Kolor is Closing, Future of Panotour Pro

  • Hi,

    you may have heard that Kolor - the developer of Panotour Pro (a krpano-based virtual-tour-editor) - is closing.

    Here their announcement:

    Source: http://www.kolor.com/

    and here the statement from Alexandre Jenny, the founder of Kolor:
    https://www.facebook.com/alexandrejenny…155576950281782


    I also got informed about that just two days ago and I don't know any reasons or internals, but at least I can answer some questions about what that would mean for krpano and for the future support for Panotour Pro - so here answers from my side:

    What does this mean for krpano?

    From krpano side basically nothing will change or be different now. krpano was always fully independent and will be also in future. The krpano development itself is very good ongoing (although a bit slower than wished) and the next release is not far away and will bring some nice new features.

    Maybe one thing - I was already working on improving the krpano GUI editing functionalities for a long time and now without Panotour I will probably accelerate the development in that direction.


    What does this mean for Panotour Pro users?

    As Kolor closes there will be no official Panotour Pro development anymore, but using the software itself will be still possible.

    With the last Panotour Pro release (version 2.5.14) Kolor has opened the access to its previously internal template files to make it possible to edit or update them manually. That means some updates to Panotour Pro are still possible.

    I will try to use that new opened access to provide 'update-packages' for Panotour Pro when new krpano versions will be released. This should make it easier to use the latest krpano version in Panotour Pro and maybe also add some fixes to some templates when necessary.

    One important note here - Panotour Pro includes an exportable krpano license - and if you haven't already exported that license, I would recommend doing that as soon as possible! The license export will be only possible as long as the license servers from Kolor are working!


    Finally I want to say:
    Thanks to the Kolor team for the last years and all the best wishes for the future!

    Klaus

  • Great idea! Thanks Klaus for your help in advance! Please support Panotour with update packages and fixes as long as it is possible. So many users depend on this software and would be willing (imo) to even pay for updates and support. So, please don't leave us hanging... *wink*

  • One important note here - Panotour Pro includes an exportable krpano license - and if you haven't already exported that license, I would recommend doing that as soon as possible! The license export will be only possible as long as the license servers from Kolor are working!


    Hi everyone, sorry for this silly question but how do I do the export? Thanks for your answers.

  • Hi Folks,

    with the demise of Kolor I'm in the process of making a safe backup of the software and licenses (like a lot of other users) but I've hit a snag with requesting the KRPano license for KRPano 1.19-pr16.

    KRP is shown as registered in the PTP license page and when I request the license via the License page in PTP my email address isn't recognised.

    Is there a fix to this problem so I can get the KRPano license for safekeeping?

    best regards Kev

  • Try to contact customer support on: https://gopro.com/help/ContactUs

    There is no obvious support email link on any of the GoPro pages. Ok problem solved, I retried the get License key option in PTP and my email was accepted this time and license retrieved, nothing has changed my end and I know with certainty the email was correctly entered every time.

    Edited once, last by Photosbykev: update on problem (September 15, 2018 at 7:12 PM).

  • I am sure the closing of PTP has caused (or will cause in the future) quite a few problems for those who relied on their software for client projects. I know I am currently counting my lucky stars that I decided a long time ago to learn and use KRPano for my projects rather than PTP. I don't want to speak out of turn but it would make me feel more comfortable if I understood what the future plans are for KRPano and what assurances there are that the same thing (or similar) won't happen to KRPano in the future as it has with Kolor / PTP (i.e. sold off, shut down or similar).


    So my question to Klaus is what does the KRPano roadmap look like, is there a business model to take it to the cloud on a subscription basis or other model to secure future revenues? And what can we do as supporters of KRPano to make sure it has a healthy future?


    Thanks in advance!


  • So my question to Klaus is what does the KRPano roadmap look like, is there a business model to take it to the cloud on a subscription basis or other model to secure future revenues? And what can we do as supporters of KRPano to make sure it has a healthy future?

    you think "taking it to the cloud on a subscription basis" (whatever that means in this context) would be a healthy future??
    omg *blink*

    i guess krpano is fully owned by klaus and therefore cant be purchased and dropped later by another player.
    so as long as he likes what he does and as long as he can make a living out of it, you dont need to be worried about krpano.

    maybe the closing of kolor even gives krpano a boost, because some people will start to work with krpano directly now.

  • Tal vez una cosa: ya estaba trabajando para mejorar las funciones de edición de GUI de Krpano durante mucho tiempo y ahora, sin Panotour, probablemente aceleraré el desarrollo en esa dirección.

    Espero que sigas adelante , yo por mi parte, si es necesario, dispuesto a apoyar un crowdfunding para el desarrollo del proyecto.
    Gracias

  • could based subscription software as service etc is widely reviled by many, adobe CC moving to such a model was very unpopular as i recall, but an advanced krpano gui editor as plugin for a reasonable fee would be fine for many users i assume

    otherwise, i think klaus and krpano are doing fine without the need to mix in popular marketing buzzwords like crowdfunding and blockchain etc :D

    sam

  • Hi, I hadn't used Panotour since a bit before Gorro called it quits. I had several finished projects, and they had been fine until now. I remember having exported the krpano key from panoutour a long while ago, but can't find it. However, Inside panotour I clicked on export krpano license, and a message says that Kolor servers do not exist anymore, but that if I had exported it again, I could be sent. So I did, and received by email a key.
    Problem is, I input that key in the krpano app, and it says Base license key is missing.
    Could anyone please advise on how to procede to get that base key or fix this. Many thanks!

    best,

    Alex

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