Perpetual Licenses and Upgrades

[sethwudel]

Well, AVID has removed my question, since they consider my legitimate dissatisfaction with their service to be "slander"

That's fine. It's their site.

But since they would not allow me to reply to their email about it, i suppose my only way to reply to them is here.

So here is my reply to their email
I hope they will respond in a manner that allows me to address my concern with them.

Here is my reply to their statement "We are sorry that you do not agree with our need to charge for the additional work required to achieve compatibility with new Operating Systems released by Apple or Microsoft."

Well, why wouldn't that "EXTRA WORK" be included in the price I ALREADY PAID for a so-called "perpetual license?" Because for the most part the 800 dollar software I paid for is now worth ZERO dollars as I can't use it with my operating system.

The choice to upgrade to Pro-Tools 12 should be based on the MERIT OF Pro-Tools 12's IMPROVEMENTS not because the previous software i purchased is now useless.

The irony is that I was actually WANTING to upgrade to Pro-Tools 12 based on the fact that it would add the feature of being able to share sessions/projects across two platforms.

But now I am hesitant to pay for an upgrade since I know that Avid will not provide updates, so if I upgrade I am going to have to pay another 2 or 3 dollars American every two years just to be able to USE my software with updated operated systems.

I could see it being fair if, say , I was unable to gain new features unless i upgrade.

But to have the software I paid for become completely obsolete?

That doesn't seem very honorable to a "perpetual license" being advertised if you ask me.

So then what stops you guys from making pro tools 13 have no better improvements that a little smiley face in the top corner, yet I would have no choice but to upgrade to pro-tools 13 because pro tools 12 will no longer work with whatever the current operating system is?

So buying pro tools 12 just means you are going to keep milking money out of us just to be able to use it.

How is that honoring a "perpetual license"?

Pro tools ten cost me 800 dollars, and now it is pretty much useless.

So its pretty reasonable to think that if I bought Pro-tools 12, or any other avid Software, it will be useless in a couple years too, unless i fork out more money, right?

Since you guys don't even provide updates to even make it stay FUNCTIONABLE? Never MIND improvements.

Why would it make sense to upgrade to Pro-tools 12, as a 'perpetual license' when you are going to charge us 200 American every two years just to be able to USE it?

That's not what upsets me the most though.
What UPSETS me is that I paid a hard earned 800 bucks to use pro tools ten as a perpetual license, as it was advertised, and also advertised that updates were provided.
And now that has been taken away and the software you sold me is pretty much useless. (Unless I never want to ever update my operating system again.)

I already PAID for the "extra work" to keep it compatible. You advertised a "perpetual license."

This is not slander.
This a very legitimate complaint against your business practices.

[Marco Bernardo]

I'm sorry, but when you buy a new car, you won't receive the update of that car after a year, or the next ones....

You have every legitimate for not agree with this new form of upgrades (I was on that same boat, but since they have changed to 99$ a year, is more or less $0.27 cents for day that you need to save), but that don't makes that you're right!

If there's additional work, It's more than legit to ask for some fee.

Cheers,

ps: the only thing that I don't agree with this new form of upgrade is the obligate to perform a upgrade EVERY year, even If we don't need. It should be like WUP from Waves. but that is another story.

[JoelG]

Pro Tools 10 did come out almost 5 years ago. That's a lifetime in computer time.

Any software will have an end of life where it is no longer supported/updated. At that time you either have to choose to upgrade to a newer version, or stick with what you have.

Joel

[Logichead]

Originally Posted by JoelG

Pro Tools 10 did come out almost 5 years ago. That's a lifetime in computer time.

Any software will have an end of life where it is no longer supported/updated. At that time you either have to choose to upgrade to a newer version, or stick with what you have.

Joel

It would be one thing if a new version worked when it was first released, but that isn't the case, at least since PT8 - which took a year before it was useable. Avid has a history of releasing software that isn't fully operational, counting on users to beta test - and charging them for the privilege.

Did PT11 ever become stable? Is PT12 stable yet?

It's as if stability isn't a primary concern anymore. Instead, they have loaded up on features and tried to make the upgrades mandatory. Even worse, many of the features are kind of bs. The "Avid Everywhere" push is a perfect example. I suppose it might be valuable in a world without phones, text messages, email and DropBox, but at the moment it looks to be a solution in search of a problem.

Avid will change - or perish. Meanwhile, more and more pro users are buying other products that enhance their work, like microphones, 500 series racks, new instruments, instead of upgrading their PT rigs. SOMEONE at Avid needs to find their yarbles and start advocating the radical concept of providing value for money for their clients - instead of trying to use us as pawns in their stock option schemes.

Imo, Hernandez needs to step down. He is not a visionary.

Best...H

[Marco Bernardo]

Originally Posted by mvtto

Same issue.

I had Pro Tools 10 on Mavericks and everything was hunky-dory. Almost. My laptop fan was too loud in my room to record ADR and Foley. So I took the plunge and spent $300 on a 10m optical TB cable and a $200 TB dock and ran my laptop in another room.

Smooth sailing. Almost.

My magic trackpad wouldn't work because it only runs on bluetooth and the bluetooth receiver on the laptop is out of reach. So I pick up a blue tooth dongle. The mouse movements are are almost unusably fidgety for a few weeks until it dies completely. I take it to the Apple Store, like I did for my past 3 Magic Trackpads, only to find it's one month out of warranty. So I pick up their $130 magic trackpad 2, which can run over USB!

HOORAY! Almost...
It works! But the scrolling and gestures don't. I find out that in order to use the trackpad I have to upgrade to...
EL CAPITAN.

So I did.

Now all my track menus in Pro Tools are greyed out until mouse over them. Now PT crashes occasionally. Now grid mode doesn't work in the midi editor. Now sometimes plugin windows burn-in and block my screen and I have to restart PT.

BUT THATS MY FAULT. The lesson is- don't upgrade your operating system. If it works, jesus, don't fix it. If your PT rig is your career you have to make sure that any modifications will not affect your livelihood. That's a valuable lesson that any vet knows.

...That doesn't mean I'm not conflicted. Is this really the best that one can hope for? If you spend $800 for software it should be supported for a while and not updated as often. Where is that money going? Is Avid just too top-heavy? Do you know how long Acoustica's Mixcraft has had track freeze? 9 Years. That's a $30 piece of software that came out while Bush was in office. Meanwhile, I've had the words "Increase HW Buffer Size" burnt into my retina.

But I can't complain because I know they're like this and I'm the one who hasn't moved to cubase. I don't think anything I've said has been helpful at all. The one thing I can tell you with certainty is this- if you don't like Avid's decision making, you will likely continue to feel that way about their future decisions.

Hi

Please check the compatibility of Pro tools 10 OSX here - http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...tibility-Chart



Regards