I couldn't agree more with all the points you made.
Marian
On Mar 13, 2004, at 5:56 PM, A.C.T. wrote:
Hi, Marian,
Ah, but what happens when those bug fixes come bundled with major
feature enhancements? Is that an update or an upgrade? Sounds like
an upgrade to me.
That's an "upgrade", as it carries "major enhancements".
Please don't get me wrong on this: I am willing to pay for "upgrades"
(that I need) and I am expecting free "updates" where necessary!
Now if a company decides to NOT bugfix their product "for free" for
the honest customer the result - at least on the long run - will be:
less customers. That's just what the market is like: The way you deal
with your customers defines the way they deal with you. I have bought
my license from Runrev because I think Revolution is a product that
may help me creating some specific products. I haven't really started
using it (as I really get headache from Transcript), so I cannot tell
if I "need" an update or an upgrade right now :-)
I like your idea about having a choice in which upgrade you want to
take. I hope you'll post on this list what happens when you try to
use your free upgrade to go from 2.x to 3.x, because I suspect this
is an eventuality that RunRev had not anticipated and had not
intended. Clever reading on your part!
Well, that's just what the license says: "Your key is valid for the
current release and one upgrade." It does not say "and the next
upgrade available", it clearly says "and one upgrade". So it is my
choice which upgrade I want to have for free: if there are major
enhancements in the next version it's most likely that I choose that.
If the next-plus-one version is two years ahead, it's very likely that
I also choose the next version as well. But if the frequency of
upgrades should be three/four a year, it's very likely that I do not
upgrade to the very next but one of the following versions. According
to the license that's what the key is for: "one free upgrade". I
consider this a fair license and I am going to change some of my own
licenses according to this idea.
Back to "updates": Software nearly never ever is "bug-free". A
cooperative way to keep your customers satisfied is handing out
"patches" (or call them "updates"), because this shows: You do care
for what you have done. That's true especially for companies that have
limited resources: The smaller your budget is the more important it is
to have satisfied customers (I tend to call them "partners") that are
willing to pay for "real upgrades", because you fix the bugs you made
in the product you sold them. Only big companies can allow themselves
to ignore that they have made mistakes (do I need to name some?) and
"sell every bugfix as an upgrade". From the cooperative side this
leads to short-term partnerships, and it's up to the company to decide
if they prefer that to long-term partnerships with customers/partners
that pay for "real upgrades" because you care for your product.
Marc Albrecht
A.C.T. / level-2
Glinder Str. 2
27432 Ebersdorf
Deutschland
Tel. 04765-830060
Fax. 04765-830064
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