ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license • Hacker News Board

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#181

Post by matsemann » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:50 PM UTC

ejb999 wrote: post #123

Someone1234 wrote: post #55

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…

+1 for naming jetbrains - I have always liked their way of doing business, including the substantial discount to renew each year - even in years when I don't use their tools much, I renew. Also specifically like how they remind me many times , and many months in advance that they are going to charge my credit card on my renewal date - unlike the scumbag companies that never want to draw attention to your upcoming ren…

JetBrains actually ended up with this model after a lot of pushback when they tried changing their model a few years ago. But it's good that they listened, and now are even touted as the go-to best-practice.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#182

Post by oh_sigh » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:51 PM UTC

fnordpiglet wrote: post #176

brvsft wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

We have courts of law that determine fact, and if the behavior isn’t criminal, we have civil courts as well. For professionals we have ethics boards and censuring processes. But do we really want to set up a system where people vote people out of their careers with no review or process? How do you prevent this from being abused? Or worse expanding beyond the original remit to more facets of life? There’s a reason we…

Well, the system could be entirely individualized. Not like an ad blocker where you download a list of neer-do-well urls curated by unknown people.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#183

Post by PinguTS » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #99

krisoft wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, bu…

I am a happy Affinity user myself. I just have version 1 for the simple fact, that version 2 doesn't run on any of my computers. My main is a MacPro 3,1 with Catalina.

My wife, has a MacBook Pro M1. She brought version 2.

New we have the problem, that version 1 cannot work with the files of version 2.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#184

Post by kop316 » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:55 PM UTC

HiJon89 wrote: post #4

wowyallsuck wrote: post #2

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.

My Plex lifetime pass is still going strong

Same here. I purchased it in 2013.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#185

Post by ihateyouall123 » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:55 PM UTC

freeone3000 wrote: post #95

fnordpiglet wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What exactly does "being held accountable" mean? I hear this a lot and this statement seems empty

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#186

Post by mnw21cam » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:56 PM UTC

annoyingnoob wrote: post #147

Someone1234 wrote: post #55

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…

A perpetual license does not have to come with perpetual updates, it just has to keep working as-is. Seems completely reasonable, want the new version or updates then buy them.

The problem with that is security bugs.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#187

Post by jollyllama » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:56 PM UTC

So there was a change in ownership that precipitated this. I can understand the author was wronged. But what if things were done slightly differently, i.e. the owner of ManyCam EOL'd the product, sold his business, and a "new" equivalent product were released? Technically, the agreement wouldn't be violated in the same way, but the effect would be the same. Would the author be just as upset, or would this be more understandable?

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#188

Post by i-use-nixos-btw » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

dangerboysteve wrote: post #154

The OP writes, "ManyCam is a software that does several things, I needed it to be able to use a webcam in two applications at the same time.". I believe the free and open source OBS studio does this. I understand this is not the main point of the article.

Yeah, this is where I’m completely lost. You don’t need to do much use a webcam in two applications at the same time. If you want some additional features VLC can handle it easily. If you want the bells and whistles then OBS. All FOSS.

So I don’t understand the value add - is it used for more than is being described, or if there’s legitimately a piece of software that does something so trivial yet people are actually paying for it.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#189

Post by pdpi » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 3:01 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #99

krisoft wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, bu…

If you use Affinity Photo for photo work, what do you use for library management? It's basically the only thing keeping me on Lightroom.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#190

Post by AlwaysRock » Wed, Apr 12, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

I get very wary of lifetime licenses because when companies start offering them it often means they are scrambling for cash. The lifetime of the product might be six months or less from when you purchase.