Hi all
I have been asked to respond to this thread by several ShareScope customers - in particular the first posting.
At first I thought that because the posting was rude and involved prams and toys that people would see through it as something that is tantamount to product placement by a newbie. (Hmmnn – you are a newbie discussing a product too I hear you cry!)
So, I will take some valuable time out of other important tasks, such as getting US stock data into ShareScope (shameless plug), to set the record straight – or at least give our side of the story.
ShareScope has a one licence per machine policy – much the same as Microsoft and numerous other software vendors. This policy has always been the same and has always been enforced. We have ways of tracking users that are updating more than one machine and are, usually unwittingly, in breach of our software licence. One of these methods involves analysing a user’s update pattern so we sometimes refer to “downloading data more than once per day” in our communications with customers – I will explain this in more detail below.
Where we think that ShareScope is being updated on more than one machine, we contact these people and explain our policy. We do not “demand” a second subscription payment. We suggest that if they are using ShareScope on two machines then they either uninstall one copy (and use ShareScope’s back-up facility to keep all of their settings and portfolios), or that if they really do want and need two copies of ShareScope (because they cant live without it 😉 ) then they pay for two subscriptions. Users paying two subscriptions only pay the membership fee once and only pay two subscriptions prospectively – we do not seek back payments. This is how we enforce our software licence. It is not a “stealth” price increase. We are not “snotty” or “greedy whingers” – we are fair and open and trying to protect our intellectual property: if the price of ShareScope went up because you were subsidising multiple users of the software how would you feel?
We do not claim that our data vendors require us to take action against people updating twice a day. Our contracts with our data suppliers require us to protect their intellectual property – i.e. their data. There are restrictions on copying, selling and re-transmitting the data – and if we suspect users of this, then in some circumstances we are required to report this to the supplier and to support the supplier if it chooses to take further action.
We always put our customers first. Whatever you think of the ShareScope software and its pros and cons for your own trading style, our support team is second to none – you always get a person who sees your query through to a conclusion – no computers asking “press this key for blah…” – no “well it isn’t happening to anyone else so we cant help you”. We pride ourselves on our support. We try to operate fairly at all times – if you buy an annual subscription you can cancel mid-year and get a part-refund…. I don’t know of many competitors that offer that. If you exercise your 30-day money back guarantee then you are usually refunded the same day (ditto).
We do not regard our customers “as cash cows that we can milk [our] profits from.” ShareScope is renowned for its value for money: we are a private company with a long term view that constantly fights to keep prices down: unfortunately I will never qualify as a “fat cat”.
Johnny T – we have recently introduced a second daily update for US closing index values (DJIA, S&P500, NASDAQ 100, NASDAQ Composite). US closing stock prices are coming soon to Plus and Pro.
GruntnoWay – our CGT calculator works in 99% of circumstances. I agree that the presentation could be a little clearer but I am only aware of two very specific circumstances where our CGT calculator returns the wrong result. We are quite open about this and the problems are posted in the software under “know issues”. They are in certain circumstances where there is a rights issue involved and the correct calculation of business asset taper relief on AIM shares. That said, I have spoken to Accountants that use ShareScope to calculate CGT because “it is better than the specialist tax software on the market”. But if Fairshares works for you then great – I wont berate the competition – just defend my corner.
Zambuck – you have brought us to book over some data anomalies in the past Yet again, I have to thank you, this time for policing these boards so effectively. On a personal level I find that Internet discussion groups are best when they are self-regulating.
What Zambuck says is true:
You can update ShareScope more than once a day – we positively encourage it now that there is a 6pm UK closing price update and a later US index update. On Fridays there is also a midday update with Investors Chronicle views included – as someone quoted candidly on another board recently – “useful if only to see what not to buy”. Each to their own
We will only contact you if we believe that you are running ShareScope on more than one machine with just one licence. That communication may refer to “double updates” in the context of two machines but this is NOT a reference to the perfectly allowable and encouraged updating of your ONE machine TWICE (or thrice) a day.
Finally – A question for “Principle” – if Updata and Fairshares are your preference then good for you – but why are you so disgruntled with us about being asked to pay for a second ShareScope licence? If ShareScope is not so important to you, why do you need it on two computers?
Phew!
ShareScopeGM
P.S.
Here is the text of our letter so that you can decide for yourself…
Dear ShareScope Member,
It would appear from our records that your ShareScope password is regularly being used to download data more than once per day.
I would like to bring your attention to the first term of our license:
'1.1 Ionic gives the User a personal, non-professional, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use ShareScope for the User's own personal use on one dedicated personal computer in the normal and proper course of the User's personal investment interests.'
If you are updating more than once in order to supply different versions of ShareScope, we appreciate that you may not have been aware of this condition. However, even if the computers belong to yourself, you will need an extra license for each version of ShareScope you wish to update, or you will need to limit yourself to updating only one version. Extra licenses are available on request. We are restricted by our own license agreement with our data suppliers, and regret that we are not able to offer any flexibility on these conditions.
We would appreciate it if you could please contact us as soon as possible in order to discuss how you would like to proceed. If you do not believe that you have breached this term of the license agreement, please contact us so that we may resolve this issue.
Many thanks for your understanding and co-operation.
Kind regards
Melissa Kearney
Ionic Information
