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Another 'Lifetime' license bites the dust
phitsc:
I had such an experience with a product called BreezeBrowser (an image viewer). I bought a license that came with lifetime upgrades. Then, one day, the author of that product presented 'BreezeBrowser Pro', which was the exact same thing as BreezeBrowser, but now had the typical one-year upgrade policy. Although BreezeBrowser would officially get further support, new features would only be added to the Pro version. Although I was generally happy with how the software worked (and didn't actually needed any new features at that time), the way the BreezeBrowser author chose to make that license change annoyed me that much that I stopped using the software altogether.
Carol Haynes:
Ditto - I used BreezeBrowser and dropped it for the same reason.
zridling:
I bought a license that came with lifetime upgrades. Then, one day, the author of that product presented 'BreezeBrowser Pro', which was the exact same thing as BreezeBrowser, but now had the typical one-year upgrade policy.... Although I was generally happy with how the software worked (and didn't actually needed any new features at that time), the way the BreezeBrowser author chose to make that license change annoyed me that much that I stopped using the software altogether.-phitsc (April 15, 2009, 07:47 AM)
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This is why authors should not offer a lifetime license if they don't have the means to sustain it. I went nuts when SlySoft AnyDVD came out with AnyDVD HD five days after I had just purchased the license, claiming it was a new and separate product that required new costs and registration for current lifetime users, when all they did was add blu-ray functionality. It really wasn't worth it. If I can't watch it online or with a common codec, there are other things that interest me.
Josh:
Zaine, The HD product IS NEW. Just because BRD and HD-DVD share the same optical disc format does not mean they are the same technology. That is what people are confusing about this product. AnyDVD and AnyDVD HD are for two different product lines. DVD continues to receive updates in line with its LIFETIME license for UPDATES. BRD is a radically different product and the changes warranted, in my opinion, a new product. This is part of where I was coming with the entitled generation. Just because a new product line came out does not mean you are entitled to it for free. Updates were promised and updates are being delivered. BRD is NOT THE SAME as DVD so that is an UPGRADE. You are still receiving updates for the DVD product, which is what you paid for. If you don't need BRD/HD-DVD, then the product line should not matter to you until you obtain HD technology, which to me sounds like you don't care about since you view it online.
CWuestefeld:
AnyDVD and AnyDVD HD are for two different product lines.
-Josh (April 16, 2009, 12:45 PM)
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That's obviously not true based on the capabilities of the two. HD is a superset of AnyDVD, they are not disjoint sets at all.
Slysoft should have created a new product AnyHD that cannot do DVD at all, and then package with every license of AnyHD a free license to AnyDVD so that its users can do DVDs as well.
This would have created a whole separate mindset, as each product would operate on wholly different sets of media. If you've go an X, you must use AnyX. But as it is, AnyDVD HD can do whatever AnyDVD (regular) does, plus some extra, so it certainly looks as if the HD version is an upgrade to the functionality of the previous version.
Of course HD (and BRD) is not the same as DVD. If it were the same, then no upgrade would be necessary. But Slysoft added new functionality to allow it to handle the high def formats. The fact that they added new functionality is what makes it an upgrade. (Upgrade: v., to improve what was old or outdated). People paid for lifetime upgrades.
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