Genius Vision Announcements

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Announcement: Online license state policy enforcement updates

Can I sponser the development toward iOS 11 support?

Announcement: Online license state policy enforcement updates

NOTE! This is an important policy update that can potentially affect all uncommitted Genius Vision online license. If you have uncommitted Genius Vision online license, you may NEED TO TAKE ACTIONS. If you don't have uncommitted Genius Vision online license, this policy update does not affect you in anyway. This also does not affect subscription license.

Genius Vision online licensing mechanism provides users with flexibility to manage software licenses. The license can be in one of the two states: "online" or "offline (committed)". As stated in System Maintenance Manual, the "online state" of license, albeit offers flexibility to transfer among different computers, is merely meant to be a provisional measure for a limited period of time (which is 12 months). However, some users have become confused about this concept and take "online state" of license as a permanent measure.

We already stated in the manual that this practice, that to "use online state as a permanent measure", is incorrect for several reasons, including that "one shouldn't allow a formal security system to rely on an external server in order to operate normally". Once system is up and running in production mode, you should commit the license, and this should be a norm without doubt to all security system installers. Also, as a commercially reasonable thinking, Genius Vision has no responsibility to keep the license record forever. We only keep the license record long enough for users to verify the production system is ready, which is 12 months. For the "permanent license" to work, users need to assume the responsibility by comitting the license to their own systems, therefore detach from Genius Vision's control.

This announcement is intended to address this issue and to enforce the "online state" rules, in conjunction with license purchase terms as follows:

For newly purchased license

Starting from July 1st, 2017, all purchased licensed will be imposed an "12 months limit" (since purchase date) of period of "online availability". Users should use and commit the license before the one year deadline, otherwise the license will expire and can no longer be used.

For already purchased but uncommitted license

For all license purchased prior to this July 1st, 2017, an expiration date of "24 months limit" after purchase date will be imposed. This imposition will be implemented in Oct 1st, 2017. If your license is purchased 2 years ago without installing or committing, they will be rendered useless after this implementation date. Please install and commit those license as soon as possible, if any.

For already committed license

This policy update will not affect you in anyway.

iOS 11 Support information

2018/11/21 Update: iOS 11 APP has been reviewed by AppStore.

iOS 11 is now supported through AppStore.

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2018/10/11 Update: Sponsorship goal has been reached. iOS 11 porting is entering planning phase. (check detail here)

We don't currently support iOS 11, however a plan to support is underway, please check details here.

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According to Apple, in order to comply with iOS 11, additional 64-bit support is required. This requirement will, nevertheless, incur significant development cost, including potentially requiring the developer to purchase an additional (and redundant) iPhone as testing equipment.

As we have already purchased several iOS devices in the past in order to support and develop for iOS, but none of them can run iOS 11. Thus, for the time being, we are not prepared to allocate such budget. The software porting part has already completed in the Xcode simulator. However without an physical testing device, we cannot submit our update with confidence.

At current stage, if users wish to continue to use Genius Vision NVR Mobile Client for iOS, we would recommend users to refrain from upgrading to iOS 11. We're sorry we don't have a better answer right now. If there are any changes about current plan, we will further publish on our official website.

Can I sponsor the development toward iOS 11 support?

2018/11/21 Update: iOS 11 APP has been reviewed by AppStore.

iOS 11 is now supported through AppStore.

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2018/10/11 Update:

Sponsorship goal has been reached. iOS 11 porting is entering planning phase.

We'd like to express our appreciation to our sponsors M. A., M. R., D. K., BMC, especially BMC, who sponsorship $475 at 2018/10/10 01:31:01 GMT+08 to this project. (Therefore BMC is considered to be our primary sponsor who contributed a deciding factor for this project. )

We will be preparing for this project to kick-off, soon after some urgent tasks at our hands are tidied up. We will post updates to a this Facebook entry (as comments).

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A sponsorship of the amount $700 should be enough for us to purchase a iPad to continue the development. However, this should not be construed as an offer, just for informative purpose.

Currently accumulated sponsorship: $700

iOS 11 support information is explained in this article. There are two ways to achieve sponsorship toward iOS 11 development (1) through the Patreon platform (2) directly through PayPal, as explained respectively as follows:

Sponsor through the Patreon platform (recommended)

In addition to directly sponsor us through PayPal (as explained below), you can alternatively become a patron of Genius Vision NVR CmE with the Patreon platform, and help us to reach the first goal of monthly $2,000.

How to sponsor iOS 11 support (directly with PayPal) ?

Please use sponsorship page, and select an amount you wish to sponsor. For example, you can choose the $100 item and enter the quantity of 7, when entering PayPal page, as illustrated below.

When you completed the process, please send an Email to us: partners@geniusvision.net, so we know that this sponsorship is intended to support iOS 11 development, and it will also allow us to update you with latest status.

You do not have to be the sole sponsor of this task, but we need to accumulate the amount to $700. We will keep an updated accumulated sponsorship in this page. So please do send an Email to indicate the purpose of your sponsorship, otherwise we could not know it.

Sponorship list

Date	Initials	Amount
2017/12/15	M. A.	25
2018/2/26	M. R.	100
2018/4/28	D. K.	100
2018/10/11	BMC	475

Why should not this be construed as an offer?

Very simple, because "the lack of a new testing device" is the currently visible blockage we can see, but there may be more blockages after current blockage is removed.

For example, Apple may choose to require the developer to use the latest version of Xcode, which may require an updated MacOS, which in turns, may require a newer MacBook than we currently have. If this happens, then we're afraid the aforementioned sponsorship will not be nearly enough, because obviously MacBook is much more expensive than an iPad.

We promise we will "give it a try" if we receive the sponsorship. However, we cannot predict when and how will Apple's policy change. Just like we cannot predict that Apple will suddenly announce their dropping support to 32-bit APPs.

Anyway, there are many things in the world we cannot predict, and we should learn to live with the changes. In our humble opinion, PC have managed to keep 32-bit support over 20 years, we are not sure why Apple is so eager to drop 32-bit support within just a few years. This is particularly painful for developers like us, who need to purchase at least an MacBook, and an iOS device, just in order to "enter the game". Without purchasing the two items, developing for iOS is not even possible. Well, we did purchased and entered the game, and now we are asked to purchase more, and so this is what we have decided.