a year. Well no, you will be paying $30 per year for the provision of information that everyone else pays $30 per year for. The new app is free. If there was some quirk that gave Win7 app users a free ride that is now to be stopped (in a years time) then enjoy the free ride while it lasts. That is a joke, isn't it? I don't care about premium memebership (even if I once had it in the past). I knew the terms of the deal, I knew the price and I made a QUALIFIED DECISION to give Groundspeak my 10 dollars to buy their once crappy app. They were slow with development and bug fixing under many excuses. Even if the app doesn't work fully even nearly two years after its release, I still PAID my 10 dollars for it and I do want to use it. If Groundspeak wants to change the rules of the game on its side, well I only have one response: Let me use my app as long as I want to, because that's what originally was the deal, give me my money back or give me time unlimited premium membership to use the new app in a manner similar to the old one, or forget me as user and on top of that forget about seeing my money ever again. I paid money to use the app, not to being told that I can't anymore.

Groundspeak must be kidding us. I paid USD 10 for app (one of the most priciest on the Marketplace) that didn't even work. Groundspeak screwed with Windows Phone users from the very beginning with not updating it or updated it reluctantly. The app is barely usable, compass doesn't work until these days, half a year from Mango release which provided developers access to compass API. When Groundspeak finally made the app stable at least, the season was over and I used it to find 5 (!) caches. Yes, GC is not sport for me, I'm an occassional cacher. However for that reason exactly I feel cheated and I quit geocaching whatsoever. I don't [edited] for paying Pro memebership when I paid for your stupid and barely usable app, my beloved Groundspeak. For a service so totally dependant on crowdsourcing, Groundspeak's attitude towards users is far off my comprehension. And besides that it seems that re-releasing the same or slightly innovated app under another name just to force users to pay again seems to slowly become a habit on Windows Phone Marketplace. It's now third or fourth app of about 20 I bought which is relabeled and money wasted. Well, GS, don't ever expect to see my money again. And BTW stop the brand flameware. Firstly its offtopic and secondly its stupid.

Well, I've been watching this thread for quite some time, but I feel growing frustration now. Because of GCWP7 being one of the priciest apps and the crippled demo version I sideloaded the app at first to try it. It worked fine, I found one test cache, so I decided to buy and problems started. Whenever I launch navigation for a cache (map or compass), I have to prevent the phone from locking or terminating the navigation in any other way (launching another app, visiting cache list inside it again or whatever), because it just freezes on the second attempt to navigate. Phone has to be rebooted. Bing Maps choice in Europe is a question of its own, because I usually navigate on a greenish pixelized overzoomed blur, rather over a decent aerial or vector map. I've been silent until now, but now I feel that GS is applying the "promise never hurts" strategy on us. The new version of this PAID and EXPENSIVE app should be out at the beginning of August (hoped to use it on my holiday, failed though, been only able to track the simplest and obvious caches), than we were informed, that the developement has been halted only to be assured, that it's going to be released in Augusts 3rd week. Which by the way is already gone and still nothing. Now Microsoft is being blamed for the delay, although I have not heard about an approval delay this long (oh yes, I'm also a WP7 developer). TIP: Why is a log creation within the app an offline process and the log has to be sent later manually again? It should be online and saved only if no connection is currently available. Finnfive: I suspect Groundspeak being much faster with Android and iPhone has one and only reason... These platforms offer hard competition with alternative GC apps, when on WP7 there's no reasonable alternative.