I fully support the ideas presented for ongoing support of Writelog. There
has to be an equitable manner for compensation for the hours (days, weeks,
months etc) poured into supporting such a fine piece of software. As many
in the industry will testify, the ongoing support of software can quickly
overtake the initial development costs.
The issue of bug fixes is, I believe, well supported by allowing a free
upgrades. After this, any particular fix is part of the ongoing support.
In this manner, the policy is no different than most software available
today on the commercial market. It would be very difficult, and time
consuming to keep two separate programs going simultaneously, one for bug
fixes and one for fixes/upgrades.
The up side to a paid support, is that there is a better chance that new
features can be added as the user base requests them. (though that is the
subject for a different post!!).
73 de Tony, VE3RZ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Les Peters" <les.peters@ne.arris-i.com>
To: "Ron, K5DJ" <k5dj@writelog.com>
Cc: "WriteLog Reflector" <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 10:22 AM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] WriteLog upgrade policy change come Jan-1st-2001
>
> The idea of charging a yearly fee for "Feature enhanced" upgrades is not
new in
> the software industry. It happens frequently and allows enhancements to
be
> released without delay. If you make any enhancements that I consider
valuable,
> I will be more then happy to purchase the upgrades.
>
> How do you plan to handle "Bug fixes" in 10.22B (I assume this is the last
release
> for 2000) after the end of the year?
>
> Les Peters, N1SV
>
> "Ron, K5DJ" wrote:
>
> > Hello Everyone, Sometime ago Wayne posted a msg saying WriteLog would
have
> > a policy change for registration codes come Jan 1st 2001. Time is
almost here
> > and I figured I better make a posting since some of you will be losing
the
> > ability to install upgrades come Jan 1st. This is because your
registration
> > code has run over One Year of free upgrades.
> >
> > Naturally you can use WL with the last version you downloaded forever if
you
> > don't want to upgrade. If you do want to continue getting Upgrades from
our
> > reflector announcements, or web page, you will need to pay a $30.00
upgrade
> > fee, come Jan 1st. Then you will be able to continue getting upgrades
for
> > another year. There are many reasons for this. In the past kept Ver-8
for
> > about 14 months. Ver-9 for 13 months. Many people e-mail me or call me
> > asking when a new version coming out. New customers don't want to pay
for
> > Ver-10 if Ver-11 is just around the corner. We would like to eliminate
this
> > question or concern.
> >
> > What we are going to do is, once any customer has purchased WL he will
> > never have to pay the new price for first time customers. When a
customer
> > purchases WL he/she can install WL updates for One Year. All other WL
> > customers get the same.. After your 12 months of free upgrades expires,
> > you have another 12 months to buy an upgrade for a $30.00 upgrade fee.
If
> > you go more than 24 months without an upgrade, the price for an upgrade
> > goes up to $50.00.
> >
> > Then you will have another year of upgrades for free no matter what they
> > are. If we should come out with a new Version you get it free, just like
> > it was an update. No matter what it is we come out with you will get if
> > free.
> >
> > On the other hand if your happy with what you have. WL will continue to
> > work just like it is now without getting a new registration code.
Example:
> > If you're happy with WL now and don't upgrade in 2001 and we come out
with
> > something you can't live with out in 2002 then you would have to pay
$50.00
> > to upgrade since you missed one upgrade year.. However, $50.00 will be
the
> > most you ever have to pay for WL if your a previous user of any version
> > starting with Ver-8. If you didn't upgrade for 3, 4 or 5 years, $50.00
would
> > be the most you ever have to pay to upgrade to the current version. Any
> > current customer starting with Ver-8 will never have to pay for a full
> > version again, no matter what the "New User" cost of WriteLog is at that
> > time..
> >
> > This policy change gives us the ability to keep you up to date with the
> > latest features like we have in the past, but without having to hold
back
> > features for a new version ever 13 to 14 months. So we don't have any
plans
> > to withhold features in favor of a new version. We have plenty of room
in
> > Ver-10 to keep adding features etc..
> >
> > To install the first WL update in 2001, those of you that purchased WL
> > between January and September 2000 will need a new code even though the
> > one you have is less than 12 months old. For the price of your upgrade,
> > we will prorate the months you have already paid for at $2.50 per month.
> > Note: This applies only to those who purchased WL between January 2000
> > and September 2000. This sort of thing won't happen again in 2002 we
will
> > be a little better prepaired in 2002.
> >
> > At this time you can get 10.22B for free.. Address is below and it will
> > work with you current registration code.. Address is below.. It's also
on
> > our Web Page under Downloads..
> >
> > http://www.writelog.com/Downloads/WL1022BUPG.ZIP
> >
> > 73, de Ron K5DJ
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > WWW: http://www.writelog.com/
> > Submissions: writelog@contesting.com
> > Administrative requests: writelog-REQUEST@contesting.com
> > Problems: owner-writelog@contesting.com
>
>
> --
> WWW: http://www.writelog.com/
> Submissions: writelog@contesting.com
> Administrative requests: writelog-REQUEST@contesting.com
> Problems: owner-writelog@contesting.com
>
--
WWW: http://www.writelog.com/
Submissions: writelog@contesting.com
Administrative requests: writelog-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-writelog@contesting.com
|