At 01:57 AM 11/1/01 +1100, Ian Wilson wrote: >I can't see anything in the ATS package that is not offered now for free, >except the automatic receipt of a new version (as opposed to the service >packs). [...] So what do we really get that is new with this nigh on >$4000 (pacific peso's) annual cost.
I won't say what we get because the language would be inappropriate.... :-) Seriously, the ATS announcement represents a major departure from how Protel has traditionally been sold. While Protel may have no legal obligation to continue the upgrade policy, it was a very important selling point: No support charges (for tech support and service packs). Schedule upgrades when they make sense to you and you can afford them, not by a fixed schedule. Low overall support cost including upgrades. Protel 98 -> Protel 99SE total cost $700 - $1500 depending on when you purchased. That's for, what, two years has it been? I don't know where Mr. Wilson got the $4000 cost, I could find no anticipated ATS charge on the Protel web site. It might seem that cost is not a current issue, but every company which provides maintenance for a fee also provides the cost up front, i.e., they might give a period of support free (some don't), but you know what to expect. That it is not easy, at least, to find the cost is a major problem with the announcement, which is long on marketing fluff and short on facts. If I buy 99SE right now, sure, support for one year. What happens then? How much will it cost to continue? If it is US $4000, I'll be looking into other options. But the anticipated upgrade cost, based on various comments from Protel sources -- who may well not have been authorized, in fact, probably were not -- has been $995. $995 per year would be reasonable, it would be 12.5% of present pricing. 15% is common in the industry. It would be especially reasonable if major service packs and upgrades follow. Protel may well be planning to offer existing licensees (prior to Oct 1) a one-time upgrade price to the next release, which will probably include a year of support. If this cost is what we have been expecting, then I, for one, will continue to feel that Protel has been loyal to its user base. If ATS includes some flexibility as to when renewals are paid, i.e., one is not penalized for paying it late, after lapse, and the price is reasonable, then the move to an annual support model will be, I'd say, acceptable, and if it provides more funding for program improvement, I'm for it. Service Packs include changes of two kinds: bug fixes and operational improvements. Some of the latter may represent the correction of oversights and would properly be classified with bug fixes. A new autorouter might be an example of an operational improvement, though it could be argued that the existing router never did work properly. Bug fix service packs should be free, whether one has paid maintenance or not. Improvements quite properly can carry a price, it is only reasonable. The core of what I am saying is that users should not have to pay for programmer's mistakes; we would obviously prefer that there be no mistakes, no bugs, but selling a buggy program and then expecting users to pay for corrections is one of the more sleazy aspects of some segments of the software industry. Most software companies, such as Microsoft, do provide what amount to free service packs. CAD companies often do not. Protel should not join that crowd. So, I say yes to a properly implemented annual support program, the most important part being regular program *improvement,* not just selling us what we already were getting "free." There has been talk at Altium about a user consultative board. It's a good idea, and one of its benefits would be that *negotiations* between Altium and the users would become possible. While it might seem to some of the short-sighted that this would be a colossal nuisance, just as some companies consider the organization of labor a problem, the interest of users and the company are convergent, as are, in fact, the interests of employers and the employees. As users we need Altium to be successful; Altium's failure would be a disaster for us and its stagnation would hobble us. Strong user support -- in both directions, from Altium to us and from us to Altium -- is the most powerful marketing tool available to Altium. If it takes the opportunity. I'd suspect that most Protel sales take place because one user convinced another, or one user migrated from one company to another and wanted Protel to be the new company's software. Protel, especially, being engineering-focused software largely sold to engineers, who are often making their own purchase decisions or have great influence on such decisions, has been very well positioned to grow through word of mouth and user migration, to the extent that Protel, in the U.S. at least, apparently operated with a very low advertising (I don't know the numbers, though) and show budget. The latter was zero for a while, yet Protel continued to grow. The users sold the program, and I know that this is continuing, just as users are providing mutual support which is in most cases better than what Protel could possibly provide itself, even with charging for it. 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