> 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.
I don't define customer loyalty as the customer buying something every time I have something to sell. I define it as a customer who buys something from me instead of my competition when *they* need something. That's loyalty... >From your view, good business is the customer doing what's best for the company. >From my view, good business is the company doing what's best for the customer. With that practice I win loyal cutomers, who I value, no matter how long between purchases it is. And, concerning amortization, the value of anything has nothing really to do with whether or not I've earned enough with a product to pay for it. The current value of a product is strictly defined by the customer using it. CF 4.5 still has plenty of value to me. It's paid for itself many times over...but that doesn't mean that Adobe now *deserves* more money from me. Cutting off the upgrade price at 4.5 just seems arbitrary. I'm sure they have reasons for the cut-off being there...notice I didn't say good ones. But they have to decide how to run their business, as do I. And, if so few people are using 4.5, what would it hurt to extend the upgrade price to that version or even earlier versions? Rick -----Original Message----- From: Dave Watts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 2:32 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: RE: ASP.Net book for CF programmer > 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:239739 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
