Announcing the Sunset for DC-3 Dreams

Hi Everyone --

At today's Society for Astronomical Sciences meeting, we announced that DC-3 Dreams will cease sales of our software and tech support subscriptions as of July 1. That's my 79th birthday. I will continue to fulfill the 1 year's tech support that comes with each license until my 80th birthday, next July 1 (2026). I won't be making any new versions though, so the features are what they are today.

It has been a heck of a run! You all have been such great customers, and I know I'll miss the interaction and problem solving.

-- Bob Denny

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Hi Bob and Stephanie,


I'm certainly not the only one who dreaded this announcement, but retiring at 80 is absolutely magnificent. I would like to express my gratitude for your constant help, goodwill, and good humor. It has been a real pleasure to share this adventure for over a decade.

Wishing you, in advance, a very happy and well-deserved retirement,
Stéphane

Stéphane --

Thank you so much Stéphane. Of course, the software won't stop working unless Microsoft invalidates something. They have been magnificent in keeping compatibility over the years!!

Thanks again,

-- Bob

Congratulations, Bob and Stevie, on a well-earned retirement!

Thank you for what you have done! I sincerely wish you and your wife a great retirement!

// Niklas

ps. Do you have any plan to put the code in public domain? ds

Hi Bob, just wanted to thank you for a great suite of products and first-class support over the years.

Wishing you and Stephanie a long and happy retirement!

Peter

Hi Bob and Stephanie,

I also wanted to thank you for providing and supporting the beautiful and wonderful software.
I will definitely want to keep using ACP until my retirement (I need to terminate the Windows
update to make ACP working for another 10 years) to achieve my scientific goal.
Thanks again for your great support.

Regards,
Taka

What a beautiful couple! Inside and out. Many thanks for all your efforts that kept my observatory functioning for 10 years at least, supporting my asteroid studies, and allowing me a good night's sleep throughout it all. ACP and Scheduler made my dreams come to fruition. And thanks to Stevie for making the business run smoothly. Better friends than Bob and Stevie cannot be found. Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!

Now on to the next phase of your lives. Enjoy it to the fullest.

With all my regards to you both,
Larry Owings

Thank you everyone!!! I do appreciate the kind words.

I want to respond to some requests:

I am not going to put the software into Open Source. I would create a forever obligation to train people on how to build the pieces, how it integrates with obscure Windows technologies like Windows Script, helping people learn how to build my ports of CFITSIO, Sextractor, and the monster CLAPACK, as used in PinPoint, and set up the tooling for this. Plus the OEM web serving engine on which so much of ACP's user interface depends is licensed software. There are multiple tricky COM/ActiveX engines which I developed and which require Active Template Library and crazy coding hacks. This a is a lost art. More importantly, ACP.exe is itself a Visual Basic 6 program, another lost art. I'm unsure the VB6 Integrated Development will even run on Windows 11. It's to Microsoft's credit that they have continued to support the legacy technology on which all of this is built into Windows 11. You may have noticed that the ACP.EXE acts as a Windows Script Host itself, fully integrating with Visual Studio 2022's symbolic debugger, to give you full inspect/change script debugging with ACP's Javascript and VBScript, Windows Script Components (AcquireSupport library), as well as the code within ACP's Active Server Pages feature (not using the Microsoft ASP engine, this one I wrote within ACP.exe in VB6 and an ActiveX component that ties that into the Windows Script API.

I hope you'll understand.

So please enjoy the software as it is with no time limits. Of course Microsoft could decide to sunset legacy technologies which would prevent ACP from working, but they have a giant legacy user base and have been incredibly good at keeping things stable, even for Visual Basic 6.

Wow, Larry that's so nice. I consider you one of my "best friends" !!!

Many congratulations on your retirement and thank you for creating such amazing products! Our observatory would not function without ACP and your incredible dedication to support.

Everything you've said about the challenge of passing ACP on to others makes total sense. With that in mind, I was wondering if you have long-term thoughts about the future of automation for observatories that currently rely on ACP. Many of the alternatives are focused exclusively on the astrophotography market, and I don't know of anyone else that offers the level of support that you do. Are there projects we should be keeping our eyes on? I'm not asking you to pick sides or name an heir-apparent, but if you know of projects that, in your opinion, are doing things the right way, I know many of us would love to hear your thoughts.

Best,
Roy

Hi Roy -- I'm unaware of any projects so far that are along the same lines as I have worked. I really appreciate the kind words though!!

Bob,

That you have so many friends to wish you well is no surprise. I came to the ACP fold relatively late since I was working a full-time job and running a business until I was 70; unlike many of your other friends, I didn't get to know you well. However, I have been blessed in my multiple careers to have worked with some of the best practitioners of their craft, so I know a gem when I see it. You are the gem behind a most excellent product system.

Thank you for providing the means for me to rediscover my favorite pastime and getting a good night's sleep.

Best wishes to you and your wife on the next exciting adventures.

George

That's really nice, George!! Thanks and I will relay your kind words to Stevie.

Dear Bob,

I wish you the best in your retirement. I appreciate your putting up with my silly questions for now I guess 10 years +. You have not heard from me much recently because ACP just works.

Again enjoy yourself you have put in the time!

Jerry Y

Thanks Jerry. I have enjoyed working with you and my other customers over the years. I couldn't have wished for a better experience!!

Hi Bob,

Where can we download the current versions of ACP & Scheduler? I wanted to keep a copy of the installer for them so, we can reinstall them when we need to replace PC hardware. All the current download links redirect to the Sunset notice.

Thanks,
Chris

All of the installers are at http://download.dc3.com/. Note the Older... folders for older versions.

Bob, Thank you for 16 yrs of excellent software and support. I intend to keep ACP controlling my observatory as long as possible. Will the communication center remain available as a resource for all of us to consult and perhaps interact with each other?

Thanks Douglas. And yes I'll leave the Comm Center going as long as I can. It runs on an external Linux/Apache service.

Bob, congratulations on your retirement. Your commitment to your customer is exceptional. ACP software has been a great help in my astronomy. Nothing else compares. I wish Stephany and you the best in your retirement.

While support for your customers will end next year, there is lots of great help in the forum. I hope you would think about how to leave it all to be accessible to all users beyond that date. Also, it here is a your person that I would would be willing to setup an channel on Groups IO or some other forum where users could continue to help each other. This will be a great service to your faithful users who will want to continue using your software for years to come. Let your legacy continue.

Regards, Dick

Thanks for the kind words Dick :-)

I plan to leave the forum running as long as I can.

Thanks for your contributions to the field - esp. ASCOM. Why isn't your daughter (in the photo) taking over? -Jesse

Ha ha that's a good one Jesse. She is a retired middle school (grades 6-8) English Teacher from Orange County CA. Now she lives in Montana. Software isn't her thing :-)

At today's Society for Astronomical Sciences meeting, we announced that DC-3 Dreams will cease sales of our software and tech support subscriptions as of July 1. That's my 79th birthday. I will continue to fulfill the 1 year's tech support that comes with each license until my 80th birthday, next July 1 (2026). I won't be making any new versions though, so the features are what they are today.
It has been a heck of a run! You all have been such great customers, and I know I'll miss the interaction and problem solving.

-- Bob Denny
m
I too would like to express my thanks to you Bob and Stephanie for the fantastic work you two have done on the products over the years. The astronomy community will miss you both.
You two deserve a great retirement!
Best regards
Don Anderson

Bob, I'd like to add to the many folks who are thanking you and contratulating you on your retirement. You've been a monumental fixture in the astronomy world for me for as long as I can remember. I'll always think fondly of you!

Best regards,
Mark

Wow Mark — Thanks so much. It has been an amazing part of my life (and Stevie’s as well). The best part has been the wonderful people with I have worked.

Thanks again and best wishes….

— Bob

Hi Bob
I wish you and Stephanie a beautiful new life !!!
And once again many thanks for what you did for us, along the passed years...
Enjoy your new life..
Very best regards
Bruno

Thank you so much. I truly appreciate it. I never expected to have so many wonderful customers.