Digital BW, The Print

At 8:20 pm -0800 11/10/03, Tom Baker wrote:

>There's a Panther upgrade on Colorbyte's web site.

I had almost decided to buy IP when this issue came up.

As I read the ColorByte web site, the only way to get the update (if 
your copy of Lite is more than 30 days old) is to have a current 
"Maintenance Agreement," which appears to cost $495 per year. (Unless 
you purchased the "Maintenance Lite" agreement for $150, in which 
case you are protected for 90 days from the original purchase date.)

Have I read this correctly? Can this actually mean that, if you 
purchased the IP Lite version for a 2200 at $495 (raster only) 31 
days ago and Panther causes IP to break then the only way you can get 
an upgrade to a version that works is to purchase a year's worth of 
maintenance for yet another $495?

If that is really the case then it looks like the only way you can 
safely own ImagePrint is to pay $990 the first year and $495 each 
succeeding year, whether upgrades are truly necessary or not 
(because, if one _is_ needed and you don't have a maintenance 
agreement then you have a major problem). And these are just the 
minimal prices for the smallest printers.

Can this possibly be a genuinely correct analysis of their pricing?

If it is then it's an incredibly venal and predatory way for them to 
treat their customers. The way I analyze the costs this is _way_ over 
anything from Adobe and Micro$oft.

(There is a note about buying upgrades outside the maintenance 
program, but it gives no indication of cost and reminds me of 
restaurants without prices on their menus.)

Does anyone have any experience with ColorByte's upgrade policies? 
Can you comment on the cost? Does it _really_ cost 100% of the 
initial purchase price to secure a mid-year update? Do yearly updates 
without a maintenance agreement cost even more than $100% of the 
initial purchase price?

Ouch. There is __no__ way I can pitch something like this and still 
hew to my fiduciary responsibilities.

Please tell me I am wrong and that there is a way to get yearly, and 
as-needed, upgrades for 20% or less of initial cost per annum.

(Don't I remember a time when bug fixes to a point version were not 
only freely downloadable but encouraged?)


-=-Dennis