Does anyone know if it's still possible to purchase Agent 8?

I've been using it for a bit now, and I feel like it's worth purchasing
the license. But attempting the order form on the website consistently
fails for me, and I've even sent an email to their "agent-order-inquiry"
address 10 days ago but received no response.

If anyone has any info, I'd be grateful.

In Message-ID:<4nic9i93hi8rnp8o8i4kqtcpomaj0n4c3c@4ax.com>,
Lafe <lafe@lafes.invalid> wrote:

>Does anyone know if it's still possible to purchase Agent 8?
>
>I've been using it for a bit now, and I feel like it's worth purchasing
>the license. But attempting the order form on the website consistently
>fails for me, and I've even sent an email to their "agent-order-inquiry"
>address 10 days ago but received no response.

If you look back in this newsgroup, you'll see that several people
have attempted to contact Forte with no luck. When a company can't
even be bothered to take money from people....

I do not like to encourage software piracy. But this strongly appears
to be abandonware. If so, it seems that the only way to get full
function is to "borrow" someone else's license code.

You have tried to be honest and pay your money, but you failed.

BTW, there is a long-known bug that Forte never fixed. If you look in
alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified for EXPIRY PROBLEM,
you'll find a user-created fix.

--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" pobox "dot" com

On Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:20:57 -0400, Arthur T.
<arthur@munged.invalid> wrote:

>In Message-ID:<4nic9i93hi8rnp8o8i4kqtcpomaj0n4c3c@4ax.com>,
>Lafe <lafe@lafes.invalid> wrote:
>
>>Does anyone know if it's still possible to purchase Agent 8?
>>
>>I've been using it for a bit now, and I feel like it's worth purchasing
>>the license. But attempting the order form on the website consistently
>>fails for me, and I've even sent an email to their "agent-order-inquiry"
>>address 10 days ago but received no response.
>
>If you look back in this newsgroup, you'll see that several people
>have attempted to contact Forte with no luck. When a company can't
>even be bothered to take money from people....
>
>I do not like to encourage software piracy. But this strongly appears
>to be abandonware. If so, it seems that the only way to get full
>function is to "borrow" someone else's license code.
>
>You have tried to be honest and pay your money, but you failed.
>
>BTW, there is a long-known bug that Forte never fixed. If you look in
>alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified for EXPIRY PROBLEM,
>you'll find a user-created fix.

You are looking for the date 1/1/22 by a poster named Cronus

On Sat, 24 Jun 2023 07:03:50 -0500, Casey@invalid.com wrote:

>On Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:20:57 -0400, Arthur T.
><arthur@munged.invalid> wrote:
>
>>In Message-ID:<4nic9i93hi8rnp8o8i4kqtcpomaj0n4c3c@4ax.com>,
>>Lafe <lafe@lafes.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>Does anyone know if it's still possible to purchase Agent 8?
>>>
>>>I've been using it for a bit now, and I feel like it's worth purchasing
>>>the license. But attempting the order form on the website consistently
>>>fails for me, and I've even sent an email to their "agent-order-inquiry"
>>>address 10 days ago but received no response.
>>
>>If you look back in this newsgroup, you'll see that several people
>>have attempted to contact Forte with no luck. When a company can't
>>even be bothered to take money from people....
>>
>>I do not like to encourage software piracy. But this strongly appears
>>to be abandonware. If so, it seems that the only way to get full
>>function is to "borrow" someone else's license code.
>>
>>You have tried to be honest and pay your money, but you failed.
>>
>>BTW, there is a long-known bug that Forte never fixed. If you look in
>>alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified for EXPIRY PROBLEM,
>>you'll find a user-created fix.
>
>You are looking for the date 1/1/22 by a poster named Cronus

I guess I should have included this -
https://web.archive.org/web/20040803130644/http://www.skuz.net/madhat/agent/util.html#935

Casey@invalid.com wrote in
news:89nd9i9a5rlbdrnpt0jquqm284ipg5tetv@4ax.com:

> <snip>
>>>I do not like to encourage software piracy. But this strongly appears
>>>to be abandonware. If so, it seems that the only way to get full
>>>function is to "borrow" someone else's license code.
>>>
>>>You have tried to be honest and pay your money, but you failed.
>>>
>>>BTW, there is a long-known bug that Forte never fixed. If you look in
>>>alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified for EXPIRY PROBLEM,
>>>you'll find a user-created fix.
>>
>>You are looking for the date 1/1/22 by a poster named Cronus
>
> I guess I should have included this -
> https://web.archive.org/web/20040803130644/http://www.skuz.net/madhat/age
> nt/util.html#935

Thanks for feedback from both of you, I really appreciate it.

It does look like it's abandonware now. I appreciate the directions to
particular posts, but the filter fix won't help me if the software won't run,
and I haven't found registration codes readily available, and the various
cracks or keygens that are running about seem decidedly... untrustworthy.
Maybe at some point I'll take the effort of sandboxing one of them and seeing
if I can get anything useful out of it.

Unless I missed a broad hint? I did scour the provided sources as best I
could.

XNews is brilliant as well, it just doesn't handle modern character encodings
very well at all, and the UI is very dated at this point. Though I'm a big
fan of its filtering capabilities.

On Sun, 25 Jun 2023 05:24:12 -0000 (UTC), Lafe <lafe@lafes.invalid>
declaimed the following:

>It does look like it's abandonware now. I appreciate the directions to

If you use Google Maps (street view) for the nominal address of
ForteInc, you'll find it is a residential home with what looks like a
two-car garage.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the owner died of old age, and the
web-site is just operating on some long-term funding...

Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> on Sun, 25 Jun 2023 13:41:22
-0400 typed in alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent the following:
>On Sun, 25 Jun 2023 05:24:12 -0000 (UTC), Lafe <lafe@lafes.invalid>
>declaimed the following:
>
>>It does look like it's abandonware now. I appreciate the directions to
>
> If you use Google Maps (street view) for the nominal address of
>ForteInc, you'll find it is a residential home with what looks like a
>two-car garage.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised to find that the owner died of old age, and the
>web-site is just operating on some long-term funding...

"there are vays of finding things out."
--
pyotr filipivich
This Week's Panel: Us & Them - Eliminating Them.
Next Month's Panel: Having eliminated the old Them(tm)
Selecting who insufficiently Woke(tm) as to serve as the new Them(tm)

On Sun, 25 Jun 2023 05:24:12 -0000 (UTC), Lafe <lafe@lafes.invalid>
wrote:

>Casey@invalid.com wrote in
>news:89nd9i9a5rlbdrnpt0jquqm284ipg5tetv@4ax.com:
>
>> <snip>
>>>>I do not like to encourage software piracy. But this strongly appears
>>>>to be abandonware. If so, it seems that the only way to get full
>>>>function is to "borrow" someone else's license code.
>>>>
>>>>You have tried to be honest and pay your money, but you failed.
>>>>
>>>>BTW, there is a long-known bug that Forte never fixed. If you look in
>>>>alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified for EXPIRY PROBLEM,
>>>>you'll find a user-created fix.
>>>
>>>You are looking for the date 1/1/22 by a poster named Cronus
>>
>> I guess I should have included this -
>> https://web.archive.org/web/20040803130644/http://www.skuz.net/madhat/age
>> nt/util.html#935
>
>Thanks for feedback from both of you, I really appreciate it.
>
>It does look like it's abandonware now. I appreciate the directions to
>particular posts, but the filter fix won't help me if the software won't run,
>and I haven't found registration codes readily available, and the various
>cracks or keygens that are running about seem decidedly... untrustworthy.
>Maybe at some point I'll take the effort of sandboxing one of them and seeing
>if I can get anything useful out of it.
>
>Unless I missed a broad hint? I did scour the provided sources as best I
>could.
>
>XNews is brilliant as well, it just doesn't handle modern character encodings
>very well at all, and the UI is very dated at this point. Though I'm a big
>fan of its filtering capabilities.

Well, FWIW I downloaded Agent 8 (as a trial version) successfully then
added the registration code, which I found using assistance from this
group. It should at least be possible to run the software.