Don't mind paying to purchase ... but ...

I just wanted to make a comment about your purchase structure. I love the program - it has been the only thing to keep my wife's computer free from the crap she usually gets hit with during drive-by downloads.... a problem I have fought with for many years.

She wanted to be able to save files to her "real" drive/partition so I went ahead and purchased the appropriate license.

I was going to do the same for all of our personal PCs/laptops and business computers as well ... but I was dismayed to realize after the fact that after a year the functionality goes back to the free version.

I don't mind paying for excellent software to support the companies that produce it. Nor do I mind paying for a "limited" upgrade window such as being able to upgrade to next latest greatest within the next year (or whatever).

But to lose functionality after "buying" something just plain sucks. That is not buying, that is leasing. I've found that as I upgrade my hardware and come to end of lifecycle for my computers, I buy the latest software versions of my favorite programs anyway. But I can't support a business module that forces me to renew everything every year. What a pain in the ass if ALL of our software did that!

Would you buy a movie that was only good for 2 weeks or would you spend your money on the same movie that you didn't have to worry about it expiring? What if your laptop (or home computer) forced you to repurchase all the software it came with (including the OS) every year? I'm guessing you would probably find a laptop that didn't require it and vote with your dollar about which company you'd support.

I love the software ... but consider giving us the option of keeping our functionality even if it costs a bit more. Charge for upgrades if you want because you still need a cash flow. As it stands now, I'm not buying Returnil for any of my other computers. I'll look for something else that fits the bill even if it means I have to spend $150 on VMWARE and run full virtual environments and just keep backups of the VMWARE files so if something gets toasted, I merely delete the toasted file and make a copy of backup and run that.

Returnil was such an elegant solution though. One click ... so easy.

Good luck guys. You have an excellent product and I really applaud the free versions that you've offered. But leasing software sucks. People tend to stick with the companies that they have "own" products from. Leasing just gives them a reason to go look elsewhere when the time period is up.

H

 

If you are really unhappy with the Returnil licensing model then there are other alternative products that you could look at with similar functionality to RVS. It certainly isn't necessary to move to a full VM solution if all you need is light virtualisation.

Wilders sandboxing & virtualization forum is a good place to start.

 

Hello mr_hap and welcome to the forums

First, perpetual licensing is self-defeating. It may be profitable at the beginning with a large potential customer base where the increase in new customers provides resources for further product support and development, but eventually that pool dries up. When this happens, the company has a choice of either moving to a non-perpetual licensing model or seek revenue through other means.

I have seen this happen over and over again and it inevitably leads to poor support, delayed development, and declining customer/user satisfaction. We are determined to not let this happen. The renewal of licensing in future years ensures we will have the resources we need to provide effective, timely support and improved product development well into the future.

Next: We have frequent promotions where free licensing is made available to those interested in the product and we maintain very aggressive renewal pricing that takes into account:

1. continued product support for the specific customer
2. development and delivery of updates and hot fixes
3. access to all upgrades during the subscription period

You should have received an in-GUI message/alert as you got closer to the time where your subscription was running out. Typically this should happen at 30 days out, then a reminder at 15, and a final warning at about 5 days out. If this did not happen in your case, please let me know and I can check the server logs.

Also, see your PM.

Mike