Do you think TI upgrade policy is fair?

I bought TI 9 on Sept. 1 and just found out Acronis only allows upgrades for 30 days. When I emailed Acronis, the response was:

"We realize that the 30 day cut-off might seem arbitrary, but it keeps with the procedures of other established software companies. If we had a 90 day cut-off, someone who had purchased the product 91 days before would be unhappy anyway. At some point we have to draw a line and move on to working on the next version."

I'm not sure what software Acronis refers to. All programs I have, have an upgrade free for at least a year.

For example, I upgraded BackupMyPC over a year after I bought it, from
version 4.85 to ver. 6.

Genie Backup has a year free upgrade: http://www.genie-soft.com/.

I have Vtrain software (2 year free upgrade).

Macro Toolworks has allowed free upgrades for several years.

The list goes on.

In my view, a 30 day upgrade for backup software is unacceptable. Do others agree or disagree?

The situation is made worse by the fact there are many posts on this forum indicating Version 9 has a number of problems. I think free upgrades should be offered a minimum of a year.

I have learned my lesson and will check a company's upgrade policy before buying in the future. It never occurred to me that a software company would have such a poor upgrade policy.

 

It's not a question of fairness. It's strictly amatter of what product (and serivces) are offered and whether one is willing to pay the price charged.

It just basic capitalism. There's nothing wrong with wanting more for your money but it's not a matter of fairness.

 

My CAD and programming software has a yearly update cost which ends when the new version comes out - so if I purchased the program new one month before unless I paid for the yearly update I'd not be eligable for the new version.

Most software companies have a similar way of dealing with things.

From a user point of view - upgrade until the anniversary of ones purchase would be the way to go. From the software companies point of view this means extra work in maintaining a database and extra hassle, plus of course slightly less income, of course the really savvy company such as Microsoft let people know in various ways that there is a new version on its way, with a vaguish timetable and people can make their choice. Of course a company like MS don't have to worry all that much if they might lose a few $ today as they can be reasonably confident they will get the lost money back later.

Colin

 

I don't think it is that bad - providing you know what you are buying. At the point you decided to buy V9, presumably you looked at it and decided whether its features were worth the money.

The only problem in this equation is whether you expected development work to continue on the product. All disappointments are based on expectations. I personally look at a product and assume it is feature complete - i.e. that no extra features are going to be added to it. I do however expect that any bugs contained within will be fixed. Therefore if Acronis fix all the features in V9 I don't think anyone should be disappointed about not being able to free upgrade to V10.

F.

 

At least they do have a 30 day "Upgrade" policy. Most software companies will charge to move on to the next version (v6.0 up to v7.0). But of course, the "Updates" (v6.1, 6.2, etc) in between are free of charge. Acronis is reasonable at giving a Upgrade Discount price to users.

What's really not fair, and right ... is leaving previous version BUGS, PROBLEMS, and etc... unsolved, and fixed that affect hundreds, or thousands of users. Most companies will SOLVE Major performance issues before moving on to the Next version. But Acronis doesn't do that. They leave you "Hanging" with problems in TI 9 (build 3677), and expect you to hand over money to Upgrade.

 

Perhaps my use of the word "fair" was unclear. Maybe "competitive" would have been better.

I realize a software company can do what it wants, but part of capitalism is responding to the market place.

My concern is that Acronis says it has a 30 day upgrade policy because that is standard, when, in my experience, most other software companies I deal with have generally at least a year. I think the reason given is bogus. As I mentioned, my other software has been upgraded for at least a year and sometimes two. If the Acrnois reason was-- we are too cheap to support new customers, tough luck, it would have seemed more honest. Hiding behind standard practice that does not exist, at least in my experience, is poor customer relations.

I bought version 9 in part because it seemed as if Acronis did have fairly frequent updates. Now, if it abandons ver. 9 with the huge number of problems reported on the forum it is also abandoning its customer base.

In this case, Ver. 10 does not really have enough new features to merit a version upgrade (rather than going to 9.1, or 9.5).

From a consumer's point of view, I think that I would choose software in the future that does have a better upgrade policy.

 

Forgetting for a moment that there are some outstanding issues with V9 (and Acronis have not indicated whether or not they intend to sort them ASFAIK) what features which were advertised in version 9, and for which you exchanged cash have they not provided ?

You talk about standard practises, but to be honest there is plenty of software out there which gives unlimited updates *within the same version* but if you want the next version, that is a whole new product, and you should expect to pay out again. It's a bit like my wife buying a brand new Peugeot 206 last year and being unhappy because they have released the 207 this year. At the time you choose to part with your cash your only expectation should be that the advertised features are supplied.

Bug fixes aside, I really don't see what the problem is.

F.

 

Oddly, my experience has been that the software with annual "newgrade" subscriptions have little "newgrading" going on until the new version comes out that isn't covered by the subscription. I'm not sure that, in practice, it actually works out cheaper, nothing in principle says it will be cheaper, the same cost or more expense -- it would be hard to compare since there are so many apples and oranges in the mix, including the degree and quality of changes and how often new grades, or what collecdion of changes are deemed new versions.

I wish all the software I buy was cheaper. Some software I don't buy because I don't think it's worth the price. some I think is a steal, figuratively speaking. When MS takes over this application category and runs out the smaller players, middle players, virtually all the other players, that's when the pricing will really become unfair.

sh

 

Standard practice is 30, 60, or 90 days, tho some/many companies will unofficially br more liberal.

Retaining market share should be far more important than having a rigid fixed deadline. Some companies just do not get it.

 

Well, some folkes would question whether TI 10 is really a new version, not much that is different than in TI 9. I might get TI 10 for a new system, but would not "upgrade" an extant system.

 

I have commented that effect, that 10 is not so much like a new version. However, for me, the managed directories feature are worth the price. They could have stayed with version 9 and had the managed directories as an add-in at the same price and I would have bought it. With all the machines at home and at work, the autonaming and file limts functions are an appreciated simplicity.

 

I am in a similar situation as the original post on this thread - I purchased 3 licenses for TI9 in August.

I plan on letting the dust settle on TI10 and then will probably upgrade. So I will be on TI9 for 4-6 months longer and then pay to upgrade. Do I think that's fair and reasonable? ABSOLUTELY. TI9 has worked flawlessly for me and has saved me from hours of rebuild in one specific situation already.

When I weigh the cost against the benefits, it's a nobrainer. Some individuals feel they can buy a licence for $40 or so and then should be entitled to lifetime upgrades (and lifetime telephone support 24/7). That's ridiculous - the company couldn't stay in business.

I think TI (along with the incredible advice I've gotten on this message board) is a great deal. Wouldn't be without it.