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@reddish, I feel your disappointment. I fear the main problem is that, in general, corporations have trained their customers over time, and consumer complacency is what has allowed this sort of stuff, and much worse, to happen. Not nearly enough people have stood up and refused to go along with the incredibly pervasive corporate perversions of decency. Huge masses of consumers have been conditioned and fattened for the slaughter. And these corporations are the forces that will control AI. Oh joy! (Not necessarily speaking of Digilent or NI in this paragraph, or am I? I guess that's up to NI management.) All I wanted to do was to finally purchase an AD, which I've wanted for a few years now. It's one of the relatively few devices that apparently uses software that fully supports Linux. If that were not the case, there's no way I would have purchased or recommended it. So, just because I wanted to purchase a good product from a good company, I fell into the trap of agreeing to legal terms that do NOTHING to help me, but only increase my legal jeopardy. Who knows how many hours it will now take to purge my information from Digilent/NI's systems. And what proof will I ever have that they actually delete the data anyway? Trust is so hard to gain and so easy to destroy in an instant. Anyway, you may never return here, but just in case you do, I wanted let you know there ARE others out there (probably WAY more than NI can imagine), that are also alarmed, disappointed, and even angry at how our time and money has been needlessly wasted -- for what? And, thanks for your amazing contribution of pydwf. It's a good example of how loyal people can be to trustworthy companies that truly put their customer's needs at the top, rather than trying to squeeze every last drop of blood from them for the mistaken sake of profit. It seems NI's takeover may have sealed the fate of the once admired Digilent, but I still hope that somehow Digilent can figure out how to put customers first again, and truly think about how they would want to be treated. It seems to me it would be so simple for them to do so, with just a few minor changes. At least you can't say we haven't tried to help guide them towards the right path, largely at our own expense!

So I finally thought I might be able to live with my purchase of the AD3, +other_stuff, thanks to the helpful information from JColvin and Kristoff, by deleting all my Digilent accounts (hard to keep track of them all at this point), having Digilent delete all of my personal information, finally freeing me from any legally binding contracts with them, and still being able to download software updates for THE HARDWARE I ALREADY PAID FOR. But then I did some further reading on these forums to see if I could figure out what the heck is going on with Digilent. Sadly, it doesn't look good to me. I've provided links to some of the pertinent threads (posted below), so that folks can have a better idea of the possible traps that have been laid for them. QUESTIONS FOR DIGILENT: Will anyone who owns an AD3 (or any other similar Digilent product, like AD2, etc.), used or new, purchased from Digilent or not, be able to freely download the latest software updates for it, without having to have any official/legal affiliation with Digilent, or fill out any information or forms, for as long as the user owns the device, and/or, as long as Digilent is still in business? Can you please provide us with that guarantee? You see, I'd like to have all of my information deleted from Digilent's systems, but still be able to have some guarantee that I'll be able to download software updates for the AD3 I purchased, via a simple direct download link, as every other T&E company I know allows, as long as Digilent is in business. Or, do you recommend that it would be best for customers with similar concerns to return the product, for what I presume would be a full refund, including shipping? (After all, how could Digilent possibly claim ANY of this is the fault of your customers?) All I wanted to do was to purchase a product and be able to use it, unencumbered. Ideally, I wanted to be able to trust and appreciate Digilent as a business partner. I didn't want to be forced into completely unnecessary life long legal agreements with yet another grabby corporation that just wants its customers to "trust" them. Surely you've heard that trust is something good companies earn? From further reading on these forums, I now have suspicions that NI is the cause of much if not all of this mess. What a terrible shame. And, by the way, these sorts of policies make integrating Digilent parts into any of our product BOMs absolutely impossible. We have to be able to fully trust our partners, and Digilent will have to make significant changes to the way they treat their customers before we would even dream of any such dependencies. The other thing that really sucks about this all, is that I'm responsible for a number of other folks purchasing Digilent products. Now I have to explain to them how Digilent's policies are different than every other T&E provider I know of, because Digilent tries to force customers, WITHOUT ANY FOREWARNING, into legal agreements in order to download software necessary to use the products they have already paid for. Rigol, Siglent, R&S, Nikon, Keysight, etc., etc., let ANYONE ANYTIME ANYWHERE download the software and support needed to run the instruments they own (or even don't own). This helps their sales in many many ways, including making it possible for purchasers of even ancient equipment, to easily download the resources they need to keep their hardware running. It also allows customers to easily and quickly download the software, just to test it out. Digilent is making this all untenable now, because every download requires capturing "customer" (whether you're a customer of not) information, and forcing customers to deal with many pages of legally binding contract terms, including forcing them to create user accounts. Yep, I feel like 2x an idiot now, and I have to apologize to to these people because I recommended products before I knew the full ramifications of Digilent's customer policies. And yes, I'm very embarrassed for wasting their time, and possibly, their money. I hope this information can help anyone else, before they end up wasting their precious time dealing with the very upsetting customer experience that we've had to go through. I also feel so bad for the good Digilent employees who really do care about their customers. I strongly suspect they don't agree with these apparently rather new policies, and they are so right -- they don't deserve this either. I wish them all the best, and thanks in advance to any Digilent representative who can answer my questions above.

Thanks JColvin and Kristoff for tolerating me and for genuinely trying to help. That means a lot. I apologize to you both for my harsh tone and for not making my post more clear. I hope my edits to my original post will further clarify what I feel is not fair to customers. I really want to like Digilent, but the policies of forcing customers to create accounts and enter unnecessary legal agreements will continue to be an issue. Hopefully Digilent management will examine how other test equipment manufacturers deal with these situations, and will then realize putting as few burdens and legal obligations on customers will help everyone in the end. Thanks again for your help!

It was very disappointing to have purchased hardware (AD3) from Digilent, and then later discover that in order to download the software required to be able to use the AD3, customers appear to be REQUIRED to create a Digilent account, which also requires the customers to enter into a legally-binding agreement. Digilent is the only test equipment company I know of that doesn’t let customers (or anyone, for that matter) download control software for their instruments, without requiring creating accounts or entering into contracts. It’s like paying for a car, and then when you want to start it, you’re told you need to create an account with the manufacturer, sign a legal document, and _then_ you can download the firmware for your ECM that will let you finally start and drive the car. So, here is what I think would be much more fair to your customers: 1) Allow any software required to run/control the hardware you sell, be freely downloaded – without having to create accounts and agree to legal terms beyond basic software licensing. 2) If you’re not going to do 1), then make it perfectly clear to your customers – before they actually pay you any money – that you will require them to create accounts and agree to Digilent’s legal terms, before they’ll be able to use the product they purchased. 3) Make it easy, clear and obvious to customers how they can delete their accounts, request Digilent to delete their personal information, and cancel order/make returns. It's possible all of this information is on your website, and I missed it. While I sincerely apologize for my harsh and angry tone in the previous version of this message, I remain tired and disgusted by corporations treating their customers as though they have every right to grab and hold as much information as possible about their customers, and expect their customers to enter into agreements that _really_ should be reviewed by customer’s legal council. That is unfair to customers – especially if they aren’t forewarned about these mechanisms before they make a purchase. Sincerely, Paul Edit: Further clarification