Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: VBGold

  1. #1

    Thread Starter
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    558

    VBGold

    Hey guys. I've been trying to reach support at a company called VBGold for a while now with no luck. They were really big at one point making a few awesome commercial OCX's for VB. The web site is still up but no answer on even the order line phone or fax number. The "live support" seems dead too. I'm guessing they are out of business? Anybody know for sure?

  2. #2
    Lively Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Posts
    81

    Re: VBGold

    Umm.. all I can say is their web sites (http://www.vbgold.com/Contact.shtml) is still there, and google search suggests it was last updated 17-apr-19. Their rolling banner on the home page refers to a special offer price than ends 31-mar-19 though. They certainly were active recently....
    Have you tried 'live chat' on their contact page?

  3. #3
    Lively Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Posts
    81

    Re: VBGold

    Oddly, it looks like they have registered their web site via porkbun.com that exists specifically to anonymize the actual web site owners from WHOIS lookups. So you'll have to do more digging to find a 'back door' contact to VBGold.

  4. #4
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    4,995

    Re: VBGold

    I think you'll have to wait some days. It must be now handled by one person that is doing also other things.

  5. #5

    Thread Starter
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    558

    Re: VBGold

    I finally got a reply. Turns out when you replace your hard drive (I went from HD to SSD) the "product ID" on their controls change. So you have to send them the new product ID and they will generate a new activation code. Not exactly fast turn-around on email support but I can confirm they are still in business. I guess I'll end up being down for a week or so but hopefully they will sort me out. Thanks for the replies.

  6. #6
    Hyperactive Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Posts
    460

    Re: VBGold

    Quote Originally Posted by Darkbob View Post
    I guess I'll end up being down for a week or so but hopefully they will sort me out
    I hope they never go out of business, you will never be able to reactivate. I'm trying to switch to more open solutions and asking vendors for activation free versions.

  7. #7

    Thread Starter
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    558

    Re: VBGold

    Yep. I hear you. I found a program called ResizerOCX from Larcom and Young. It appears to work just as well as the one from VBGold. It's only available on ComponentSource and only for another month. The company is going out of business and won't be selling after that. But they do promise to offer Email support for 5 years to existing customers. Even if they don't respond to email, you can use the component as a developer with just a serial number - no server side registration. So a much safer alternative to things from VBGold.

    I've also replaced a Video Capture control from a different company that used Server based registration codes. I went with an open source option.

    I'm down to just one Server registered license for an image processing control. The company has become much slower to respond to email over the past year if they respond at all. I fear the worst.

    Once the control is registered it continues to run without any server intervention that I can detect. I have two licenses for that control. I put one on my laptop and I put the other one on a virtual machine, cloned that machine and burned it to a DVD to keep it on ice. Hopefully if/when the company goes out of business I can still use the virtual machine.

    I HATE computer piracy and totally understand vendors wanting some protection but that said, if you buy a control and base your product around that control you need some security. You need to know you can use the control even if the company goes belly up. I did a quick test. I booted up the Virtual machine on two different PC's in "Airplane" mode and it booted up OK in both cases.
    Last edited by Darkbob; May 17th, 2019 at 09:04 AM.

  8. #8
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    706

    Re: VBGold

    Charging one time fee for a product is why these companies die. They depend on new buyers, while if they used a subscription model, they get a steady income per year, that guarantees that they have the funds needed to keep improving the software "forever".

  9. #9
    Addicted Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    236

    Re: VBGold

    Quote Originally Posted by qvb6 View Post
    Charging one time fee for a product is why these companies die. They depend on new buyers, while if they used a subscription model, they get a steady income per year, that guarantees that they have the funds needed to keep improving the software "forever".
    Visual studio is free, java is free, there are fewer and fewer people prepared to pay for tools or end user software as time passes.
    Software should be free!

  10. #10
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    4,995

    Re: VBGold

    Quote Originally Posted by vbrad View Post
    Visual studio is free, java is free, there are fewer and fewer people prepared to pay for tools or end user software as time passes.
    Software should be free!
    Sorry but I don't think so. Nobody lives for free. Have you been to the supermarket lately?

    What do you do in programming, do you work professionally or as a hobbyist?
    Last edited by Eduardo-; May 17th, 2019 at 09:57 AM. Reason: spelling

  11. #11
    Lively Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Posts
    81

    Re: VBGold

    There's another Resizer OCX I just found (with source code) at: https://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/...=3782&lngWId=1
    Not tried it (yet), but with source code it may be altered/improved/extended etc to suit needs.

  12. #12

    Thread Starter
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    558

    Re: VBGold

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeSW17 View Post
    There's another Resizer OCX I just found (with source code) at: https://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/...=3782&lngWId=1
    Not tried it (yet), but with source code it may be altered/improved/extended etc to suit needs.
    Nice find. It works well with basic controls. Not so well with Tabs or custom controls unfortunately. When you switch tabs, for example, they end up blank. Plus it doesn't have an "enabled" property so you can't shut if off. But good for very basic projects I'm sure. I suppose with enough work you could modify it. The source code is all there.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  



Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width