rivorson wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:50 pm
mattiasNYC wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:44 am
The difference being that the companies that I support and have invested in by buying their products don't take close to a decade to release their new version, and once they announce a new version they don't take even over a year to get that out. I suppose we have different expectations on what is reasonable here.
Would you be happier if there were major releases every year, forcing regular licences to expire frequently? Maybe we could have MMW2017, MMW2018, MMW2019, MMW2020, each forcing you to buy a new licence even though very little has changed.
Nobody is forced to upgrade with normal software companies. You buy a license, it is perpetual for the version you are on. If a new version comes out in 6 months or 6 years makes no difference to that license, it's still valid and there's no "force" to upgrade, just an option.
rivorson wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:50 pmOr adopt Google Chrome's approach (v75 in 10 years) and say that every little bug fix is a major version and therefore the old licence doesn't cover the new version.
So in your view it's either one or the other? That's a very limited view of how things work.
Like I said, the companies that I support and have invested in provide me with updates every 12-18 months. When the new ones are release they contain major feature upgrades. I'm not forced to upgrade, I can do so by choice. These companies typically also offer a grace period for those who bought the previous version close to the release of the new one, as well as offer discounts for upgrades as opposed to new purchases.
Further more any company with a good reputation will support the current and previous version with bug fixes for some reasonable amount of time, which has been my experience. There are exceptions, but they're really tarnishing the reputation of the company and they do their best to avoid that.
So it's not black or white. There's a better way of doing this.
rivorson wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:50 pmVentis has been most reasonable in making the V4 license last so long so that users don't have to pay extra, but the benefit of the lifetime license is in the name; it lasts a lifetime. Even though MM4 has lasted nearly 8 years now, the lifetime license will still cover you for the next 20+ years.
You're not paying attention it seems. The issue isn't with the concept of a lifetime license, it's with the long time before a new release. Who cares one bit if you get a lifetime license that lasts for 20+ years if the next release is in 20 years? It's not even about the money at that point.
rivorson wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:50 pmmattiasNYC wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:50 am
And it would have been "nicer" and more "honest" (please note the "") to have simply provided either a "donate" button for users like you and others to donate to future development without any 'strings attached', or made the next version a GoFundMe project. Those options would have been more "up front" in my opinion.
GoFundMe didn't even exist until at least 7 years after Ventis started selling lifetime licenses.
So?
Now it exists. Donating was a possible option long before GoFundMe. Don't get hung up on one mechanism for donation. It's about the principle.