I have a laptop that has every version of Windows, from XP to 11 (with proper drivers on all OS's, weirdly enough). I’d like to have the latest version of WindowBlinds for all of those versions of Windows. So, XP has WB7, Vista has WB7, 7 has WB10, 8.1 has WB10, 10 has WB11, 11 has WB11. Trying to make the whole thing Halo themed, with the newer versions having newer Halo games as their theme (XP has Halo 2, Vista has Halo 3, 7 has Halo Reach, 8.1 has Halo 4, 10 has Halo 5, 11 has Halo Infinite).
I’d really, really rather not resort to piracy. Last time I tried that, my install was bricked (karma). Could someone at Stardock offer a price for multiple versions of WindowBlinds for this setup?
As far as I know, Stardock do not offer older versions for purchase of any of their software.
As with Microsoft's OS's reaching End-Of-Life and no longer supported, so does Stardock's software, particularly that specific to a now-dead OS.
The only 2 Microsoft OSs still supported by Microsoft are Windows 10 and 11, and 10 hasn't got long to live, either.
Currently my machine [Win 7 Ult 64] has 8 functioning VMs, from Win98 se to Win 10 Pro, some of which are running appropriate vintages of Stardock's software, having been a customer/user of Stardock's software for decades that was never an issue, as versions were always saved to HD as part of the process of their use.
The bottom line is of course there's no support for these installs anymore.
Warez use can always be seen as a potential option except for 2 very real issues.
Firstly, almost inevitably you will be opening yourself to virus attack [as you said and brick your system].
But..
Secondly, you run the very real risk of losing access and support to your current versions of the software as Stardock has a zero tolerance for piracy.
It would be cool to be able to pay for any version of WindowBlinds (or any other Stardock app for that matter). As-is without any warranty, of course; no expectation of support or further updates.
Unrelated software type, but UL (Futuremark) offers their old benchmarks (2013 and earlier) for free as legacy products. Of course, I'm not expecting that; a business has to make money.
There is a growing retro trend going around for XP and up, now that 10's kicking the bucket as well. While it probably wouldn't be an earth shattering success, I could see some revenue from offering older (clearly marked as-is and unsupported) versions of software.
I think the fact that those old OSs are severely vulnerable to attack is being overlooked in the retro fad. How long will that trend last? How much does it cost to provide those versions and maintain them vs. possible profits? Those are also business decisions.
Stardock long ago arrived at the decision to advise folks to download the most updated version of their software before their subscriptions expired, as all the versions could not (realistically) be stored for downloading.
From the number of posts around the requests for this or that version of x or y program, far less than 100% of folks complied.
As for the "as is" part? Human nature being what it is, I guarantee that there would be demands for changes, improvements, etc.
There may be potential in that.
We can always run it by the powers that be as a possibility...
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