Pirates turning into honest seamen?

[Krjstyan]

I was wondering if the filthy pirates you catch turn into honest seamen.

I was once walking the plank because I unintentionally bought a pirated copy of VCDS.
After the news hit me, I ordered a brand new HEX-NET. Now I'm sailing happily in my Phaeton.

What are your experiences?

 

[Boki Ar]

I will dare to answer. Everyone has a chance to be fair and use legitimate, genuine VCDS.

I've noticed that a lot of people buy a pirated copy because of insufficient information and when they realize the mistake, they ask for a refund and then buy the real thing.

 

[Uwe]

I was wondering if the filthy pirates you catch turn into honest seamen.

Some have. A few have even turned into great contributors to the forum. But the majority are still swimming with the fishes.

-Uwe-

 

[RGH0]

I got conned when i first got into VW's by a guy selling "genuine VCDS cable and software". I did not know any better at that time. Uwe kindly pointed out my pirate ways when I enquired why what turned out to be a dodgy clone was not working properly

I promply went and purchased the genuine article direct from Ross-Tech and was turned into an honest seaman !!

 

[JMR]

I m an ex pirate though during my sailing under the skull and bones flag i never posted or asked anything on the forum..i was just eyestealing info

 

[Crasher]

oi Jim lad, shiver me timbers and send me down to Davy Jones's locker if I be caught using pirated software ont a victims galleons.

 

[AINils]

In 2011 first start wth clone as it was equipped in retrofit kit of CCS, but after a year of use this shitty KKL cable, bought a genuine HEX+CAN.
First didn't know it was a clone, but after some readings in forums, found out that it was a clone. Then ordered a genuine cable

 

[Boki Ar]

Bought the first "intelligent" edition, Hex COM, long time ago, Octobar 08.2003. It was not possible to order from Serbia, that was done by my brother from Switzerland.

We bought one for him, one for me. I have that document and keep it, as "My Invoice No. 1".

 

[Krjstyan]

my brother from Switzerland

You have a brother in Switzerland? What a coincidence me being Serbian and living in Switzerland.

 

[Boki Ar]

The world is small...

 

[davisev5225]

So as a younger person, I might have had a collection of various software tools that I might not have paid for myself. Nowadays, I see the value in supporting the people and businesses that make the tools I need in my life.

That said, even when I was younger, VCDS was an instant sell. The value proposition was blindingly obvious - scan tools that cost 3x-10x as much couldn't do as much as VCDS could. I didn't even consider pirating it, I immediately purchased a legitimate HEX+CAN cable, and have subsequently upgraded to the HEX-NET cable.

 

[Zenerdiode]

It was not possible to order from Serbia, that was done by my brother from Switzerland.

Is that what steered you to become a distributor, Bojan?

 

[Boki Ar]

Yes, exactly. Thank you for your question.

 

[Bruce]

And then there is me.... maybe as late as 2000 .... Uwe had left my company several years earlier and was working from home while taking care of his daughter. He started building VAG-COM like in 1998? He brought the tool to me to show what he had done and ask what I thought. My response was, "Who the hell would want that?"

Every morning I get out of bed and I remember what I said to him so many years ago. My words do not taste very good as I eat them!

in 2004, I joined him on his journey and he has filled my life with wonderful things. What did he do? Hundreds of thousands of users make use of this great tool. And then I think about all the clones and the millions of those that get used. Uwe Ross changed the diagnostic world with his tool.

Mind, Uwe has not done this alone. He put together a staff that has stayed together supporting the idea and the industry. They too are great!

And as for me, this tool will provide for my eventual retirement. And it also provided the toys we use on the mountain that you see in my avatar, filling my childhood dream of working on construction and farm machines.

It has been an incredible journey to date. May it continue on for many many years!

Thanks to all on this forum who support Ross-Tech, VAG-COM and VCDS! Without you, we would not have a business!

(And the pirates would have nothing to pirate!)

 

[Crasher]

Was it "VW tool" in the beginning?

 

[Bruce]

Uwe tried to buy VW Tool before making his own. The guy who created VW Tool had passed and the product was tied up in the estate. It was eventually sold to an outfit in Florida - Baum tools.

When Uwe could not buy it, he made his own. That was the beginning of VAG-COM - again, circa 1998 for his start. In 2000, Ross-Tech was launched. Uwe had been selling his VAG-COM product to guys on a forum and the volume grew to the point he decided to see if there was a business in it.

He never looked back. It was always how can we grow this tool to make it more complete. Yep, we are still working to make it more complete. The team is always focused there.

 

[Uwe]

The guy who created VW Tool had passed and the product was tied up in the estate.

Yup, I owned a copy of VWTool. In 1998, I found and reported some bugs, which were promptly fixed. When I head that John (the author) had passed away in the spring of 1999, I contacted his family to try to buy the product. I got nowhere with that. What I heard years later from another person who knew him is that his estate sold off his computer (with the only copy of the source code and such!) for a pittance. Baum Tools sold the existing build for a while longer (for way more than John was selling it for directly), but since they didn't have the source code, they couldn't enhance it. In the second half of 1999, when MY 2000 cars were hitting the streets, it became obvious that VTWool wasn't going to cut it much longer without continued development and I started working on new software that became VAG-COM.

-Uwe-

 

[Jacek]

I still remember DOS VAG 26, 29 and the max232 interface.

 

[NEtech]

Now you mention VWTool, it is strange how long time ago that was.
I started to translate VWTool July 1997.
Text 13 kB and DTC 42 kB
John had 3 employees at his company CarComp.
2 distributors worldwide, NEtech and GTi Engineering Hong Kong.

 

[Uwe]

I started to translate VWTool July 1997.

Sometime in late in 1998 or early 1999, I talked to him about making a German translation because I thought there would be a good market for it in Germany, where I knew quite a few people in the VW scene, specifically the VR6 freaks. Not long after that conversation, he went "radio silent"...

Text 13 kB and DTC 42 kB

Yeah, TBH, the very first Codes.txt file for my software was mostly from VWTool (with some hand-typed additions from various printed service manuals). His file was "encrypted", but it was trivially easy to crack. This was in the second half of 1999, after it was clear to me the VWTool would not be developed further by anyone.

John had 3 employees at his company CarComp.

I was under the impression that he only had one person helping him, and that person was part-time, mostly doing packing & shipping.

2 distributors worldwide, NEtech and GTi Engineering Hong Kong.

Also Baum Tools in the USA.

-Uwe-