wasn't every traditional license where you bought some software that you could use indefinitely a perpetual license? and how many places allowed you to redownload a paid software product multiple times? is filezilla here really out of place. is it not just following the norm? don't most applications work this way? especially the ones who don't implement some kind of license key check? i mean, without a license key system, you can't sell a product and offer it as a free download as well. how would you verify that only those who paid for it can download it? so it doesn't make any sense for this to be an issue.
FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
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Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#42While I understand the author's frustration, I think they should take a moment and look in the mirror. A perpetual license doesn't mean that Filezilla should be a free hosting provider for installation media for eternity. Their reasons really aren't that relevant here. Likewise the rant about Mozilla is completely unfounded. There are many things to be upset at in the modern software world, this is not one of them.
> A perpetual license doesn't mean that Filezilla should be a free hosting provider for installation media for eternity.
Thank you.
This is like people who think $5 is too much for an app. We've become entitled to think software is free because giants pour lots of ad-riddled software in our laps.
You bought the car. You can use the car forever. If you lose it, that's on you.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#43wasn't every traditional license where you bought some software that you could use indefinitely a perpetual license? and how many places allowed you to redownload a paid software product multiple times? is filezilla here really out of place. is it not just following the norm? don't most applications work this way? especially the ones who don't implement some kind of license key check? i mean, without a license key sy…
>and how many places allowed you to redownload a paid software product multiple times?
Better question is which places don't allow unlimited downloads. If you buy office 365, you can download it unlimited amount of times from microsoft. Hell, you can download it unlimited times even if you don't own it, because activation happens after it's installed. Same goes for something like Steam. The only exception is something that comes on physical media, or the company went bankrupt, none of that happened here.
>especially the ones who don't implement some kind of license key check?
they don't?
https://filezillapro.com/docs/v3/licensing/do-i-need-to-acti...
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#44I guess It depends on what the EULA said you bought back then.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#45While I understand the author's frustration, I think they should take a moment and look in the mirror. A perpetual license doesn't mean that Filezilla should be a free hosting provider for installation media for eternity. Their reasons really aren't that relevant here. Likewise the rant about Mozilla is completely unfounded. There are many things to be upset at in the modern software world, this is not one of them.
Filezilla is horrible software compared to software like Transmit. What you have to understand is that someone with no artistic vision sat down and decided to build an FTP client for the masses. Fortunately, vibe coding will fix this. We will have much better software in the future. It will be free. It will be a commodity.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#46While I understand the author's frustration, I think they should take a moment and look in the mirror. A perpetual license doesn't mean that Filezilla should be a free hosting provider for installation media for eternity. Their reasons really aren't that relevant here. Likewise the rant about Mozilla is completely unfounded. There are many things to be upset at in the modern software world, this is not one of them.
Good faith and common sense is being violated. That’s a valid point here.
Good faith ended at sale and support. Common sense isn’t at play because who is going to host installation media for eternity? No. There’s a nothing burger here.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#47This is a blunt warning to anyone who ever purchased, or is thinking about purchasing, FileZilla Pro. I bought FileZilla Pro under a perpetual license - a one-time payment, lifetime right to use the version I purchased. After reinstalling my operating system, I simply needed to reinstall the software I already paid for. Here's what happened: - Support admitted I still have the legal right to use the old version of Fi…
If you bought something from a physical store and lose it doesn't entitle you to go get another one for free...
But we're not discussing an item from a physical store? We're discussing software sold online.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
And instead trust that subscription prices will stay constant and that the company will always stay in business and support the product you purchase? The root issue is trust, not a lifetime license. In fact, a lifetime license is a good predictor of trust because users prefer it to subscriptions and it indicates that the company at least pretends to be interested in the customer's wants. Trust can always be abused, a…
This makes no sense. A lifetime license is convenient conceptually, but it completely detaches your goals (working software) from a company's incentives (provide absolutely zero after initial delivery - everything afterwards is cost without upside). Lifetime licenses are bad for users (cf this post, as just one example). Subscriptions are incentives for companies to keep doing what you want, along with direct consequ…
These are all problems for companies, not users.
Edit: let me give you an example. How much do you pay Valve for a Steam subscription? Zero, because they don't offer one, because that isn't what their customers want. This is Valve, who offers perpetual licenses exclusively, offers steep discounts often, and is worth 10s of billions of dollars. The excuses for why it doesn't work are bullshit peddled by middlemen mouthpieces for suits who believe in nothing. They are redundant leeches. Ignore them and make it work.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#49I have installation media for MS Office 2010 in my desk drawer. If I lose the disc, I wouldn't expect Microsoft to replace it for me. I'm afraid I don't really understand what the author is angry about here.
When the purchase medium is a download link the expectation is that the link keeps working if the company is in business. Give a good reason it shouldn't. Edit: also, list your startups. I like to avoid doing business with people who think this way.
> the expectation is that the link keeps working if the company is in business.
It is hard to keep things running when you're changing and experimenting. It's why Google shutters businesses it finds are not growing - they're a maintenance burden and suck up resources, dragging down other efforts. And that's for a company with near-infinite resources. Imagine sole proprietorships.
Someone has to care and devote time and attention to keep it there. At the expense of other opportunities.
Just because Tim Berners-Lee said "cool URIs don't change" doesn't mean it's practical. Almost everything is temporary and dies. It's okay. Not much in life has permanence.
If you want to hold onto it, archive it.
Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I admit it's a bit shitty, but I can also understand. You could have saved the installer, put it on disk, you could find a copy of it elsewhere, etc. I don't think it makes the idea of the license void, but it's for sure not the nicest customer move.
You can understand what? You're listing workarounds, not justifications. Since it would cost them roughly nothing to keep old installers around forever for paid users, it's really hard to imagine a justification.
The justification is that they sold you a copy of the software with a lifetime license to use that copy. Not a lifetime license to download the installer from them.
It's not customer friendly, but it doesn't seem like it's going back on a promise, unless the license especially called for it.