[GeoStL] Re: GSAK rumor
- From: Mike Lusicic <lusicic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:20:54 -0600
-
This isn't in response to Steve. Just tagging on the comment here.
Well, if we really want to get legalistic, the process is this: as the
developer, he sells the asset (the program) to the company that is now going
to maintain the program (his full time operation). None of the liabilities
(support) for the asset (the program) go with the asset. The developer may
nolonger legally own the asset and therefore his responsibility to maintain
it ends, thus the "lifetime" of his commitment is over. The new owner of the
asset may change any of the terms, and is not legally obligated to support
anything sold under the previous asset ownership. Rather than do this, many
companies have the buyers execute a new agreement where they change the
termsin exchange for continuing support rather than just leave existing
clients in the cold. Often it was those very existing deals that caused the
original assets to be sold to begin with. This is not a new phenomenon. Many
good techs, not only in the software business, were not good at business.
So if you want to go to legal extremes to define what "lifetime" means, then
there are legal means to do exactly what he did. If you want to go with the
"give me a break, lets use common sense", then you have to use it from BOTH
sides of the fence. Clyde used what he thought was appropriate wording at
thetime, but as things evolved, he changed it. He is being realistic. Is it
realistic to think that you would be getting infinite benefit for a finite
sum? It would be nice if he could pull that off, but in the software world,
that is like a perpetual motion machine. Nice in theory, but impossible to
achieve.
bromley@xxxxxxx[1] wrote: - Dan, Then I believe you have a complaint. When I
registered in 2004, it was stated that there would be no upgrade fees for
theforseeable future. I figure 2 years are the forseeable future. Clyde
isn'tdoing anything to stop the version you have from working and if you
don't need the additional functionality, then there's no reason for you to
upgrade. There wasn't a guarantee that he would keep upgrading GSAK either.
He could have easily gotten tired of developing it and moved on. At the
pointhe stopped, you would have been stuck with where he was at that time. I
have at least 20 programs in that boat and I've paid at least as much, if
notmore, for them than I have for GSAK. Clyde stated that when he started
developing GSAK full time back in early 2004, he changed the statement from
"free for life" to "free for the foreseeable future" because he knew that
eventually he might have to charge for an upgrade. If you bought GSAK before
that then you have a complaint. =============== For everyone on the list, we
can go on to debate this forever and it won't change anything. The fact is
that if you own GSAK , you have a choices. Those choices are to stay at 6.x
and continue to use it, upgrade to 7.x and face a $10-$15 upgrade fee, or
don't register it and face the nag screen that is present. You can also look
at alternate products such as GEOBUDDY that is, even with the $50 rebate
currently in place, almost twice the price of GSAK. I won't respond to any
additional messages regardng GSAK and it's price upgrade. I won't change
yourmind and you won't change mine. Steve aka javapgmr ----- Original
MessageFollows ----- From: Dan Henke <thunder_monk@xxxxxxxxx>[2] To:
geocaching@xxxxxxxxxxxxx[3] Subject: [GeoStL] Re: GSAK rumor Date: Thu, 8
Feb2007 10:09:36 -0800 (PST) - I agree it is not that GSAK is not a good
program and is probably worth the extra money but when I paid the $20 in the
beginning it was stated "for life" ....There is no ambiguity in that
staement...for life means just what it says.It is also one of the reasons I
bought the program instead of using it for free. I remember thinking that it
was quite a bargain. I personally don't use GSAK for most of it's functions
but I do use it for converting the .gpx file into something my Microsoft
Streets and Trips software will read and also once in a while for printing
out the cache pages. I had planned on checking out the rest of the features
for use this summer. So the point is not that it isn't worth the money but
rather a statement that was made when I purchased it and which is now just
glibly thrust aside because it is too costly. Jack Konecker
<jack.konecker@xxxxxxxxx>[4] wrote: - I never said GSAK wasn't a good
program. I paid my $20 in 2005. I only use it a couple of times a month and
barely use its features. One day when the power went out at home, I decided
to get out the laptop and take some time to go through all the menu items.
Neat stuff, however, I don't think I'll ever need to use more than 10% of
itscapabilities (even less, now that gc.com supports finding caches along a
route). I've gotten along fine without needing to use its scripting
capabilities. It is convenient to say that everyone should stop complaining
because they can continue to use v6. However, if gc.com changes something
that requires a change to GSAK (remember when gc.com added the special
waypoint lists?), Clyde is not going to touch the v6 code to make it
compatible; thus v6 will become obsolete. GSAK got where it is today partly
due to people paying $20 and expecting to never have to pay again 'for a
lifetime'. Perhaps that was poor wording on Clyde's part and he should have
been more clear on his intentions (he admitted he changed the wording
somewhere down the line). People whose argument is 'shut up and pay for the
upgrade because GSAK is a good program' are missing the point.
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