Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 140 posts

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#71

Post by Tostino »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #38
Tostino wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Maintaining a perpetual archive for the convenience of those that don't do backups is not part of a typical licensing agreement. It is a nice thing to do, but unless a perpetually accessible hosted file service is what you bought, it is reasonable for the company to stop hosting copies of software that they no longer sell. Some people might believe differently, and some companies might do it out of the goodness of th…

I absolutely conceded that it is not legally required.

I just don't want to do business with people who think that's an ethical way to do things. The hosting excuse is pathetic. Learn to do your job and it isn't something you need to think about more than once every half decade.

I had to maintain a full build artifact history of my old app. It "just worked" for years and years without thinking twice, and cost a handful of dollars a month for a few TB of build artifacts.

For most apps that aren't continual delivery, it's way fewer artifacts to handle so way less data...a couple dollars a month at most.

Really, what excuse do you have for that other than screwing people who previously trusted you enough to do business with you?

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#72

Post by lobito25 »

tim-- wrote: post #22
lobito25 wrote: post #2

This 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…

So, going to https://filezilla-project.org/prodownload.php?beta=0 and entering your email address and order number doesn't work?

No, it says expired.

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#73

Post by f33d5173 »

unsnap_biceps wrote: post #70
jeroenhd wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Hosting licensed copies of software is the norm. Steam does it, Google does it, Apple does it, EA and Ubisoft do it, and all of them host much larger software (including free updates) than FileZilla. Maybe hosting 5GiB image downloads on a dedicated web portal the same way Microsoft does is a bit much to ask, but this is nothing. We're talking 50 megabytes of storage here, per version. They can save thems…

> Hosting licensed copies of software is the norm. Steam does it, Google does it, Apple does it, EA and Ubisoft do it Correct me if I'm wrong, but they do not store previous versions for you to choose, only the current version.

If you have an iphone on an old version of ios, you can install the latest version of some software you bought/downloaded for free compatible with that ios version.

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#74

Post by gruez »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #69
gruez wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we're not discussing an item from a physical store? We're discussing software sold online.

Why do you think there is any difference? Did servers and backups and data centers and electricity and cooling and ups batteries and generators and facility operators and banwidth all become free while I wasn't looking?

They're going to need "servers and backups and data centers and electricity and cooling and ups batteries and generators and facility operators and banwidth" regardless, because they're still selling licenses. The cost of providing downloads to existing owners is marginal.

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#75

Post by Johnnynator »

unsnap_biceps wrote: post #70
jeroenhd wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Hosting licensed copies of software is the norm. Steam does it, Google does it, Apple does it, EA and Ubisoft do it, and all of them host much larger software (including free updates) than FileZilla. Maybe hosting 5GiB image downloads on a dedicated web portal the same way Microsoft does is a bit much to ask, but this is nothing. We're talking 50 megabytes of storage here, per version. They can save thems…

> Hosting licensed copies of software is the norm. Steam does it, Google does it, Apple does it, EA and Ubisoft do it Correct me if I'm wrong, but they do not store previous versions for you to choose, only the current version.

Steam often provides every version of a product. (The ui has no option to download them, but you can fetch them via the builtin console)

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#76

Post by Brian_K_White »

lobito25 wrote: post #2

This 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…

Buddy. "This is a blunt warning", the reasonable and unreasonable parties in this story are not what you seem to think.

No one owes you a perpetual backup. Not even the people who sold you the first copy.

You are not prevented from reinstalling your os or filezilla by anything but your own apparent dipshittery.

You bought something and then threw it away, and now you cry that you don't have it, and then as if that wasn't ridiculous enough already, you then try to blame this on the vendor.

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#77

Post by Brian_K_White »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #15
didibus wrote: post #4

Earlier 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.

Just like it would cost you roughly nothing to keep exactly the same copy in your own backups. So why didn't you if it was so effortless and free?

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#78

Post by Dylan16807 »

didibus wrote: post #50
Dylan16807 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's a reason they're not legally obligated. It doesn't make me understand their actions in the sympathetic sense, and the sympathetic sense is how I interpreted "but I can also understand".

It doesn't explain the choice they made. "Legally they could" applies equally to removing the download and keeping the download.

The only reason I can think of, to make me understand in a much more derogatory sense, is they want to give a deliberately bad experience to customers that didn't give them money recently enough, trying to make them buy again to keep using the software.

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#79

Post by lobito25 »

FileZilla refused to give me a copy of the version I purchased for 'security reasons,' even though they were already updating the version installed on my system, so it makes little sense to deny me access to the app. It is also worth noting that in the first email I received from them, they had already offered me a discount coupon to buy a new version. I strongly believe the decision to withhold a copy of the software is driven by financial motives rather than security concerns.

Re: FileZilla Pro "Perpetual License" – A Warning to All Users

#80

Post by Brian_K_White »

viraptor wrote: post #9
cosmotic wrote: post #5

Sounds like all software from the 70s through 00's. Did they ever claim they would hold a backup of the installer?

There's a difference between "we don't have it anymore" and "we won't provide it for security reasons". They're not the same.

There is no difference. They are exatly the same, because they don't owe you a rationale that you approve of. Even if they offered no rationale at all it changes nothing because they don't owe you anything. You paid, you got, you're both done.
Post reply on HN