mmccormick wrote:
leader777 wrote: It means I am forced to pay for maintenance from 2010-10-08 when my license expired until now thought there was no maintenance in that period. It seems slightly wrong. If I bought it 5 years ago and didn't use it until now would you force me to pay for that 5 year period also?
The answer to this is Yes -- I just had to pay 1.5 years to become current to get an upgrade. The upgrades fix bugs in many cases (some that I have reported) so I am not happy about being forced to pay if I was fine with the installation and did not need/use the interim releases. Basically, it means you have to pay every year, for CB docs and Sub. It should just be stated that way.
The answer is not Yes.
You can keep using the CBSubs license you purchased forever without upgrading if you want. I know people that are using Microsoft Office 2007 because they do not want to upgrade to the latest version. And in most cases Microsoft will not allow you to upgrade two versions ahead - they force you to purchase a new product.
Each CBSubs license has a free 1 year maintenance period. This means that any new versions released withing this year can be downloaded and will work with your license.
Regarding the CB docs, there is no need to subscribe as an Advanced or Professional user ever year, unless to want to keep receiving updates to the packages offered within these membership levels.
For those who do not want to bother with upgrading their maintenance periods every year, we have the lifetime maintenance option that means that you can use your CBSubs license on any version of CBSubs that is ever released.
The program is setup to remind and remind you that you DO NOT HAVE THE CURRENT VERSION, which is helpful if you don't mind paying. There are many reasons one may not wish to upgrade (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) and then to be penalized later when you upgrade feels wrong.
Yes the reminder is built-in and does show new versions when they become available. But you do not have to download and install this new version if you do not need it (either because of new features or fixes) - if you are satisfied with what you have and your environment is stable, then do not upgrade. Granted, sometimes you are forced to upgrade because the rest of the environment is forcing you to move forward (new Joomla versions, new CB versions, etc.). I wish this was not the case, but many times it is.
I know a LOT of work goes into this code and appreciate it, but I too feel it is wrong to have to pay for the years you did not get maintenance. I almost feel it is a glitch in the code -- I am unable to get CB Subs to allow us to "skip years" for members who do not pay for a year (we have to handle it case by case).
Yes, there is much effort constantly being put into new releases. And if you skip versions you still get all the features and fixes that were added in the version you skipped (because you did not have a valid maintenance period).
Regarding your "skip years" comment, I believe CBSubs 1.2.2 has a setting that allows you to specify how expired subscriptions are handled. [If you need more feedback on this please start a new thread as I do not want to mix support questions here]
**Also want to say that it is not obvious, in your CB profile, when you pay and the license does not upgrade to "current" (just adds a year). It took me days to figure out they wanted me to pay again for the unused maintenance for the license to be activated again. I had a nice green checkmark on my CBSubs so nothing seemed wrong. froma User-Friendly perspective, not good -- tell me what I have to pay to get productive again and not have me do this in increments, while the client waits. Just for future reference.
I totally agree with you here and we will tray and make this as clear as possible in the future.
beat
