Damn, he pulled a “Secure Custom Fields” on Automattic.
What's this in reference to? Sounds mildly interesting
They forked the open source project. ACF was forked as SCF.
Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
91–100 of 150 posts
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think they're complaining about a lack of updates
There’s no universe in which people like this don’t complain. Release Pocket Caste 2 and they’ll complain. Sub and they’ll complain. Don’t update and they’ll complain. HN is highly sympathetic to the plight of the open source dev who rage quits because people demand too much for free. This is basically the same thing. I know this will get downvotes. But I’m not wrong.
There are very obvious, important differences between the options they had available. Both in terms of general user expectations for end of life apps, as well as concrete promises made to their customers to make a sale.
Do you apply the same sort of lazy false equivalence to all moral and ethical questions? People will always complain, therefore you can do anything!
I don't think I've ever complained about an app going out of business and discontinuing updates, but I don't have any patience when they take active steps to renege on their promises by adding ads or taking features away - that's just fraud.
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
So how about those free refills at McDonalds? Clearly you have the right to return there every day for the rest of your life and fill up hundreds of cups each time. After all, it is in the agreement between both parties, so go for it!
That's an apples and oranges comparison. While the timeline isn't explicitly stated, free refills are implied that it's for the duration of your visit. In fact you can see the implication given that's how it's used most of the time. Telling someone they'll get "lifetime" access for a one-time payment is not the same.
In fact, if I was told I had purchased lifetime free refills, I would expect I could obtain a refill during any visit without purchase.
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are (or were, at the time they had that slogan) an Australian company. I am an Australian citizen. Under Australian Consumer Law, an advertisement is absolutely legally binding. https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-and-promotions...
So if an Australian ad tells something is "the best" or something similar and you can prove it isn't, you can get your money back?
Usually subjective opinion isn't binding (though I'm sure there are exceptions to this across jurisdictions)
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
> why does the author here feel so entitled People were promised they just needed to pay one fee to get the app. Then, they went to a subscription fee, but grandfathered in previous purchasers. Now, they've introduced ads. Their overhead is their problem, they sold me something and now they are renegging. It's like the first thing in the article, not exactly burried.
To my knowledge reneging only applies when it's a voluntary decision. A company that has been sold by its previous owner for generating a 800k loss is not doing much of anything by choice. It's just fighting insolvency.
IANAL and I'm not making legal claims, if that's what you're getting at.
Just on the basis of fair expectations in the marketplace, if you say all you need is a fixed rate to serve me for the rest of time, then that's the deal. Anything short, insolvency or otherwise, is reneging. The mismanagement of the company is not my concern.
And before people hop on and make it sound like people with this expectation are naive for believing a company could offer this lifetime service for that fee, AntennaPod + gPodder.net provide the _exact same service_ for the low price of $0. I gave PocketCasts money, and somehow they turned that into -800K .
I don't know where this mentality that customers owe companies that fall short of their promises grace or understanding come from. When I fall short of my obligations to companies, collection agencies rather than thank you notes usually appear.
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#96Since we are talking about podcasts, if you are looking for a podcast app for Android, use Antenna Pod [0]. I use it every day. It's smooth, seamless, and FOSS. Note that I am just a user, and not otherwise linked with them. [0]: https://antennapod.org
For listening on my PC I use 'Bluetooth Audio Receiver' and still just play from my phone and use my computer as an audio device. I've found any advanced setups just no longer worth the setup investment/hassle. Literally nothing in this future timeline works well in any complex setup. So I keep it simple. It all exists in it's own magic box. And if I get a call, etc, all that auto behavior (stop playback) just works.
To be fair, in Star Trek you will see them carrying around like 3-4 data tablets, so even our broken enshittified tech works in a way Star Trek future predictors thought would be high tech.
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#97I worked for a company that did audio streaming and the problem is that cloud providers' bandwidth is expensive af, only option is to own your machines in a datacenter and negotiate bandwidth prices with an ISP
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#98I've been following the whole upset about the banner ad. As a podcast app, 90% of the time I have it in the background, and I'm not doomscrolling on the app. So the banner ad doesn't really bother me.
The argument on a "lifetime subscription" also does not really apply here. The app was a one-time purchase and then made free somewhere in 2019. Their logic was that early app purchasers would still receive the same set of features when the app was made free and a subscription was introduced. Source https://support.pocketcasts.com/knowledge-base/lifetime-acce...
Basically, purchasers didn't lose any features in 2019 onwards. The purchase was also for the entire app, not just an ad-free version, as there were no ads to begin with.
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#99I bought the app back when it was just three developers. Things started going down hill after NPR acquired them.
I switched over to Spotify. The only gripe I have with Spotify is when my phone encounters a dead spot, Spotify puts up a modal "You're offline" and loses my place in the podcast.
Re: Pocket Casts, you altered the deal, so I will alter your app
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's an apples and oranges comparison. While the timeline isn't explicitly stated, free refills are implied that it's for the duration of your visit. In fact you can see the implication given that's how it's used most of the time. Telling someone they'll get "lifetime" access for a one-time payment is not the same.
In fact, if I was told I had purchased lifetime free refills, I would expect I could obtain a refill during any visit without purchase.
Where does it say that the refills are not for your lifetime? Now go get that soda which is rightfully yours!