On 30-3-2013 6:05, Jim Henderson wrote:
> 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".

And we haven't yet discussed the likelihood of the maintenance fee for A 
going up next year because it now also includes B.
Nor the likelihood of the manufacturer giving any explanation why the 
price of A will next year be higher than this.



-- 
Women are the canaries of science. When they are underrepresented
it is a strong indication that non-scientific factors play a role
and the concentration of incorruptible scientists is also too low

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