Thinking about buying KISSlicer? Don't. [EDITED: Do!]

[626Pilot]

EDIT: KISSlicer is back in development. It was disappointing when it turned into abandonware, but I think it's the best free slicer you can get, and if it's coming back now, I don't see any reason to use anything else!




...

The slicer is good, but it works well enough without buying the license. I bought one anyway to see if the extra features were of use, and to support future development. They weren't, and two support requests - sent a month apart - were ignored by the same guy who had previously sent me my license key in a day or two.

On technical merits the free version is generally good, although it sometimes has problems reading STLs exported from Sketchup. It tends to generate random support material in the air in some cases where there is a mesh error, even when support material generation is turned off. This is not usually a problem, but it can be in a few cases. Mesh fixing tools can make it a little better, but you'd think he could just fix his STL interpreter for all the money a license costs, and I don't want to upload my STLs to some random website where they'll do who knows what with them.

All in all, I expected to be at least acknowledged when I sent a support request, and it disappoints me that he didn't bother. When you can take someone's money and then ignore them forever, it sends a message that you have a really bad, self-centered attitude about your customers, and that you don't deserve their business.

[bubbasnow]

The slicer is good, but it works well enough without buying the license. I bought one anyway to see if the extra features were of use, and to support future development. They weren't, and two support requests - sent a month apart - were ignored by the same guy who had previously sent me my license key in a day or two.

On technical merits the free version is generally good, although it sometimes has problems reading STLs exported from Sketchup. It tends to generate random support material in the air in some cases where there is a mesh error, even when support material generation is turned off. This is not usually a problem, but it can be in a few cases. Mesh fixing tools can make it a little better, but you'd think he could just fix his STL interpreter for all the money a license costs, and I don't want to upload my STLs to some random website where they'll do who knows what with them.

All in all, I expected to be at least acknowledged when I sent a support request, and it disappoints me that he didn't bother. When you can take someone's money and then ignore them forever, it sends a message that you have a really bad, self-centered attitude about your customers, and that you don't deserve their business.

he once had a forum also.. but it was overrun with the same spammers we had... except because support is non-existent the forum died.

[mhackney]

If you read the posts here and search google you will learn that the developer has gone missing in action and many people are concerned about him. The license key could very well be automated or managed by a 3rd party. No one has heard form him since September.

When he was actively developing he was very responsive. Something is seriously wrong and no one knows what. A few of us have exchanged emails with him over the years and they are unanswered now.\

As for KISS, I own the pro and the ability to configure multiple parts was worth the cost. KISS is still my go-to slicer and is the only one that can consistently produce good results slicing the fly fishing reels I design - those thin pillars cause havoc with the others and KISS handles them nicely.

cheers,
Michael

[Eaglezsoar]

You are right Michael, something is seriously wrong and we are all concerned.
BubbaSnow, he doesn't answer because he is lazy. He doesn't answer because for whatever reason, he can't.
Please be a little more sympathetic and please if you use the product and feel it is good, in my opinion it should
be paid for. You were probably unaware of the circumstances involved in his ignoring your requests for support
but before coming to a public forum telling people not to buy something because of crummy service at least try
to make an effort to find out why he didn't respond. Jonathan has always been extremely responsive and something
is seriously wrong in his life if he still has a life. No one knows at this point.

[626Pilot]

he doesn't answer because he is lazy. He doesn't answer because for whatever reason, he can't.

I don't think so. The license key process is done manually. Said so at the time I bought it. It also explains why it would take some hours instead of a few minutes. He had to run it through by hand.

It seems to me that he's walked away from the product. If he announced that it was a totally unsupported product at least it wouldn't be so sketchy. This smells like loss of interest followed by neglect, not kidnapping.

[Eaglezsoar]

he doesn't answer because he is lazy. He doesn't answer because for whatever reason, he can't.

I don't think so. The license key process is done manually. Said so at the time I bought it. It also explains why it would take some hours instead of a few minutes. He had to run it through by hand.

It seems to me that he's walked away from the product. If he announced that it was a totally unsupported product at least it wouldn't be so sketchy. This smells like loss of interest followed by neglect, not kidnapping.

I agree that is a possibility but I hope that you are wrong. At this point no one seems to know and just about any theory could be correct. I will maintain positive thoughts
about him until I have a reason not to.

[dpmacri]

he doesn't answer because he is lazy. He doesn't answer because for whatever reason, he can't.

I don't think so. The license key process is done manually. Said so at the time I bought it. It also explains why it would take some hours instead of a few minutes. He had to run it through by hand.

It seems to me that he's walked away from the product. If he announced that it was a totally unsupported product at least it wouldn't be so sketchy. This smells like loss of interest followed by neglect, not kidnapping.

I agree that is a possibility but I hope that you are wrong. At this point no one seems to know and just about any theory could be correct. I will maintain positive thoughts
about him until I have a reason not to.

Another possibility is that some company is in the process of buying his software and he's signed some form of NDA such that he can't say anything about it. Wouldn't really explain not cleaning up the spam on the forum, though. Anyway, just a thought in the guy's defense -- perhaps there's a reason he can't say anything (other than he's lazy or dead ).

[DavidF]

tha aliens kidnapped him. I know, they told me so...

[Eaglezsoar]

tha aliens kidnapped him. I know, they told me so...

Now that is something I didn't think of! I hope they let him off on a better planet than this one.

[neurascenic]

Maybe they just thought that 3D printing should get spread around.

[Bill Havins]

As is said above, no one knows what has happened to Jonathan. Prior to September his slicer and support forum were developing well. Then all of a sudden...

The slicer is lagging behind others now (IMHO). And we will see others continue to evolve ad offer very nice alternatives.

I hope Jonathan returns to his project. In any case I wish him well and hope that his circumstances have not become intolerable.

Bill