On Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:01:14 -0700, Patrick Elliott wrote:

> Ah, yes.. Right up there with the "'Free', until you decide you want to
> actually use it, or get fed up with being unable to tell if you want to
> use it, because 90% of the features are disabled."

In this particular case, no features are disabled.  The situation is that 
you have to have a paid support contract ("maintenance") for another 
product (an annual fee).  The product in question is also going to be 
sold separately with its own maintenance schedule.

Where I come down on this (now that it's been a few days) is that I find 
it dishonest to say product B is "truly free" to someone paying 
maintenance on product A.  It's a component that is included in the 
maintenance for product A, but that since you don't get it if you're not 
paying for maintenance on product A or with a separate purchase of 
product B itself, it's dishonest to say it's "free for owners of product 
A with a current maintenance agreement".

But it's like (I think it was Stephen who said) the distinction between a 
drink that's "free with the purchase of a meal" and having to pay for the 
drink and paying less for the meal.

Jim

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