It's not but it should be. If you bought a car with 6 gears and it doesn't
shift into the 6th gear then the manufacturer has to fix it. Software
should
be no different. I pay my subscription fees to ipswitch to ensure that we
keep pace with the demands of our clients. The only way to do that is to
keep
upgrading. However, if the features that ipswitch advertises and sells as
working then they should always work. I believe it is also their
obligation
that those features always work as advertised and sold.
Acceptance of anything less changes nothing.
Since you are using a car example I'll continue it...
If you buy a car with 6 gears and it doesn't shift into 6th gear, then the
manufacturer will fix it while its under warranty. If you wait 3 years and
100,000 miles to report it and ask for a free fix, then they are going to
laugh at you. There are exceptions.
I believe software manufacturers do operate under similar guidelines. When
you purchase a software product, it almost always comes with some amount of
support included. Find bugs during that period, and the manufacturer usually
will fix them (or upgrade you to a new version that fixes the bug). After
this
initial period expires, you are on your own unless you purchase continuing
support. There are exceptions.
Hardware manufacturers don't fix their hardware forever but will often
replace
rather than repair during the warranty period (esp extended warranties). The
replacement may be a different model completely because the original is no
longer in production. Software no longer in production is treated the same
way.
Just like old cars, old software may continue to provide many years of
trouble
free use. When it breaks, you will have to pay to get it fixed and sometimes
that means replace it.
I think you are trying to invent a model for software that would be totally
unique. If your model were adopted, the initial price for software would
surely
increase perhaps beyond affordability. This is after all, a business model.
Brad Morgan
IT Manager
Horizon Interactive Inc.
To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html
List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
