51–60 of 311 posts
The OP states “the reason I tell all my CTO coachees they need everything in writing from their boss in their contract, a new boss will probably only honor what is written down, not spoken promises.” However, he seems to have ignored his own advice and not understood the ManyCam EULA. “… This license is in effect until one of the parties terminates the license. You may terminate the license by no longer using the Man…
Has any company’s “lifetime” license lasted more than, say 5 years? 10? (I mean for software that is updated or requires a server of course). I like the jetbrains model well enough.
The OP states “the reason I tell all my CTO coachees they need everything in writing from their boss in their contract, a new boss will probably only honor what is written down, not spoken promises.” However, he seems to have ignored his own advice and not understood the ManyCam EULA. “… This license is in effect until one of the parties terminates the license. You may terminate the license by no longer using the Man…
Lifetime perpetual licence!*
*but we can cancel any time without any penalty lol teehee
is not enforceable? I don't think it would fly in court where I live, it doesn't matter if it was in a signed contract if it's preposterously unfair.
edit: and I don't even necessarily think a lifetime licence is something a company should offer, they are quite unfair on the developer. It's a big commitment to say you'll support some software in perpetuity. But the solution to that is to not offer a lifetime licence. It's not to just outright lie and say you are when you aren't. And if you're one company looking to buy another, you buy those contracts along with it and should take that into account in your due diligence.
That being said; I dislike both full subscription (i.e. breaks on expiration) and lifetime licenses. Subscriptions are too expensive for software that rarely gets major investment and lifetime licenses are dishonest (e.g. company cannot work for free, so their funded is based on unlimited growth, which isn't realistic for most).
My current favorite business model is the "You're buying the current version and [years] of updates." Then typically you'll get some discount to renew your "[years] more of updates." This incentivizes them to deliver value, or you'll just stick with whatever version you purchased. Your software keeps working no matter what ("lifetime"). One example of someone who does this well is Jetbrains, but there are several companies.
Obviously subscription is the only option if they're delivering most of the value via a web-service of some kind (e.g. ChatGPT Plus).
reminds me of games like rocket league that I once paid for, which have now gone free to play and nag and beg me to buy "premium subscription". Not on your nelly. Its infinitely worse than never having done it at all.
They are usually called "Lifetime for now, but there is no law that forbids us from changing the terms later down the line" license, but it's shortened to just Lifetime license for convenience. Don't trust any lifetime agreement. And conversely, anyone that sells lifetime licenses to me sounds really naive and that they have no idea what they're doing. It's not a sign of a mature business.
The OP states “the reason I tell all my CTO coachees they need everything in writing from their boss in their contract, a new boss will probably only honor what is written down, not spoken promises.” However, he seems to have ignored his own advice and not understood the ManyCam EULA. “… This license is in effect until one of the parties terminates the license. You may terminate the license by no longer using the Man…
"You agree any legal dispute involving ManyCam services and software must take place in the state or federal courts in Montreal, Quebec."
and
"You consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in Montreal, Quebec and waive the defense of forum non convenience."
and yet
"If a U.S. court finds any part of this license agreement unenforceable then the remainder of the agreement will continue intact and in full force and effect."
Basically, it's your typical "We have rights, you have no rights" kind of contract. If the OP had even briefly scanned that "agreement" (and let's face it, most of us don't) I'm sure they would have realised that their "lifetime" license had no legs.
The OP states “the reason I tell all my CTO coachees they need everything in writing from their boss in their contract, a new boss will probably only honor what is written down, not spoken promises.” However, he seems to have ignored his own advice and not understood the ManyCam EULA. “… This license is in effect until one of the parties terminates the license. You may terminate the license by no longer using the Man…
Visicom is the new owner, right? So that's a new policy, as in not the one he agreed to when he signed up for a lifetime license.
“ManyCam is now under new ownership. […] Visicom Media stands by the Lifetime customers and will continue to support them by arranging with the new owner for a total of two years of free subscription."
Wondering the last few years how long my Plex lifetime pass will last now.
If that is successful you might just see them scrap charging entirely.