Also Jon, Leo, and Greg need to be able to eat and pay bills! Paying $50 every 7 years doesn't really put food on their tables. I'm all for this new pricing scheme. Better this than going full SAAS where the application shuts down if I don't shell out.
One suggestion @Leo PDF-XChange has a similar model and I believe they will make the last installer that you are entitled to available. You guys may want to consider making it easy to download the installer that you are entitled to for installing on a fresh machine etc. That may soften the blow for some people.
This is obviously the reason, also for the payments are in AUD, but a little note saying "approx. $60 USD" (or the equivalent for other packages) actually wouldn't hurt to have. Not the least for it makes the application look less expensive, but also for US Dollars are the currency of the internet. Pretty much every online shopper knows how much that is. It's also why shops like the LTT Store use USD instead of Canadian Dollars.
I don't belive that getting food and pay bills is the intentian of this project. Or they don't have much hunger :-). For that purpose they may have other jobs/projects, at least I think so. Maybe Dopus generates enough to pay some pocket money for there kids.
It's why pretty much every international and software store has USD pricing. Pretty much all my clients no matter their location have requested it too, even when payments are in EUR or otherwise. It's also the specific reason LTT gave to use USD over CAD.
Nothing wrong giving an approximation. I don't agree with OCG that it's confusing (though clearly it's a little bit, at least to him), but above all: it makes it look cheaper = more attractive.
When I visit a store in the Internet 99 % show the prices in €. At least when it is a store which deliver to Germany.
No idea why you think USD is standard.
Yes, some software companies show USD prices, but mostly that is then there standard currency.
USD is lower then AUD, but for both I need a calculator to know the € price.
For the customers, for me. It is easier for most that way. When you see AUD you don't know what is that. It scares you away. That simple. But it is their business, they can do as they wish.
Being poor leads to a little bit more confusion I am from east-europe and live on a salary most on this forum would consider not enough to survive, as do most in my country. When and if I spend money I have to calculate every penny. I guess, asking people on forum could be a way of finding out what is the best change, or should there be any. Maybe I am in minority, and then what I request is less relevant.
As an eastern european I get the prices in USD on most places. But euros is much better than AUD, anyway.
Obviously EU-only stores or ones showing localized currencies don't count, but USD absolutely is the currency of the internet (if not of the world). Not the least thanks to Silicon Valley.
While I'm cautious about the future, there is definitely some conflation of the new license model of DOpus and other license models from other companies in this thread.
Most other subscription software, even some live-service games, force users to pay regularly to keep using it, i.e. when your license runs out and you don't pay, then the software is locked, forever. This is not the case with the new model as I understand. One simply doesn't get newest features and fixes but can still keep using it.
Also I think whether AUD, USD or EUR or whatever should be the "norm" is not productive and just derailing. My Paypal automatically converted the price to EUR and I didn't even give it a 2nd thought until I saw this thread, smdh.
Honestly this discussion is going all over the place.
There would be so much to say to many many flawed arguments ... so I won't.
I just want to say to @Leo , @Jon , @EveryoneAtGPSoftware : you did the right thing !
If the current model is not working as a whole (meaning not only for the economics), you were right to change it.
From my window, and as of current way of working, I find it worth the price to get an always maintained application, the ability to get new features on a regular basis, and most of all not to worry that the central piece of software on my computer does not join the ever growing list of software that used to be good or even great but that are now discontinued, with at best an ugly UI to work with, at worst which is not even working anymore on an up-to-date computer.
If that is not the case for any of you, that's absolutely you're right. Good news is, you're free : don't buy it ! Or buy it, use it but don't pay the fee to get new features. And if one day, I don't feel ok with this fee model anymore, I'll stop too !
And don't worry about not getting fixes in a year or two : 13 will be largely stable (already is from what I've seen in the last couple of months) by then.
So GPSoftware, I trust you to go on delivering the same quality as in the past, and to deliver the future promise with the new model !
Keep up the good work, and get paid for it !
I trust GPSoftware too. This is a forum for all people, not only satisfied ones. Negative feedback is as important as positive. Telling people to not buy DO if they don't like something will not make anything better. If something you don't like happens, It's better to complain than just go away. Otherwise, the forums turns into a protected bubble of opinions.
I fully agree with that. That's the arguments used that bothers me (not to mention discussions on what is the world currency ).
As I said, I find many arguments are flawed : too many people tend to think everything should be free.
Many are complaining about that new model, I didn't see anybody say thank you for giving me 7 years of updates. The table at the begining of this thread shows NO PRICE INCREASE for 22 years for each new version. And honestly, if you consider all the other software one would need to not even come close to what you get with DOpus and without integration in one central application, no support directly from the devs on this very forum, and so on ... : that price is a steal !!
So yes, everyone can complain, no doubt, but I felt that it would be good to take a little step back and 1) consider all the opportunities you have to use DOpus (even keeping v12 and go on using it), 2) realise what great application it is, and 3) give support to GPSoftware team ... so, as you said, satisfied people can also express their opinion.
I agree 100% far too often people want things for free. It's a little entitled to think that the hard work of Jon, Greg, and Leo should be compensated once every couple of years. I'm grateful for the software they make (it's the centerpiece of my PC) and honestly just wanted Opus 13 to release already so I could give them more money to show my gratitude. I upgraded to Opus 13 within 45 mins of the announcement, I just happened to be awake here in New York. Who cares what currency we use the pay for it, let the banks/paypal handle that.
I've also been wondering for a while how they could possibly make ends meet with a new major release every couple of years. I was honestly hoping that they would offer a model similar to this before they even announced it. They were likely holding back major features so they could sell them as part of a new version. Now as things are developed they can be released to us. I checked and my 5 pack license will cost roughly $50 USD a year to maintain. A PS5 game costs more, and I have the most expensive Opus license there is!! A single seat is about $16-$17 USD. This isn't a huge amount of money imho. It's beneficial to users as we'll get new features faster and it benefits GPSoftware as they will have a more stable stream of income to support development.
Moreover they've been really generous and have given existing users a free year of maintenance (not to mention the free laptop license they've always included), I won't have to pay a dime until 2026. I would expect unlike with Opus 12 just having mostly minor bugfix updates, we'll get major additions to Opus 13 with this new model and based on what the team was saying.
This isn't really a subscription like Netflix or Adobe CC and it really shouldn't be marketed that way. It's really license maintenance it's completely optional and just entitles the user to further updates.
It's okay, man. I think we are in one of those situations where everybody is right, but have different circumstances. If I were in your circumstances I would think like you, and vice versa.
I am from east-europe and live on a salary most on this forum would consider not enough to survive, as do most in my country. When and if I spend money I have to calculate every penny. I guess, asking people on forum could be a way of finding out what is the best change, or should there be any. Maybe I am in minority, and then what I request is less relevant.
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