Goodbye to a Good Font Utility

I'm going to have to hunt for a new font utility. I'm not happy about it, but I'm going to do it. The funny thing is that the one I have works pretty well. And, for ten bucks I could update it.

By Steve Wood

I've used Alsoft's MasterJuggler Pro since receiving it bundled with Corel Draw. I like the way MasterJuggler works, have worked through its somewhat unusual interface, and use it to minimize the load of fonts on my system and applications. It was probably the part of the Corel Draw Suite I used most (yes, even more than WordPerfect). It's not a utility I would recommend to new Mac users, as it is somewhat difficult to figure out. But it did what it was supposed to do on my system. Until last April, I was a happy user.

With the release of Apple's System 8.1, Alsoft posted an update to MasterJuggler Pro 2.0. I really had not had any significant compatibility problems with MJ once Systems 8.0 and 8.1 got out of the beta stages (I did have to disable MJ for awhile during Apple beta-testing). The basic font management still works, although the font diagnostics of MJ are shot under 8.1.

So what did Alsoft do to get me in a lather?

Alsoft earned a place out-of-my-heart with their deft slight-of-hand tricks with their update to MJ 2.0. It was posted as a free update. After downloading it, I, along with others, found that it wouldn't work with versions of MasterJuggler that came bundled with Corel products. Upon checking with Alsoft, I was informed that I would have to pay $9.95 for the "free" update!

Those of us who received our version bundled with a Corel product have been informed that:

1. Alsoft's bundling agreement with Corel doesn't provide for updates. (Huh?)

2. We have to pay $9.95 for an update that is free to other MJ 2.0 users.

3. The version of MJ included with Corel products may not be a complete version (according to a 4-10-98 posting on Macintouch and MacFixIt)!

At first glance, ten bucks doesn't seem so bad for an update to a good utility. The rub came when I sent a correction to Alsoft's tech support so they'd know I'd updated a rather critical posting to MacFixIt, and received a rude reply. I then started to fume, as I was a registered MasterJuggler Pro 2.0 user. I'd paid for it as part of Corel Office. Nowhere in Corel/Alsoft's documentation of the bundled MasterJuggler is there mention that what we received was a limited, lesser version. Everything says it's MasterJuggler Pro 2.0! And why pay more for what others were receiving for free?

Somewhere in all of this there had to be a mistake. Ten dollars barely covers the CD and postage and handling. There can't be much of a profit for Alsoft there. Why upset customers by demanding the payment?

I did a web search and found the President/CEO of Alsoft was Eric Lanzi. On April 15, I sent a polite but firm letter explaining my questions. There was no response. Eric must have been busy doing his taxes. When Corel announced their new Office release omitting MJ in favor of Font Reserve, I again wrote a letter to Mr. Lanzi (6-11-98). Guess what? No answer, again.

Alsoft appears to be standing fast, demanding their ten bucks, while offending many new customers that first were exposed to their products through bundling with Corel products. Since profit probably isn't the issue, and the bundling explanation sounds like one the excuses my kids at school use for not doing homework, I wonder what's going on. How much good does this do Alsoft's marketing efforts for their new products, PlusOptimizer, PlusMaker, and PlusMaximizer? It would seem a free update to MJ might incline previous satisfied customers to give the above new programs a look.

Alsoft, like many other software companies and vendors, appears to think it can simply ignore customers' valid complaints. In the industry, new products are hyped with lots of expensive advertising and news releases. I even received an unsolicited news release from Alsoft's tech support person who had haughtily asked me to stop emailing him concerning the MJ update! MasterJuggler Pro 2.0, or whatever it really is, still handles my fonts until I find a suitable replacement, or it becomes totally incompatible with the MacOS. Then, it's goodbye to a worthy and trusted utility. What a shame.

Steve Wood is a career elementary and special education teacher. He and his family live on the edge of a nature preserve in western Indiana. He is the author of the shareware MATH DITTOS 2 series and several other Macintosh and Windows freewares. Nearing early retirement, Steve hopes to continue writing educational software and do computer consulting.

Steve now works on a Macintosh G3 minitower with an OrangeMicro 530 PC compatibility card. His original at-home Mac, a Performa 575, still serves the kids and for testing his sharewares and system betas for Apple CQF. He occasionally uses his wife's "evil empire" Acer Aspire.

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July 05, 2009