Centroid CNC Software Licensing Upgrade Announcement

[grossmsj]

If every release was similar to 5.2, I'd take option #1. That was a pretty big deal!
If they look more like 5.3 (including everything after 5.2), option #2.
These are pretty stark differences, but my personal satisfaction comes down to the value I'm paying for. I don't need to reflexively update.

[Black Forest]

Buy it once, use it as long as you like. Spend a few $$ if/when you want the new version.

nice way to quickly get the point across.


if we decide to not allow the skipping version for same price aspect of the License model. then i would be inclined to lower the price.

so here is a survey for everyone.

Would you like a lower price for new version features but have a new feature charge for each major release? (no skipping of version charges)

or

Higher price and allow skipping of minor version upgrade charges. (one cost to update a license version within a Major series. skipping example v5.30 to v5.50.0 which skips over v5.40.0)

I am going with Abraham Lincoln, "You can make some of the people happy all of the time. All of the people some of the time but not all of the people happy all of the time."

Do what is easiest for you Keith. What makes sense financially and reduces work on the support side of things.

[RJS100]

I second Black Forest opinion. I ran a small business for 35 years. A business is not a hobby even if you love running it. You have to do what makes sense financially, being sure you are being profitable every step of the way.

[Spartan117]

I'm more with the higher price and allowance for skipping, to be honest.
Better make your upgrades attractive through nice features that most of the users want, than through rising costs over the time, i think.
The other variant feels like a punishment for not needing the older versions that you have missed...

I am also afraid, if the "jump" to a newer version, maybe after just missing some of the smaller steps because of not looking after it for some time, becomes more and more expensive the longer you wait, many users won't go that step anymore at all.
And I'm in doubt that much people are willing to pay for stuff, that they didn't need or want.

And, if more users would avoid upgrades at all, just because of exploded costs for missing upgrades too long, you also wouldn't get that much feedback anymore. I don't think most of the Centroid-Users have their second life here in the forum and are always waiting for upgrades. For most of the users it is only a tool, that they are using to get what they really want.

Testing via dedicated testers is only one part of the game. Every tester only has his certain setup that won't change all to often, so maybe you would loose much feedback on the real reliability and functionality of your features, when less users would upgrade at all, just because it has become too expensive to go that step. And the longer they try to save up, the more expensive it would become?

If an upgrade is always the same (higher) price, a user knows and can calculate with it, how much to save for that.
And he can buy when he is able and willing to do so.
And if he needs more time to save enough, he still can catch up sometime. But if every version while he is saving money makes it more expensive, maybe he could never catch up?

Think of that bug of CNC12 with my Emcoturn a few years ago. I suffered from a bug in the tool-measurement-routine, when working with measuring ID-tools with a machine coming from the rear, if i remember correctly.
No one of the testers did find that bug, because no one used that combination yet. If bigger jumps in Version-history would cost more money, and therefor more users would avoid that step, such bugs could increase and draw a long tail through your software-history, making it more and more complicated to solve.
Just because of a shrinked actual-users-community that can give fewer feedback on seldom combinations?

Again, just my 2ct, not offending anything or anyone here. And please excuse the long postings, it's kind of hard for me to write the things how i really want them to be understood in english, so i hope to clear it up a bit with using more words^^

Marc

[suntravel]

Bug fixes are free, new features not,

And sure a testing person will not find all possible bugs, but I try my best and any bug I have not detected is a personal waterloo for me

Uwe