Upgrade versus update

[A.C.T.]

Hi, Marian,

> Ah, but what happens when those bug fixes come bundled with major 
> feature enhancements?  Is that an update or an upgrade?  Sounds like an 
> upgrade to me.

That's an "upgrade", as it carries "major enhancements".
Please don't get me wrong on this: I am willing to pay for "upgrades" 
(that I need) and I am expecting free "updates" where necessary!

Now if a company decides to NOT bugfix their product "for free" for the 
honest customer the result - at least on the long run - will be: less 
customers. That's just what the market is like: The way you deal with 
your customers defines the way they deal with you. I have bought my 
license from Runrev because I think Revolution is a product that may 
help me creating some specific products. I haven't really started using 
it (as I really get headache from Transcript), so I cannot tell if I 
"need" an update or an upgrade right now :-)

> I like your idea about having a choice in which upgrade you want to 
> take.  I hope you'll post on this list what happens when you try to use 
> your free upgrade to go from 2.x to 3.x, because I suspect this is an 
> eventuality that RunRev had not anticipated and had not intended.  
> Clever reading on your part!

Well, that's just what the license says: "Your key is valid for the 
current release and one upgrade." It does not say "and the next upgrade 
available", it clearly says "and one upgrade". So it is my choice which 
upgrade I want to have for free: if there are major enhancements in the 
next version it's most likely that I choose that. If the next-plus-one 
version is two years ahead, it's very likely that I also choose the next 
version as well. But if the frequency of upgrades should be three/four a 
year, it's very likely that I do not upgrade to the very next but one of 
the following versions. According to the license that's what the key is 
for: "one free upgrade". I consider this a fair license and I am going 
to change some of my own licenses according to this idea.

Back to "updates": Software nearly never ever is "bug-free". A 
cooperative way to keep your customers satisfied is handing out 
"patches" (or call them "updates"), because this shows: You do care for 
what you have done. That's true especially for companies that have 
limited resources: The smaller your budget is the more important it is 
to have satisfied customers (I tend to call them "partners") that are 
willing to pay for "real upgrades", because you fix the bugs you made in 
the product you sold them. Only big companies can allow themselves to 
ignore that they have made mistakes (do I need to name some?) and "sell 
every bugfix as an upgrade". From the cooperative side this leads to 
short-term partnerships, and it's up to the company to decide if they 
prefer that to long-term partnerships with customers/partners that pay 
for "real upgrades" because you care for your product.

Marc Albrecht
A.C.T. / level-2
Glinder Str. 2
27432 Ebersdorf
Deutschland
Tel. 04765-830060
Fax. 04765-830064