Why some merchants force the clients to upgrade to new versions of their software? (rant)

[radhika]

Warriors,

I don't want to name anybody/anything in here. Just my rant ... and ofcourse need your opinion.

I bought a software 5 years back for $100.00. Remember ... they were offereing free upgrades at that time with NO support charge per year.

After couple of years they said to upgrade by paying $250.00. I was so dependent on this software, I went ahead and bought it and start paying 'n' amount per year for support and upgrades.

Now they are upgrading it again by asking another $300.00 with regular yearly supporting fee. What is this? They are sayng they will stop supporting it after 6 months.

As a software seller I know scripts need upgrades, fixes etc etc. But charging so much??? Forcing to upgrade??? Instead they should offer two versions who wants to stay with present upgrade. I am OK with the present features. So why I need this upgrade?

Is my thinking wrong? I am expecting too much???

.

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by radhika

Warriors,

I don't want to name anybody/anything in here. Just my rant ... and ofcourse need your opinion.

I bought a software 5 years back for $100.00. Remember ... they were offereing free upgrades at that time with NO support charge per year.

After couple of years they said to upgrade by paying $250.00. I was so dependent on this software, I went ahead and bought it and start paying 'n' amount per year for support and upgrades.

Now they are upgrading it again by asking another $300.00 with regular yearly supporting fee. What is this? They are sayng they will stop supporting it after 6 months.

As a software seller I know scripts need upgrades, fixes etc etc. But charging so much??? Forcing to upgrade??? Instead they should offer two versions who wants to stay with present upgrade. I am OK with the present features. So why I need this upgrade?

Is my thinking wrong? I am expecting too much???

.

Sounds to me like you need the upgrade because they have bills to pay and you've become dependent on the software.

I'd start looking for a replacement, or resigning myself to paying whatever they decide to charge.

[handyman]

Why some merchants force the clients to upgrade to new versions of their software?

To get more money out of your pockets

[Jeff Henshaw]

If the software works fine, then stick with that version. The problems arise, where security patches are required over time and/or versions of the base operating systems change such as revised versions of Windows, Linux, PHP, MySql and so on. Then you have to take some sort of action, or risk major problems.

When I had a JOB, I sometimes got involved in developing specifications for software applications (not the detail of the coding, operating, LAN or WAN issues) and the associated tender and evaluation processes. These ranged from small projects of £30,000 or so to projects of many hundreds of thousands of pounds (sterling).

One thing (of many) that was always built into any contract was an escrow agreement. A copy of the original source code had to be lodged with a trusted third party. This meant that whatever happened to the Company, the original code was available to all purchasers of the software.

Yes, you can run with trusted suppliers, I do that now, as I can't personally justify spending the sums of money that companies I worked with spent, as I mentioned above. There is always the danger though that the trusted supplier could go out of business, suffer ill health (if they are a 'one man band'), or be bought out by another company who will not honor your 'gentleman's agreement' with the former owner.

All this probably appears irrelevant, but what I am trying to say is that if your business absolutely depends upon specific software, then you should have a proper contract in place. Not just terms and conditions of use that you except/agree to as provided by the vendor (which usually only protect the vendor), but a legally enforceable contract that protects all parties.

These sort of areas can be very difficult for the small business enreprenur, I know.

Bear in mind though, that you will almost certainly need support and upgrades for your software/scripts, whatever path you decide to take.

Just my thoughts and the very best of luck with your current predicament.

Regards,

Jeff Henshaw.

[seasoned]

Originally Posted by radhika

Warriors,

I don't want to name anybody/anything in here. Just my rant ... and ofcourse need your opinion.

I bought a software 5 years back for $100.00. Remember ... they were offereing free upgrades at that time with NO support charge per year.

After couple of years they said to upgrade by paying $250.00. I was so dependent on this software, I went ahead and bought it and start paying 'n' amount per year for support and upgrades.

Now they are upgrading it again by asking another $300.00 with regular yearly supporting fee. What is this? They are sayng they will stop supporting it after 6 months.

As a software seller I know scripts need upgrades, fixes etc etc. But charging so much??? Forcing to upgrade??? Instead they should offer two versions who wants to stay with present upgrade. I am OK with the present features. So why I need this upgrade?

Is my thinking wrong? I am expecting too much???

.

The 5 year upgrade with FREE support was INCREDIBLY generous, ESPECIALLY when you consider how much people take advantage, etc... If they are substantial upgrades, and it is very worthwhile, a couple hundred DOES sound reasonable, and IS common. Last I knew, the standard annual support charge, for FREE calls, was 20% of the purchase price.

By contrast, M/S gives free updates to the REVISION, charges $99/call(last I knew) for support, and charges a price to upgrade versions.

Steve

[zapseo]

As a former software release manager, putting code into escrow is practically a joke. I understand the rationale, but, after thinking long and hard about the practicality of it..it's unclear whether it would be worth the effort to pull the code out of escrow and actually get it to work.

There are SOOOOOO many dependencies on having a piece of code work, because it is so dependent upon the environment that it runs in.

I worked for a company that had part of their product written in Java. Meaning: it was dependent upon the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Well, one revision of the JVM had one unacceptable problem, and the next version up (current, semi-experimental) had another unacceptable problem. Of course, this was determined the night before the "big release" was due. I don't quite remember what they did about it. But it was one of those dot-bomb companies -- but I think it still eeks out a living in the $1 or so range of the stock market.

I remember the Apple spin-off, General Magic (basically, a forerunner to what blackberries are today, although somewhat different) -- in their prospectus they warned about all sorts of dangers that could happen to a software company -- including viruses. Wonder if I still have that prospectus someplace. I was amused. But the prospectus is right-on.

Software's fragile stuff.

It's probably one of the things that drives would-be internet marketers nuts -- but it's nearly impossible to live without.

Live JoyFully!

Judy

[radhika]

Originally Posted by seasoned

The 5 year upgrade with FREE support was INCREDIBLY generous, ESPECIALLY when you consider how much people take advantage, etc... Steve

If that was the case I'd happily upgrade. 5 years back I bought it for 100.00 > after two years (means 3 years back) I paid 250.00 + start paying yearly support. This is after I am promised free upgrades at initial buying. > Now another 300.00 + yearly fee.

I am not saying don't charge 20% per year or so. Like vbulletin does. But every couple of years around 250.00 and 50% of yearly support fee???

Originally Posted by seasoned

If they are substantial upgrades, and it is very worthwhile, a couple hundred DOES sound reasonable, and IS common. Last I knew, the standard annual support charge, for FREE calls, was 20% of the purchase price.

Steve

Not 20% anymore ...

.

[radhika]

Originally Posted by Jeff Henshaw

If the software works fine, then stick with that version. The problems arise, where security patches are required over time and/or versions of the base operating systems change such as revised versions of Windows, Linux, PHP, MySql and so on. Then you have to take some sort of action, or risk major problems.
Regards,

Jeff Henshaw.

They want to discontinue the present version in next few months. So I'd better get my own system up and running rather than paying these ridiculous amount of money.

.

[BIG Mike]

There are valid reasons for doing this, especially if the software is mission critical - and typically these are enterprise scale applications with customized integration with other systems your business might be using. One of the many development products we use costs us $1K per year and is well worth it.

If your business depends on it and they are consistent with ongoing development, you may want to consider the costs of porting your business operation over to new software, the training, the unknowns, etc. - sometimes it's better to stick with the devil you know.

I would say it is high time to find a replacement... If I offered free upgrades then they would be free for life.. As for support I never charge for that and personaly in my opinion I see no reason why someone else would, but to each his/hers own...

I would agree with JohnMcCabe post...

James