Changes to software update policy

[djsoft]

Changes to our software update policy, effective January 1, 2022.

When you purchase RadioBOSS, RadioLogger, or RadioCaster, you obtain a perpetual license. The Update Subscription provides updates and upgrades for that license at a fraction of the cost of a new license.

The Update Subscription policy and details:
https://www.djsoft.net/enu/subscription.htm

Important! If you have purchased software or update more than a year ago, you can still renew it at a lower rate by the end of the year.
Please follow this link (see the "Update policy" section):
https://www.djsoft.net/enu/buy.htm#update

 

[southernfm]

Suggestion

With the recent change to the software update policy my understanding is that (After Jan 1 2022):
- If you buy the full version you get updates for a year. For example I purchase on 02/01/2022, my coverage is up to 01/01/2023.
- If I forget to update (and the 60 day period lapses), I then have to purchase a full new license.

For our station, the trigger for purchasing the updates is whenever an upgrade comes through. Occasionally there may be a couple of months where no work is done on RadioBOSS, and we will purchase the upgrade upon the new version being released.

With this new arrangement, we are in a position where we may lose out but have always paid for the upgrade when it comes out. We have used RadioBOSS for about 4-5 years and I currently have no idea when our renewal is due as it hasn't really mattered to until now.

My suggestion would be one of two things

1. Send out reminders to the existing licensees when their license / update is about to expire, prompting them to renew at that point
2. Add the license expiry date to the Help > About menu in RadioBOSS so that we can keep track of the renewal date

 

[djsoft]

- If I forget to update (and the 60 day period lapses), I then have to purchase a full new license.

Yes, true. We'll provide a small discount about 15% in this case, though.

Occasionally there may be a couple of months where no work is done on RadioBOSS, and we will purchase the upgrade upon the new version being released.

The work on RadioBOSS almost never stops And with increasing development prices (hardware, tools, components etc) we can't afford to keep the things the way they are. Either we had to increase the update price to like $110, also increasing prices for new licenses, or add a requirement to keep the update subscription always active. We had chosen the second option - this is more economical for the customers (based on the data we have, most people who use latest versions already pay about every year or so).

1. Send out reminders to the existing licensees when their license / update is about to expire, prompting them to renew at that point

Of course. Maybe we'll even create a sort of client area where all this can be managed.

2. Add the license expiry date to the Help > About menu in RadioBOSS so that we can keep track of the renewal date

Maybe, too, however this will require querying the licensing server when you open the About box to get the actual expiry date. I'm not sure it's a good idea for privacy reasons (we'll "see" when one opens their About box).

 

[southernfm]

Maybe, too, however this will require querying the licensing server when you open the About box to get the actual expiry date. I'm not sure it's a good idea for privacy reasons (we'll "see" when one opens their About box).

Couldn't the license expiry be stored on the computer itself when the activation process is performed? I assume it queries the server at that step and gets a valid/invalid response. Then the About box would just read local information off a location on the hard drive with the date of the license expiry as of the last time it checked in

 

[djsoft]

Couldn't the license expiry be stored on the computer itself when the activation process is performed?

It could, but the data will become obsolete if you purchase an update after you have entered the code to RB. That's why to display the actual values, it'd need to query the server every time this information needs to be displayed.

 

[southernfm]

data will become obsolete if you purchase an update after you have entered the code to RB

We have other buttons that check for updates currently that connect to your servers (and the automatic version checker on startup). Perhaps a button to obtain the latest license information. The email that gets sent out with the updated date could include a line 'to refresh license information in RadioBOSS, click xyz button.' It'd only need to be done once a year on average.

This could also be incorporated into the software too in such a way that it will prompt the user that their license is about to expire (reading off the date stored on the hard drive). It is fairly common in other software applications to show alerts when the software is about to expire (and to also have the ability to shut that off, for those who prefer not to see it).

Currently from my perspective this information seems a bit hidden, so whatever the answer ends up being (membership area, or info available in RadioBOSS), I think there needs to be more transparency with the end users so they don't fall out of the update cycle by mistake.

 

[djsoft]

I think we'll add a sort of "License manager" where all this info will be seen, with possibility to prolong subscriptions etc. It will get the latest data from the server when accessed.

 

[patrick.de-bruyn]

The following text I have so good I have been possible translatet from the English original text.
Folgenden Text habe ich so gut es mir möglich ist aus dem englischen Originaltext übersetzt.

Wirksam ab 1. Januar, 2022

Wenn Sie Radioboss, Radiologger oder Radiocaster kaufen, erhalten Sie eine Perpetual-Lizenz.
Wenn Sie eine NEUE Lizenz erwerben sind im ersten Jahr alle Updates und Upgrades in Ihrem Kauf enthalten!
Nach dem ersten Jahr können Sie ein Updates und Upgrades Abonnement zu einem Bruchteil der Kosten einer neuen Lizenz erwerben.

Was passiert wenn das erste Jahr vorbei ist?
Nach dem ersten Jahr können Sie Ihr Abonnement zum aktuellen Preis erneuern.
Wir empfehlen, Ihren Update-Abonnement-Plan weiter zu erneuern, um die Vorteile der aktuellen Version, der neuesten großen Releases und mehr zu erhalten.
Das Erneuerung von Aktualisierungsabonnement ist erschwinglicher, als alle paar Jahre einen neuen Lizenz zu kaufen.

Muss ich das jedes Jahr erneuern?
Nach dem ersten Jahr wird Ihr Abonnement zu einem erschwinglichen niedrigen Preis erneuert,
und Sie erhalten ein weiteres Jahr großer Upgrades, Updates und Hotfixes.
Sie können Ihr Abonnement nach dem ersten Jahr stoppen, um jedoch neu zu abonnieren, müssen Sie eine komplett neue Lizenz erwerben.
Daher ist es vorteilhaft, Ihr Abonnement jährlich zu erhalten.
Wenn Sie eine Erneuerung übersprungen, aber trotzdem fortfahren möchten, erlauben wir bis zu 60 Tagen, auf einen ermäßigten Preis zu erneuern.
Danach müssen Sie eine komplett neue Lizenz erwerben.

Was ist eine Perpetual Lizenz?
Wenn Sie Radioboss, Radiologger oder Radiocaster kaufen, erhalten Sie eine Perpetual Lizenz.
Eine Perpetual-Lizenz ist eine Lizenz, mit der Sie eine bestimmte Version der Software verwenden können,
ohne ein aktives Abonnement dafür zu verwenden.
Eine Perpetual-Lizenz ermöglicht die Verwendung der zum Zeitpunkt des Kaufs verfügbaren Version sowie alle innerhalb eines Jahres veröffentlichten Versionen.