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ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

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Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#71

Post by toastal »

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…

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

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#72

Post by elbigbad »

MrGilbert wrote: post #15

Happy Scale, a weight tracking app I really enjoy, had the opposite example: I bought a full license for some bucks some years ago, and later they decided to switch to a subscription based model to ensure funding. Instead of going the "hey, here is a new version of the app, you need to subscribe now", they explicitly included a thank-you note directed at everyone that bought the "Premium In-App Purchase" at the begin…

BrainFM (or Brain.FM) (which I really like for focus work time, and sleeping), did this. In 2016 I spent a lot for a one time purchase lifetime unlimited and years later they moved to monthly subscription and continue to honor the lifetime purchase I made. Very happy about this and still use it regularly.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#73

Post by MoSattler »

MrGilbert wrote: post #15

Happy Scale, a weight tracking app I really enjoy, had the opposite example: I bought a full license for some bucks some years ago, and later they decided to switch to a subscription based model to ensure funding. Instead of going the "hey, here is a new version of the app, you need to subscribe now", they explicitly included a thank-you note directed at everyone that bought the "Premium In-App Purchase" at the begin…

I mean as far as apps go - happy scale has been top-notch, in terms of value delivered AND business practices. Been a happy subscriber for years.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#74

Post by trevvr »

I feel complete sympathy. I have a "perpetual" license for Minitab 15. Can I install it in a VM? Yes. Can I activate it? Nope? Can it be used without activation? Nope! So it's useless and has been now for years.

Minitab's solution was to offer me a 10% discount on a new pay by month license.

No thanks, I'm off to pandas and for quick investigations I'm using Wizard for OSX which is absolutely blow your socks off amazing the first time you slice and dice a record set and do comparative analysis with them looking over your shoulder. https://www.wizardmac.com

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#75

Post by great_reversal »

Nearly a decade ago, transitapp.com had a premium app that costed $2.99 to buy. Most users opted for free options, but I saw the value in the app and bought it. The company later switched to a free model, and then more recently a subscription model. I tried getting customer service to honour the lifetime license, but they only offered 1 year of subscription for their Royal plan.

I've had other lifetime licenses that have been honoured even after those companies shifted to subscriptions. I always feel bad using the Transit app because of that experience. Wouldn't recommend.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#76

Post by xeromal »

toastal wrote: post #71
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…

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

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#77

Post by Retric »

lkschubert8 wrote: post #65
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…

Isn't pay per usage viable for value via web or does that fall under subscription? I tend to think of subscription as a monthly/annual payment for access.

Pay per use has terrible incentives for pure software.

It’s more reasonable if there’s an end product at the end. But you don’t want to discourage people using your 3D printing service because your bundling software access that people might not need.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#78

Post by kevincox »

richrichardsson wrote: post #56
RugnirViking wrote: post #36

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.

I can understand you being pissed having paid for it, and I don't want to come across as a simp, but... if you play regularly enough to advance through the "rocket pass" you earn enough credits to pay the next season's pass. I only ever paid that one off £7.99 or whatever it was and always get far enough through. I guess it's a tax on people who either not very good or don't play often enough. Still sucks that going…

I don't think the problem is I paid for it and now it is free. That is not a big deal to me (but a small thank you something would be nice).

The bigger issue is that they degraded the game because of the free players and subjected those who paid to the same ads and noise that you wouldn't expect from a free game.

For example I paid for TF2 and don't really care that it is free now. They do give me an occasional crate to tempt me to buy a key but it is fairly unobtrusive (and I think they had that before it went free anyways). If I was asked to buy stuff after every game I would be quite upset and would like my money back.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#79

Post by krisoft »

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…

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 will probably do both.

I guess they could also let go a portion of their developers and keep a skeleton crew around to maintain the product at current But that is not a realistic prospect for many reasons.

People talked about this regarding Photoshop. They said the new features are cool, but far from necessary, which made users stick with "old" but perfectly fine versions. The rumour was that that forced Adobe to change to a subscription model. But of course I don't have any first hand knowledge so it might be false.

Re: ManyCam dishonored my lifetime license

#80

Post by ivanmontillam »

Slightly related to the topic, but another way to screw up the customer it's when a web hosting company offers "free, unlimited shared hosting."

We all know it's technically impossible. Once your typical-day WordPress weighs more than 5 GB, they'll be calling you urgently to split it up or increase the supposedly unlimited plan.

Wasn't it unlimited? We all know unlimited server resources don't exist, especially not for $3/month.

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