> And, frankly, I don't care if the software is 7 years old.  
> They got $1300 7 years ago or so, and that's a lot more than 
> they've gotten from someone who hasn't bought anything before.
> I just feel there should be some consideration for any 
> previous customer's investment.  Even if on a sliding scale 
> based on years of age of product.  They're basically saying 
> CF 4.5 is worth nothing now...I don't agree.

Strictly speaking, it is worth nothing now, in the sense that you should
have fully amortized any software costs over less than seven years. But more
importantly, Macromedia is not Microsoft, and Adobe is not Microsoft.
Microsoft can afford to do what it does because every product they give away
encourages the use of the two products from which they actually make their
money - Windows and Office. The "free" software you're talking about isn't
free at all - the costs are simply distributed across everybody who buys
those two products. Other companies simply don't have that massive revenue
stream that they can use to subsidize everything else - their products have
to stand or fall on their own merits, and they have to pay for themselves.
So, I think your expectations are pretty far out of line with reality.

> It seems that just sticking with one server on CF 4.5 will 
> continue for as long as it's of value...but the second server 
> will be ASP.NET 2.0...from there I can go into Flex 2.0, 
> also.  Wouldn't be surprised if MS didn't develop a Flex 
> Builder tool that they give away for ASP.NET developers while 
> Adobe wants $1000 for theirs...

I kind of doubt that you'll ever be able to build Flex applications with
Microsoft tools. I also kind of doubt that it'll be as easy to develop Flex
apps that use ASP.NET server-side components as it will with CF.

> I don't mind companies making money.  I'm in business for that.
> But I do reward long-time customer loyalty.

Buying something once, a long time ago, and using it for many years, is not
what most companies consider "long-time customer loyalty". As far as they're
concerned, you might as well have disappeared into a black hole in 1999.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software
http://www.figleaf.com/

Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized
instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta,
Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location.
Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information!


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