Hi Malcolm It seems to me that a sliding scale on the upgrade price would be the most universally accepted solution. Customers who upgrade more frequently would benefit, while those who don't are not simply discarded.
Todd. > Hi all, > > > > I’ve just read through quite a few of the messages in this thread (not > all, I admit) and there are a few things in here I should respond to. > > > >> Actually, afaict Embarcadero have been absolutely silent on the > >> matter. The policy change has leaked out only via *some* resellers. > > > > Nothing has leaked. Official announcements are coming, but I notified > our Asia sales staff and asked them to notify our partners and customers > last week so we could give people as much notice as possible (also for > another reason, see the end of this email). I posted advance notice to > the ADUG list here in Aus, and would have posted on this list except > Richard asked if he could post it. As our local representative in NZ, it > made sense to me that he do it. Nothing underhand going on. > > > > Also, the reason I haven’t responded sooner is that I only check the > lists every week or so, unless someone alerts me to something that needs > more urgent attention. > > > > Ø I still feel cheated that at no time were those of us who bought > Delphi 2005 which still has many unpatched major problems > > Ø given the opening to more reasonibly ($) upgrade from it. > > > > I’m sorry you feel like this, but this is not accurate. Multiple times a > year we offer discounts/bundles/third-party value-adds, etc to > upgraders. I’ve got a partial list here and it shows that since 2006 was > released we’ve done at least 6 such offerings in NZ, and I haven’t > bothered going through the rest of my email archive to see if there were > more. Now, the offers we made may not have been enough to make you > accept, that’s a separate issue, but saying we’ve made no offers to > previous users is plainly wrong. > > > > In terms of updates, we haven’t really changed our policy for a long > time. Leaving aside people who pay for higher levels of support, we > typically release update packs during the first 6-12 months of the > product’s life (eg, 3 update packs for 2005, 2 update packs for 2006 + > 11 hotfix packs, etc) but once a later version has come out, these > typically slow down or stop entirely. That may not be what everybody > wants, I appreciate that, but despite multiple attempts over the years > it’s proven difficult if not impossible to get update packs for older > releases on the schedule. So, despite wishing it were different, I doubt > we’re going to be able to change that. > > > > I’ve probably missed some questions, feel free to tell me if I have, but > let me finish on a slightly more positive note. > > > > In addition to giving people as much notice as possible, part of the > point of letting people know about this change in advance is so that I > could gauge the reaction. > > > > Today we treat someone who last invested in a Delphi license 14 years > ago with Delphi 1, exactly the same as someone who invested 1 year ago > with 2009. I firmly believe we should give people who spent money with > us recently some benefit, especially those who spent money with us > during the years when you couldn’t have blamed them for keeping their > wallet in their pocket. So, while I support the spirit of this change, > the detail of where we draw the cutoff line is still a topic I think we > can adjust. In talking with customers and staff and watching the > discussions on various groups around the region and I think I’ve seen > enough to go back to our internal discussion and suggest we need to > change our current proposal. So, your feedback is being heard, despite > what you might believe from some of the comments. > > > > Lastly, can I just make a request for a fair go for the current > Embarcadero team? We are well aware that we cannot ignore the “legacy” > of decisions made by Borland Executives over the years, and we are > trying extremely hard to walk the line of investing to take the product > back above the historic levels of quality and innovation you came to > expect, and at the same time keeping it a profitable business for our > owners. I think the local team are very open to accommodating requests > from customers when they are brought to us (I think I’ve approved most > of the requests for special consideration I’ve seen in recent memory) > and hopefully some of you have experienced that. I understand that some > of you feel like you may have beaten your heads against a brickwall at > Borland for too long, but can I just ask that if you have an issue, you > bring it to us and see if we can work out a solution. If we can’t keep > you happy, of course you should criticise us, but given everything that > seems to have changed for the better over the last 12-15 months, I’d > appreciate it if you could give us a chance to fix the issues before > shooting us. My contact details are at the bottom of the email, you > should absolutely feel free to use them. > > > > I’ll try and take a more regular look at this thread for the next few days. > > > > Cheers > > Malcolm > > * * > > *Malcolm Groves > Senior Director, Asia Pacific* > Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. | www.embarcadero.com > <http://www.embarcadero.com/> > Level 2, 100 Clarence Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 > mgro...@embarcadero.com <mailto:mgro...@codegear.com> > > Mobile: +61 416 264 204 | Skype: malcolmgroves > > USA: (510) 962 5736 | UK: 020 3289 1788 > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list > Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz > Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi > Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: > unsubscribe _______________________________________________ NZ Borland Developers Group - Delphi mailing list Post: delphi@delphi.org.nz Admin: http://delphi.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/delphi Unsubscribe: send an email to delphi-requ...@delphi.org.nz with Subject: unsubscribe
