>... realize what a tightwad you’re being...
C'mon now. If you call something "lifetime", you can't be shockedpikachu.jpg when you change it to something else years later and people are surprised.
A tightwad isn’t necessarily a bad person, they’re just unwilling to yield a thin penny in the face of someone’s need unless they’re contractually obliged to.
Yes, it did. The original agreement[0] was for "a one time, life-time registration which will work with current and future versions of mIRC". The new agreement[1] "entitles you to three years of free updates to new versions of mIRC. If you are a business user, you will need to renew your licenses yearly at a discount".
>A tightwad isn’t necessarily a bad person...
Delivery matters, though. And for what it's worth, I'm not getting the sense that a lot of the people in this thread who are frustrated by this are simply never going to pay. You can simultaneously be annoyed by this change and also understanding of why.
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20091230075527/http://www.mirc.c...
>That’s only if you relicense.
I mean, sure, but I don't know how else I was supposed to take, "Literally nothing changed with regards to the license". "Literally nothing" is pretty specific.
Also, I wonder how they plan to reimburse users for the days they weren't able to use the software they paid for. Note how they pointed out that replying to the emails begging for a renewal will "take time" during which the software is unusable.
That seems like exactly the right behavior for a solo developer to do in this situation. Everyone here is opining how he should be ended mIrc and making nirc as a licensed hard fork that people have to pay for instead. That’s really not in spirit of the original license, but folks somehow find it more tasteful than honoring the original license but caveating it for users as being a financial difficulty for the developer. I feel like I’ve stepped into moral bizarro land. The fork and rebrand to get out of the license agreement is sociopathic to my mind.
The right thing to be would be the dialogue saying “mIRC as a business isn’t doing so well and your licence was bought 15 years ago. Do you mind chipping in again? If not click next to continue sorry for bothering you.”
Instead it says “This registration has expired. Please see the mIRC website for more information on renewing your registration.” which projects a very different message.
Like any other software company that have done similar things with free / lifetime software, he could have just dropped support for the original branded mIRC client, respun it into another program with most of the code base, add a few entirely useless features (maybe you can slap other people in channels with things other than large trouts!) and sell it under his new license model. He's still branding and selling it as mIRC. That's problematic.
He could have, you’re right. But he’s honoring the lifetime license instead. And all you have to do is read his appeal and email him to get the renewal key. And if you decide that’s what you want he will give you your key and you continue to enjoy your lifetime license.
How is this worse than ending mIrc v1 development and requiring a relicense for the next version? I’d argue “life time license is honored” is more honorable than “relicense the same product so I don’t have to honor the original deal.”
Am I missing something?
Selling lifetime licenses are terrible for your business; they bring in a load of money upfront, but your revenue stream will start to dry up as your customer pool gets saturated.
It's a small fee for many people, but I'd argue it's an unnecessary one.
Lifetime licenses for anything that is related to a service is a terrible idea, in the same way that not linking cost to usage can also be problematic.
For a standalone application, it can make a lot of sense along with bringing customer loyalty as they are treated well.
FL Studio is another example, and they also demonstrated how you can add new revenue paths, whilst still providing excellent value to your original customers.
I suppose that’s another option for the developer.
For an ongoing concern, it is often the case that microtransactions, or additional paid features, are offered - some more 'strongly' than others - but if the core value proposition that was initially paid for remains intact, that seems reasonable.
The excessive marketing of Minecraft monetisation by Microsoft, is certainly not something to praise, but it has not reduced the ability of original owners to continue playing. I can download the latest Java version (and server) and play completely offline on a LAN, with no problem, all as part of the price I first paid back when it was in alpha ~12 years ago.
Realms need to be paid for, as they are the ongoing 'service' which needs to be funded.
So how do you avoid this? Well use a different type of speed bump. Make an automated site to issue new keys to these people (because they are entitled to it) and then use that website to explain the situation. Inform the user how many years of use they have had out of their initial purchase, then offer them a “pay what you like” purchase / donation to the next key.
You could even set it up that if the user choices “free” for their next key, that new key will stop working in 6-12 months time and they will have to repeat the process.
This will prevent people on hard times having to beg and wait for a new license on something they already have paid for, and will still allow those with means and value the use of the software to continue to support the software if they so wish. Heck I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave more.
For me personally I stopped using mIRC years ago when I moved to a Linux based desktop for a few years, at which time I swapped to Hex Chat and just never swapped back when I returned to a Windows Desktop.
For me I just use ircII.
My first thought on that was that it was to add a delay to getting a new code and feed into the instant gratification to just paying up (if able and value paying again) and getting a new code there and then. Making a user email is "effort", low effort but still effort, which could disway some people asking for new codes.
I also repect that they opt'ed to honor the license then opting to release "mIRC2" on new terms, I like you just felt that there are better ways to handle the process then the "email me and wait" option, which could lead them to recieve nasty emails during the process where an automated system could remove that (because while a user might be pissed off, its quickly resolved).
most of us are devs and as a result, pretty well off to varying degrees. pay other devs for software you find useful.