Ad Muncher's 15 Year History!

[gate1975mlm]

This is the story of a 14 year old coder, who raised $100 from his father to launch an ad blocking program, then dedicated the next 15 years of his life to it.

It's my story, and this post will be followed by another giving the first ever preview of Ad Muncher Version 5, and another one with an important announcement about the future of Ad Muncher.

 

http://www.murrayhurps.com/blog/ad-muncher-history

 

[Noir Angel]

I'm really pleased to see AdMuncher going free, it's a great program.

[Starbuck84]

This definitely doesn't make sense. If the software is actually free without a solid monetization story it can only mean bad things.

Either they will be putting in ads or worse or it is going under.

Business is not a charity and the post read as if it is.

My thought exactly. It doesn't make sense at all. Why would someone sell almost everything he has to keep AdMuncher running? Salaries go on, bills go on, et cetera.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think what he does is great and I love Ad Muncher, even when I just paid for another year (a couple of months back), but I'm a little hesitated to see where this will go. As soon as I see an ad in his own program I'm out. I still rather pay to see no ads...

[TAZMINATOR]

My thought exactly. It doesn't make sense at all. Why would someone sell almost everything he has to keep AdMuncher running? Salaries go on, bills go on, et cetera.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think what he does is great and I love Ad Muncher, even when I just paid for another year (a couple of months back), but I'm a little hesitated to see where this will go. As soon as I see an ad in his own program I'm out. I still rather pay to see no ads...

 

They probably put the ads on other programs they make ... not AdMuncher.

 

They should run own shop for shirts, hats, etc which they can make money out of.

 

Place the ads on their website(s) and get paid.

 

Remember this: They have a small company with 3 people...  But I don't get it.  I thought they would have grown bigger by now with more employees like Facebook did.

 

For example:

 

4 people for tech support, 2 or 4 people for graphic design and coding, 1 secretary to handle the phone calls/appointments, etc.. you know the usual that's how business runs.

[darkrats]

On one of his sites Murray says, he'll have the free version "absolutely" available by the end of July, that it will be free, not contain any ads or 3rd party software and that he doesn't even want donations. So I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to see if he comes through on his statements. When he makes changes on the official AM website to reflect the new "no cost" download, that should confirm his intentions. As for version 5, he continues saying that it's months away, which he has been saying for some time. I've always been baffled as to why Murray handles his PR when it comes to users of Ad Muncher.

[Starbuck84]

They probably put the ads on other programs they make ... not AdMuncher.

 

They should run own shop for shirts, hats, etc which they can make money out of.

 

Place the ads on their website(s) and get paid.

 

Remember this: They have a small company with 3 people...  But I don't get it.  I thought they would have grown bigger by now with more employees like Facebook did.

 

For example:

 

4 people for tech support, 2 or 4 people for graphic design and coding, 1 secretary to handle the phone calls/appointments, etc.. you know the usual that's how business runs.

Whatever the reason he decided to stay small, we'll have to see how things turn out. I sure do hope AdMuncher will survive, as I think it's one of the best (although I do miss HTTPS filtering) ad blockers out there.

 

But I can't get it out of my head, why would someone decide to give away a former paid product, and if money gets tight to sell stuff of his own to keep AdMuncher going? Maybe there's more to the story, I don't know. But still... guess we'll have to see how things play out. :)

[Night Prowler]

Come on this is all a sham, or possibly off his meds. I think they are just stirring the pot to see where AdMuncher is at after they have abandoned their users for 6 years.

 

The web site still claims that Admuncher works with all version of Internet Explorer, and that is a clear deception from them.

 

What Murray should do is give back all the money to anyone that bought AdMuncher in the last 6 years. It's clear that he doesn't need or want the money.

 

This whole AdMuncher coming out is just strange, and unbelievable.

[max22]

Almost here with the free version of Ad Muncher! Hopefully it will be a present on July 31st! I am watching.

 

Then onto Ad Muncher 5!

[Luc2k]

Almost here with the free version of Ad Muncher! Hopefully it will be a present on July 31st! I am watching.

 

Then onto Ad Muncher 5!

I would have expected to happen already, but they haven't even bothered to remove the buy option from the site yet. I love Ad Muncher, but it looks like empty words again.

[max22]

It is not over until the fat lady sings! :)

[Boo Berry]

I'm still iffy about whether or not Murray's free plan will make or break the project.

[BooBerry]

Ad Muncher, I launched you 15 years ago, and since day one I've felt slightly uneasy for charging people for the faster, safer and more pleasant browsing experience you provide.

Anybody that knows me knows that I apologize a little too much, but I honestly felt the need to apologize to every single user for making them pay their hard-earned $29.95.

Charging this way though has allowed me to fund development myself, and I never needed investment or other revenue sources that could interfere with my goal of an influence-free ad blocker.

But now, with the financial support provided by over 100,000 people, I've decided it's finally time for you to be let free.

What?

Ad Muncher is normally available for $29.95, plus $19.95 per year after that, but will now be available in the same form as a completely free product.

All users will receive filter list updates. Weekly to begin with, then daily if our hosting can handle the load.

Seriously?

Yes, nothing has been changed, we're just moving to much higher capacity hosting, and removing all the anti-piracy rubbish we needed previously.

How?

This will be financially difficult for me. Salaries for three people, along with our usual expenses, will be covered entirely by myself by selling almost everything I have, and taking on some external work.

At some point in the future, I may need to offer complimentary software products to Ad Muncher users (for example, a recommended spyware blocker or antivirus). These will be done respectfully, and will only be products that compliment Ad Muncher and which I genuinely use myself.

I will never, ever accept payments from an advertising company to allow their ads through our list, or install any third-party software on your system.

I've previously turned down offers to make significant money from both of these sources, but I need to sleep at night, and users of Ad Muncher deserve to be treated right after all the support they've given me.

I just paid damn it!

I completely understand how you would be feeling if you recently purchased Ad Muncher, only to see this announcement.

Ad Muncher wouldn't be here without your support. You saw a struggling software product and paid your hard-earned cash to help keep it alive. Your support is appreciated, and will never be forgotten.

My only request at this point is that you understand the difficult position this transition will place me in financially, and accept my goal of giving you no less in terms of service than if Ad Muncher wasn't free.

We have a 30-day full refund policy that I'm happy to still provide, but every refund will reduce the chances of Ad Muncher surviving as a free product.

What about version 5?

Work will continue on our new cross-platform filtering solution. We're six years into the development and as committed as ever to bringing this to market.

Hmmm, ok then

Ad Muncher, you'll never make me rich, and I've made a net loss running you for the last two years, but I just don't care.

You've made a lot of people happy, you've let me do what I love for a living, and I'm honestly just looking forward to seeing you making browsing faster, safer and more pleasant for a larger number of people.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.admuncher.com/free

[max22]

It is here!