But now that I’m treated like a first-time customer, I’m in turn going to treat this like a new purchase instead of an update. And when I evaluate the program under this premise, it does not seem to be a useful product for my needs. So I’m not going to buy it.
That is
exactly how you
should be looking at this! You are a first time customer of this brand new product. Qimage is no longer an open ended project where everyone gets everything we ever decide to do for free. Qimage is a well defined (and unbelievably feature rich) photo printing application. It will continue to be updated from a performance and compatibility standpoint, getting all the needed updates for new cameras, drivers, and operating systems, and even a few baseline innovations that bolster things like print quality. It's time to admit that "Qimage" is not a catch-all term for all future work done at ddisoftware. At some point, we need to get paid for our NEW work, else you won't have Qimage
anything! No one guaranteed (nor should they have even
thought) that all new features related to photo printing or batch processing must go into Qimage, for free, and not a new product. That's simply unreasonable. So Qimage won't get the new features or innovations: it'll just continue to be improved in the realm of what it does now. Qimage Ultimate gets the new stuff because it is a NEW product.
It seems that I may have failed to make my point clear: As I wrote, I have no problem with the new business model. I would happily pay an appropriately discounted “upgrade price” for the new product and the yearly “maintenance fee” precisely for the reasons that I understand the need for your business to make money.
And let's talk about "unappreciated" for a moment. You feel unappreciated? Step into another mans shoes for a moment: mine to be specific. I've supported customers for 12 years, providing free updates, stellar support, and even help in areas not Qimage: I've been known to help people with camera/printer decisions personally, not just in the helpful articles here, and even with other programs! I've taken many suggestions and implemented them, fixed bugs in a matter of hours, and until recently, resent unlock codes for free sometimes up to a dozen times in one year for one customer when they are too lazy to save their own registration information. I've helped people diagnose bugs in OTHER software like Adobe products, video drivers, printer drivers, problems with anti-virus programs, and have seen them through MANY operating system upgrades where most other companies would have left you high and dry. Even WITH lifetime upgrades, most companies would have stopped at Vista saying "We're sorry, this product has reached the end of its useful life (hence no more LIFEtime upgrades) and we have no plans to update it for Vista support. We'd be glad to sell you this new product that IS compatible, however..." And then... they would do it again for Windows 7!
While I don’t doubt that you did this and I commend you for it, I personally have never contacted you for customer support. The reason is, of course, that I have not had any issues with the software that I couldn’t solve myself, which speaks for the quality of your program.
So now we have a vocal few (customers) who have obtained years of support and hundreds of free bug fixes and brand new features, yet when we come out with Qimage Ultimate, they say "You can't do that! You can't come out with a new product!". I think some people are just so spoiled that a dose of reality is way past due! Did people storm Adobe headquarters when they came out with Lightroom, saying "That should have been a part of Photoshop Camera Raw"? Did Adobe give you 50% off Lightroom just because you owned Photoshop? And they don't even provide real support! I realize that people have come to expect more of me than they would say, Adobe, but some of the expectations are grossly unreasonable... and they have been for quite some time. Qimage Ultimate is how we attain a sustainable business model at ddisoftware. In this economy, I think most people will be happy to see that. The alternative is, you wake up one morning and find that there IS no more ddisoftware, and no more Qimage.
Mike
Well, since you brought it up: When Lightroom 1 was first introduced it was heavily discounted compared to the current price – no doubt to get a bigger user base installed fast. And since its introduction I paid for 2 updates. I got Photoshop for half its usual price as an “Upsell” from Photoshop Elements which was installed on my computer when I got it. I probably would not have gotten Photoshop for its full price, but for half it was something I could (barely) justify. And I subsequently paid for an update as well. I’m not saying this is how it is supposed to be done. But because of policies like these, Adobe got much more money from me personally than they would have without.
To make it clear, my main point was: A reasonable incentive for your existing customers to upgrade to the new program may be financially beneficial for you, as this may convince more people to pay for the new program (albeit less) and pay the yearly fee from the 2nd year on. The question is not whether they got their money’s worth out of their original Qimage purchase, but rather whether YOU get your money’s worth by not broadening you installed user base.
Anyway, I have tried to let you know how I see this issue and why I won’t get the new program right now. I would assume that this is useful information for a business to get. I certainly don’t want to tell you what you can or can’t do or how to run your business.
And I absolutely did not mean to imply that I expect the features of the new version for free!
I wish you all the best.
Marc
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