9 replies to this topic

[neilio]

I just purchased a full license today of Spell Catcher 10.1. Congratulations on the release!

What I'm confused about is the upgrade path to the next version of SCX. Will I need to pay again in three or four months, when the new version is released? How much will I need to pay?

I like the software a lot, and want to support it, but paying a full fee and then an upgrade in less than six months does seem a bit much... but I wanted to get this clarified first.

Thanks!

Neil

[Evan Gross]

neilio, on Feb 10 2004, 03:42 PM, said:

I just purchased a full license today of Spell Catcher 10.1. Congratulations on the release!

What I'm confused about is the upgrade path to the next version of SCX. Will I need to pay again in three or four months, when the new version is released? How much will I need to pay?

I like the software a lot, and want to support it, but paying a full fee and then an upgrade in less than six months does seem a bit much... but I wanted to get this clarified first.

Thanks!

Neil

This is a good question. We currently have a 60 day free upgrade policy (buy within 60 days of an upgrade - get it free).

I know other companies battle with this as well.

Give us your suggestions, we're small enough (and 10.2 is far away enough) that we can figure things out as we go.

There HAS to be a cut-off point somewhere. 60 days is actually quite generous compared to some other companies...

[tbailey]

I, too, am in the same boat as Neil. I'm sure there will be more and more of us who want to buy 10.1 for the first time and wonder how much we may have to pay in a few months. Would it be $15 for us as it is those upgrading from 10.0.1 now? Could we somehow take advantage of the $10 "buy now, save later" deal? It seems 10.1 is as much as a major upgrade from 10.0.1 as 10.2 will be to 10.1, but it was a free upgrade for those who had 10.0.1. Is there a way that NEW purchasers of 10.1 could be identified and given a free upgrade to 10.2?

Just some questions and thougts. I LOVE the program, and am intending to purchase it. You are to be highly commended on this program!!

Tom

[neilio]

I totally understand the need for consistent revenue (I do marketing and design work for a small Mac OS X software developer, too), but I agree with the previous post - it would be really great for users who have purchased 10.1 within the previous 6-8 months to get a free upgrade to 10.2 when it's released. It's pretty unusual to see a major upgrade come so quickly after another has already been released, correct?

That said, I'm totally open to paying a small, reasonable upgrade fee to support development.

[Evan Gross]

neilio, on Feb 11 2004, 12:28 PM, said:

I totally understand the need for consistent revenue (I do marketing and design work for a small Mac OS X software developer, too), but I agree with the previous post - it would be really great for users who have purchased 10.1 within the previous 6-8 months to get a free upgrade to 10.2 when it's released. It's pretty unusual to see a major upgrade come so quickly after another has already been released, correct?

That said, I'm totally open to paying a small, reasonable upgrade fee to support development.

Ok, thanks for the feedback. That's probably what will end up happening.

But not all software companies do this you know - an 8 month window?

I just bought Retrospect a couple months ago, now they upgraded it, and I have to pay for it (lots of folks are unhappy about this, but I can see where they are coming from - backup software is a brutal thing to test).

You buy OS X 10.2 6 months before 10.3 is released, and you pay full price for 10.3.

Not that my little $40 product is anything like the HUGE effort that Apple puts into a new OS release, but there are numerous examples of this sort of thing out there...

[johnny]

Evan,

The software industry is charging more than ever for upgrades/new versions.

Many software buyers resist continually paying for upgrades - at least among those I know. Even the posts on this forum show many users and potenial users seem to want to get some time period for free upgrades, and low cost upgrades after the free period expires.

Could it be that increasing the free upgrade period to a year, and charging existing users a low upgrade fee might sway the "tire kickers" to buy? The resulting loyal and larger user base could provide a long term revenue stream.

I believe that this approach is more logical than the latest upgrade model other software companies are foisting on users. There is more and more resistance discussed on the computer forums as this cost of computing escalates. Many users just live with the "old" version they have, being more likely to move to a competitive program.

Crunch the alternative numbers in your spreadsheet to maximize your revenue over the years.

johnny.

[Evan Gross]

johnny, on Feb 20 2004, 11:30 PM, said:

Evan,

The software industry is charging more than ever for upgrades/new versions.

Many software buyers resist continually paying for upgrades - at least among those I know.  Even the posts on this forum show many users and potenial users seem to want to get some time period for free upgrades, and low cost upgrades after the free period expires.

Could it be that increasing the free upgrade period to a year, and charging existing users a low upgrade fee might sway the "tire kickers" to buy?  The resulting loyal and larger user base could provide a long term revenue stream.

I believe that this approach is more logical than the latest upgrade model other software companies are foisting on users.  There is more and more resistance discussed on the computer forums as this cost of computing escalates.  Many users just live with the "old" version they have, being more likely to move to a competitive program.

Crunch the alternative numbers in your spreadsheet to maximize your revenue over the years.

johnny.

We made a decision. It's in this FAQ.

It will be free for anyone that buys (the full retail) Spell Catcher X 10.1 from us, regardless of the release date of 10.2.

Obviously, anyone that buys the $10-for-10.1-now-get-10.2-free update gets 10.2 free as well (that shouldn't need stating, but you never know).

But you have to look at this from the developer's perspective as well - it costs a lot to develop software. More than ever before. OS X software (same for other modern operating systems) can involve hiring (really good, therefore expensive) graphic artists, technical writers for online help, localization specialists (almost expected these days, and we can't afford them yet), fees for licensed products incorporated into your own - the list goes on.

It's not like it was in the System 7 days - or even OS 8. Especially on OS X and XP, your software has to look really good. The folks I know that specialize in doing icons and all the other graphic and image elements for modern software titles charge and make a whole lot more than I ever could if hired as a contract programmer!

[tvBilly]

Evan, on Feb 21 2004, 12:19 AM, said:

[The 10.2 update] will be free for anyone that buys (the full retail) Spell Catcher X 10.1 from us, regardless of the release date of 10.2.

Obviously, anyone that buys the $10-for-10.1-now-get-10.2-free update gets 10.2 free as well (that shouldn't need stating, but you never know).

But you have to look at this from the developer's perspective as well [snip]

I think the decision you made is a good one. Here's a user's (mine) perspective.

I have used SC forever. Nothing serves my purposes as well. I think so much of it, and have such an appreciation for the effort it must be to keep it working so well, that it never even occured to me to go for the "upgrade". I wanted to pay for a new copy. It's not totally unselfish either; I damn well want to do everything to make sure that SC will be around for me to use in 10.4 and 10.5 too.

When I was buying SC, and noticed the upgrade offer of "$10-for-10.1-now-get-10.2-free", I did feel "penalized" as a full buyer. Obviously I didn't care too much, as I went for the full buy option anyway; it took me all of 2 seconds to decide I'd rather send you full price and an upgrade fee to 10.2 than just a measly ten bucks.

But I did feel penalized for those 2 seconds, and wondered why the 10.2 upgrade for free wasn't extended to new purchasers too. I'm glad to hear that others will no longer experience that 2 second feeling.

Bill S

[paulc]

I think Eudora has an interesting approach. Buy it and you get all updates for a year for free. At the end of that year, you don't HAVE to pay an upgrade fee, the software continues to work. So from the user perspective, you can wait on paying an upgrade fee until there is something compelling being offered. And from Eudora's perspective, they have incentive to move the software forward.

Of course, there is a downside as well. My "year" was up right after 6 was released. So I got 6 (a very major upgrade in that it added a very good spam filter) without having to pay the fee. But it also means that any bug fixes I don't get until I pay up again. Fortunately, even though there have been 2 big fix releases, the things they fixed didn't seem to impact me so I can be patient and wait for "something compelling" before I pay the fee again.

Another possible avenue if you're on an extremely limited budget (i.e. poor) is to go for being a beta tester. Generally speaking, good beta testers get new releases for free. That's their "payment" for the work they do. But you DO have to do the work! Through the first 4 versions of Acrobat, I always got free upgrades... even though I was making good money/had a large enough software budget at work and could easily afford the upgrade. But I screwed it up by not participating as much as I should have and got dropped from the list.

[Evan Gross]

paulc, on Feb 23 2004, 09:23 AM, said:

I think Eudora has an interesting approach. Buy it and you get all updates for a year for free. At the end of that year, you don't HAVE to pay an upgrade fee, the software continues to work. So from the user perspective, you can wait on paying an upgrade fee until there is something compelling being offered. And from Eudora's perspective, they have incentive to move the software forward.

Sure - as long as the software is working for you, paid upgrades are optional. Not everyone always has to have the latest-and-greatest version of everything they own. This doesn't just apply to software - I know for me it's always a bit of an issue with electronic gadgets (bought a Handspring Treo 180, skipped the 270, but HAD TO HAVE the Treo 600 - right tvbilly?), computer hardware (to a lesser extent - it's more expensive, so I only upgrade whenever my preferred model's (PowerBook) speed doubles, but I buy the best possible model at the time). For some folks (that have way too much money) it might be cars.

Quote

Of course, there is a downside as well. My "year" was up right after 6 was released. So I got 6 (a very major upgrade in that it added a very good spam filter) without having to pay the fee. But it also means that any bug fixes I don't get until I pay up again.

There are always going to be folks that miss the qualification window by just a few days. The typical "it broke just after my warranty expired" problem. What happens in this situation often depends on the manufacturer. I blew a head gasket on my car when it was 5 years old or so (but quite low mileage - I work at home). This was going to be a really expensive repair. I took it into my dealer, they asked the manufacturer (Audi) about it - and the response was "there is no way that should have happened with an engine that has so few kilometers on it". Even though I was out of warranty for 2 years, they fixed it free. Something similar happened with the catalytic converter - they covered half the cost. If anything happened now though (the car is 11 years old) I'd be toast, of course.

Getting somewhat off topic here... time to build a new component.