> > Their wording is odd at best. " ATS membership CANNOT be purchased on > > existing Protel 99 SE licenses." > > > I am concerned that it seems that it seems possible that in the future there > will be diminishing support for the existing users, but surely they would > not want to loose their existing customer base (us). That would be plainly > stupid from their point of view (I hope). > I think that they are only trying to catch the new purchaser's, and they > will probably have this as standard for any future releases. > > Wayne Bickers
I also suspect that anyone upgrading to (or purchasing) Protel 2001 (or Protel 2002, by the time it comes out of beta testing?) will have no option but to go onto an ATS program. I suspect that such an upgrade or purchase would include membership of the ATS program for 12 months, after which users would then have to pay for the next 12 months membership of the ATS program. Protel 99 SE was released in early 2000, and it is probable that the next version of Protel will be released early next year (based on Altium recently requesting users to apply for membership of the Altium Beta Program). With two years between major releases, long-term users would pay an upgrade fee for each new release, and an ATS membership update fee halfway between the issue of each new release. To that extent, it will be a change from the past. I suspect that anyone who didn't front up with their cash midway between releases would have to pay more next time they upgraded to the next new release (compared with users who *had* thus paid), so that Altium would then recover at least part of the funds that they would otherwise have acquired from those users. It is not as if Altium need the additional funds to keep their shareholders from rioting. So the question is what their users will get in exchange for these additional payments. (It has been a long time since SP6 was released for Protel 99 SE. And since the time it was released, two SPs have been released for use with P-CAD 2001.) But to pay almost $US2k a year, when a seat currently costs almost $US8k, certainly seems steep. Regards, Geoff Harland. ----------------------------- E-Mail Disclaimer The Information in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this e-mail by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. Any opinions or advice contained in this e-mail are confidential and not for public display. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/proteledaforum@techservinc.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
