Designer updates: free?

[Bulle Bas]

What are your pricing plans for updates? Do you get updates for free? I couldn't find info on the preorder-page.

[abe.elias]

Initially we had thoughts of an annual fee, but decided to scrap that based on community feedback.

To clear up any confusion, the designer is a perpetual license. This means you buy it once without any obligations to upgrade annually.

We will also be providing free updates and enhancements for the designer until we announce our next version (just like ext 2 -> ext 3).

[jay@moduscreate.com]

Glad to hear that there is no annual fee.

[killfill]

"We will also be providing free updates and enhancements for the designer until we announce our next version (just like ext 2 -> ext 3)."

This means when a new major version of designer (i.e. 2.x) will be out, then people should buy a new license?..

I hope version 2.x does not come out on two months.. :P

[abe.elias]

All of our focus is on getting a 1.0 shipped and receiving feedback. Don't expect a 2.x version anytime soon.

[nickweavers]

In my experience, most products that operate on this model (the one referred to by abe.elias) tend to keep a version going for a year or more, so bug fixes and minor tweaks/enhancements are rolled out on point releases and are free. A new version is usually a major upgrade containing significant enhancements and requires a new license, which I think most people see as a fair deal. Often, discounts are offered to those upgrading from a prior release, possibly on a tiered scale giving highest discount on most recent prior release and decreasing discounts on older releases.

My impression is most software developers that survive tend to realise customers will feel ripped off if major releases are too frequent and provide little in the way of value for money. With ExtJS being close to their community, I suspect this is unlikely happen.

Personally, I think I'd be happy if ExtJS went with this model for Designer.
Out of interest, do others agree this is a reasonably accurate description of the typical software license model and is it one they would be happy with for Designer?

TIA,
Nick

[NeXeon]

Just playing with drag and drop for testing is not enough, you need to release a trial version with the save button enabled, showing generated code.
As a possible customer, we need to test it that way to know "how many troubles we will find on the road"

[abe.elias]

In my experience, most products that operate on this model (the one referred to by abe.elias) tend to keep a version going for a year or more, so bug fixes and minor tweaks/enhancements are rolled out on point releases and are free. A new version is usually a major upgrade containing significant enhancements and requires a new license, which I think most people see as a fair deal. Often, discounts are offered to those upgrading from a prior release, possibly on a tiered scale giving highest discount on most recent prior release and decreasing discounts on older releases.

My impression is most software developers that survive tend to realise customers will feel ripped off if major releases are too frequent and provide little in the way of value for money. With ExtJS being close to their community, I suspect this is unlikely happen.

Personally, I think I'd be happy if ExtJS went with this model for Designer.
Out of interest, do others agree this is a reasonably accurate description of the typical software license model and is it one they would be happy with for Designer?

TIA,
Nick

Thanks Nick,

You've described the process that we are striving for nicely.

We aim build productivity tools that we can use ourselves. Our goal is to keep these products accessible and feature rich for organizations of all sizes.

As a general rule, we attempt to keep major releases inline with our other products. So if Ext JS is 14 months between releases, you can expect 14 months between Designer Releases.