1 sorry for pissing you off.
2 Object Desktop is so much more for the dollars plus free programs
such as object dock.
3 It took 3 years to up ver 2 to 3.
4 New news on you sits. Months could go by with no New News.
5 Not even a discount for customers who bought 2.x which supported
you. no thanks, no nothing. All I'm saying is you have a blank way of
thanking you customers.

NO REPLY REQUIRED!
-------Original Message-------

From: Jorge Coelho [Winstep]
Date: Saturday, December 13, 2003 7:37:20 AM
To: Michael Broccio
Subject: Re: Rip off - You guys just lost....

Michael, where have you and your 10 friends been for the past year? It has been announced for at least that long on the Winstep web site and on the mailing lists the price policy of the upgrade. Why didn't you say something then? Why wait until now, and, much worse than that, present things as a fait acomplit instead of first trying to dialog with me?

If you think that NextSTART 3.0 is just a mere update over 2.81 rather than a full upgrade, well, that is your prerogative. I know thousands of users who will disagree with you, me specially because I know how much work I poured into it.

But that isn't even the point, Michael, what you didn't even consider is that the update is related to version 2.0 of NextSTART, not version 2.81. That's right, the first persons who bought NS when the 2.0 version was first released got over 3 years of free upgrades and THOUSANDS of free fixes and new features. Don't believe me? Well, go read the ns2 history file then. ALL of it, if you please. And when you are finished then think that ALL of that was for free. Do you work for free, Michael? I don't think so.

If you are a reasonable person (are you?) you will realize that it's not my fault that the people who purchased NextSTART just before or after version 2.81 didn't get as much bang for their bucks as those who purchased it earlier. On the other hand, thousands of people, those who purchased earlier, got much, much more for their money than what I think they could ever reasonably expect.

The line must be drawn somewhere. I don't even understand why you are upset, I mean, doesn't Stardock do something similar? Don't you have to pay EVERY year to keep your OD subscription alive and won't you have to pay in full later on if you let it die at some point?

Besides, and I always tell this to the customers who ask me about the free upgrades, when you purchase a program you should do it for what it does for you NOW, not for what it might do in the future. The fact that a 2.0 key gives you free upgrades to all 2.x versions is a BONUS, an act of good will on my part. I could, if I wanted, charge a small amount for each update/upgrade instead. That is what some other companies do.

And, what you are forgetting, Michael, is that a 3.0 key would also give you free upgrades to ALL future 3.x versions... and judging by what happened with 2.x, that would mean a lot of FREE extra features for a long time to come.

One last thing: if you don't think that 3.0 is worth the price, then you are not obliged to buy it. You can always stick with version 2.81, it is yours and it will always be, that is what you paid for.

Anyway, for you to see that I have no problem about going public with this kind of things and that I do believe I am right in what I am saying, I'm going to post both your email and this reply on the Ws2k-Beta mailing list. Lets see what the other customers think about this issue... I'm sure it will be interesting. If you are not part of the list already, please feel free to join in and defend your point of view.

***

Had you tried to talk with me in the first place, my response might have been different. As it is, you only managed to seriously piss me off.

Have a good day,

Jorge Coelho
NextSTART 3.0 - A user interface you can actually use!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies
IRC Chat: #winstep on AustNet

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Broccio
To: support@winstep.net
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 11:52 AM
Subject: Rip off - You guys just lost....


You guys just lost 11 customers who bought 2.x.
To charge full price for a update (yes thats right 3.x does not have enough to justify the title upgrade) well all I we have to say is thank you and good luck.

As of this date you have only 323 themes on wincustomize. Only 4 new ones.

Nextstart could be a good thing with the right people running the company.

Goodbye from us all