Upgrade pricing versus Annual Support Fees
Okay. I've just received the first real emails from you that I've had in ages... perhaps years. I'm very pleased to see that. It suggests there is still hope for your eventual financial recovery. Congraulations to John Mildon and Dody and Bruce and the loyal users (like ESM) many of whom have hung around through the dark years.
Welcome back to the world of the living. You ALL have reasons to celebrate. Now if you can manage to rebuild customer allegiance and spoort over the next year or two, you have a darn good shot at long term survival.
Also, congratulations on having finally gotten the Deluxe product pushed out the door. That product introduction is a BIG step in the right direction! However, in my searches here it looks like you have provided no FEE BASED upgrade or product migration path and incentive for those of us who have bet on you and your product in the past... and you SHOULD do that.
It would make perfect sense for you to offer an upgrade to existing users of earlier versions of Indexu for a reduced upgrade price of say, $15 or $20 per license when purchased along with a $20 - $30 annual support agreement which includes all new versions and upgrades released during that year) or $30 per licensed copy with limited support of say, 30 - 60 days with no support after that unless the client buys an annual support agreement.
To enhance customer good will, you could even consider offering the upgrade for free to those old customers who purchase an annual support agreement
I've been in the software biz for 40 years. You simply can't DO this based solely on license revenue of even with a combination of license and support revenue UNLESS your user base grows rapidly AND most of your customers are paying for support and upgrades on an ongoing basis.
I now own 4 licensed copies of the old product; but just 1 of those copies ever got installed anywhere. Why? Because I refused to recommend installing a product with such limited vendor support to my paying customers. My reasoning there was: "What good would it do to sell the 'biggest gun on prarie' to my clients when it was impossible to buy ammunition for that gun?"
I would gladly pay an annual support fee for each copy I own when I install them... If I know the money I'm spending will be used to provide real ongoing support for the product I own! Hell, I'd be crazy not to! For clarity, though, I HIGHLY recommend that you NOT call your $20 - $30 support agreement an "upgrade fee". all it what it is... a support fee.
Bottom line... I'm amazed there does not seem to be ANY way to 'upgrade' old Indexu license(s) to Indexu Deluxe for a modest upgrade fee. What a slap in the face that IS to old customers like me. Instead, you seem to expect me to pay $99 EACH to buy 4 NEW licenses after I've been runnning and using and supporting your old product (like the Lone Ranger on the Texas Prarie) for 5 long years.
Frankly, I'd be willing to meet you somewhere in the middle; but I'm not prepared to spend $396 for 4 licensed copies of IndexU just so I can get access to the one or two features you've added to the new product but deliberately withheld from those of us who bought, installed and loyally used your old product in the past.
There's something wrong with that picture... something terribly wrong!
Originally Posted by Bruceper
