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ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

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Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#91
post #3

Wondering the last few years how long my Plex lifetime pass will last now.

Plex' lifetime pass is iirc tied to major versioning. You'll have lifetime for as long as 2.x is the version they're on, but if they ever release 3.x, it's time to open your wallet again. No promises were made at the time on if you can stay on 2.x forever.

Extremely scummy move, they changed those terms in 2017 if I recall and got a ton of flak for it.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#92
post #76
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I pay to get extra years of software updates on Android yet? The 2-year support thing is awful.

That's more of a manufacturer choice. The pixel and top-tier samsung lines both get 6 years of security updates

Six years of updates is also too short, in my book. PCs regularly last for over a decade.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#93

I just want to state outright that OP was wronged, and I side with them. 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 favor…

Perhaps the biggest reason for me for the lifetime license (I also have a Leanpub one) is to have less invoices [0] - the reason I also prefer 12month subscription options. One thing I hate about being a freelancer is grabbing all invoices for my accountant.

[0] Also everyone please name the invoice file YYMMDD--.pdf ;-) and send them via email, don't make me log in

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great idea! A while back I had an idea to maybe scrape Linkedin(or download one of their numerous dumps) to help "track" executive movement from company to company and set alerts if I use products from the new company so I can have a heads up before they inevitably turn to shit. Alternatively, I was also looking to expand this to when companies get bought out by those vulture capital "management" firms as t…

Can’t wait for the social credit score determining people’s career prospects!

People must be held accountable for their actions; if it cannot be through self-governance, their reputation must meet needs.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great idea! A while back I had an idea to maybe scrape Linkedin(or download one of their numerous dumps) to help "track" executive movement from company to company and set alerts if I use products from the new company so I can have a heads up before they inevitably turn to shit. Alternatively, I was also looking to expand this to when companies get bought out by those vulture capital "management" firms as t…

Can’t wait for the social credit score determining people’s career prospects!

Making unethical business decisions that negatively impact customers is a bit different from jaywalking.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#97

The problem with such betrayal is, that companies names are all but smoke and mirrors by now. The reputational damage should be tracking with the leading employees. One customer betrayal travels along with the manager who caused it, to whatever company s/he touches. No matter how the company is named, no matter how much branding, one linked in api roll call later you know what you got.

We once used a large SaaS company with very bad service and very bad customer support. They changed their name and we joked they only did it so people googling them would not find the old stuff.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#98
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In practice after a few months the web server hosting your NFT's image goes down and it's broken.

Oh I understand that. The server doesn't even need to go down, a specific NFT can simply be blacklisted. I was asking to see if there is something I'm missing.

You missed that the thread OP was trolling.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#99
post #79

I just want to state outright that OP was wronged, and I side with them. 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 favor…

I see your point, and I largely agree with you. One trickynes is with the "This incentivizes them to deliver value" part. The problem is that if the software just "works" and there are no compelling new features the user will quite rationally stop buying new updates. Which incentivises the developer to make sure that either the software never really "just works" or that they hype up new features to create FOMO. They…

Perhaps a good case study here is/will be Affinity. They produce graphics software competing directly with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, and their core differentiator is that they don't do subscriptions - you pay up front, and get a regular, perpetual license in return. Few months ago, they released version 2 of their software suite. There are some new features and a host of UI and performance improvements, but otherwise, the software is substantially the same as version 1. It would be interesting to learn what their current breakdown of {new users, users who upgraded to v2, users who stuck to v1} is.

Myself, I upgraded only Affinity Photo to v2, because I wanted to play with non-destructive workflow that's enabled by some of the new features. I studied their product page extensively, and couldn't find anything else particularly compelling, at least not for my limited (and non-professional) use cases. v1 is still a fine product.

(OK, I admit, 50% of the reason I upgraded, and 100% of the reason I bought the whole v1 suite in the first place, is because it's nice to do business with someone who isn't abusing their customers with subscriptions for a change.)

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#100

I just want to state outright that OP was wronged, and I side with them. 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 favor…

> 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."

Fully agree, I think this fair for the customer as well as the supplier.

I know enterprise customers demand guarantees for [years] of updates, but I think in the B2C world "You're buying the current version and updates as long as we provide them." is also a fair alternative. A good example for this kind of offering is the Reaper DAW.

This model is not as good for the customer as your version but as an indy developer I'd rather not promise [years] of support even if it is highly likely that I will provide it.

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