Programs that I have bought in the past & am dissatisfied with their upgrade policies include (in order of displeasure):Quick To-Do Pro (updates? what are those? I got nothing more than the product I purchased, yearly license, but there is no such thing as a real update, just fix once a year! which I would have to pay for, crazy!)
WinOrganizer (used to have a solid policy, with lifetime updates, but they yanked that from their website about 2 years ago and charge a crazy amount of cash for their program now) (1 year of updates, then a ridiculous upgrade fee) (considering the lack of useful feature updates in the last 2 years, with nothing in sight down the road & the fact they removed all forum support from their website due to people actually requesting new features and voicing their displeasures with pricing, etc.. LAME) (tech/purchasing support told me numerous times there was no acknowledgement to a previous lifetime updates guaruntee which was clearly posted on their website when I first purchased the program at version 1.30 and up to a year after that, after a couple extra emails someone finally chimed in and sent me a 3.0 license, because i kept sending my displeasure to every email address I could find on their website and from any past correspondence)
Trillian Pro (what a joke! these guys have gone from offering a full-out freeware solution to just being greedy whores, with a serious lack of development, plus they consistently time their updates to come after the 1-year period of the previous major release, so you must upgade to a new version! I think people are finally starting to catch on though)
FirstStop Websearch (these guys are a bunch of schmucks too, no updates, except for a fix here & there and they want you to upgrade to get that - I say, crapola!)
Calendarscope (a great program, but you really don't get anything more than you pay for at the moment, very slow to update) (1 year of updates, then a charge)
Actual Window Manager (you get updates & support for 3 months or to the next full version whichever comes last)
VTuner (Nice program but a ripoff for me, now it's a one time fee, way back 5 years ago when I bought it, it wasn't and last time I checked I couldn't get an upgrade from my old version for free)
Auction Sentry/Auction Sentry Deluxe (Normally for how useful this tool is for sniping auctions I would say no problem with a small yearly fee, but first off it's not small and second the majority of updates are for fixes to changes eBay has made in their system, not additional features)
Semi-Satisfied:Bookmark Buddy (there is no set upgrade path, you basically get a couple fair update cycles before you need an upgrade fee, problem is 6 months go by before anything ever happens, major disappointment as this program could really be something special)
Newsleecher (the p0rn king! yearly upgrade fee. I can't complain too much as they are generous with extending licenses if serious bugs pop up in the program or their supersearch function is down)
Quite Content (LIFETIME UPDATES FOR FREE!) (in order or happiness):Ad Muncher (Bless these guys)
AI Roboform (cannot complain, lifetime updates)
Website-Watcher (duh!)
TrueLaunchBar (ohh so handy & a nice christmas sale for a multi-license got me hooked)
Zoom Player WMV Pro (cream of the crop for features, customization, support and stability)
DVD Profiler (they really keep this program updated well for a one-time fee, hats off to these gentlemen&women and it's not that bad if you use the free ad supported version)
Total Recorder (no complaints here)
Audio Sliders (never much for updates - but hey, it is what it is and doesn't need them)
Tag & Rename (maybe not the most powerful, but easily the most userfriendly for a newb to managing tags & filenames for media, never an issue)
FTP Rush (you get what you pay for, be connected to multiple ftp sites at once with a tabbed interface, development has slowed, but when it does come it is free for life with an admission charge)
Netcaptor (Although I never use it anymore with Maxthon around, they have always put forth a good product with support, even though it seems dead ATM)
Vaporware (within 1 year of purchasing):Doc Commander (never was fully stable anyways, stupid purchase on my part)
Folder Express (poop on this developer, seriously, please do!)
InfoKeep (product sold to another company & no longer supported in it's former form)
WebFerrretPRO (yeah right! an upgrade - whats that?)
AllToTray (poof! gone! & it ain't ever comin' back)
AcqURL (development crawled to a halt and is stuck exactly there, can ya say dead? well I can)
Trashsoft Mp3Explorer (gone a long, long, long time ago, to a galazy far, far away)
Another thing I really dislike is that I have noticed a fair amount of programs that hide their upgrade system from being clearly stated on the website. (ie. Actual Window Manager)
Well, thats all I am capable of thinking at the moment, please everyone list your experiences too...