Here is a message from an email I got when I paid for a "subscription" in 2004, for software that I have been using since 1986. I bought the latest version in 2001.
Our Subscription Guarantee
To meet our long-standing objective of providing you with the best ****** software available, our goal is to provide a minimum of one major *** upgrade per year. With this in mind, we guarantee that you will receive at least one major upgrade for each of your subscription years. If, in any one year of your subscription, you do not receive a *** upgrade, your subscription will be extended an additional year without any cost to you.
There has been no upgrade of any kind since 2001. But, it appears there may be one coming soon. I interpret the above statement to mean that I am still eligible to receive the update, as there have been no upgrades at all.
This company always tries to get me to pay an annual subscription, saying that I will automatically get an upgrade when released. But I have refused, as there have been no upgrades of any kind in 12 years. And, I believe that the one time I did pay for a subscription entitles me to one upgrade. The price of a subscription is about 30% of the price of a new license, so if I had been paying for the last 12 years, would have paid almost 4 times the purchase price (which isn't cheap but in the range of similar packages, about $1500).
One other thing I should mention-the software is something I use everyday, so I am not against paying for a subscription if I was getting anything in return, but obviously i am not. There are a few bugs, that i have pointed out, but these have never been fixed.
I really have to wonder if all this upgrading and updating is just what it appears to be. Another way to reduce the size of your wallet. If the software was that inefficient to start with, it should have hit the trash can along time ago. Some of the older software was better written and less buggy than todays in many respects. But each has had its weak points no doubt.
> I really have to wonder if all this upgrading and updating is just what it appears to be. Another way to reduce the size of your wallet. ..
You don't buy "fee title" to software, you acquire a license. Given that, it isn't surprising that the owner expects to collect the "rent". The annual "upgrades" are just a pretense.
That statement could be interpreted as meaning that if a new update is not released within one year of your subscriptions, your subscription will be extended for one more year ... But after two years, you are SOL. Not that I don't see your point here, but that may be how the company will view this.
Man I like the concept! Now if we could just get that to work for us too!
Maybe get a 'finders' fee every time someone references one of our points in a record map! Huh!!! Yeah. That's the ticket. ?.
