In the wake of releasing Army Builder 3.2, a number of users have expressed displeasure with the cost of renewing their Army Builder license. Our license mechanism was designed around the assumption that we would release an update to Army Builder approximately every year – this would get new features into the hands of users more quickly, and would be more convenient for us than doing a major update (for which we would have to charge $25-30) every 2-3 years.
Unfortunately, due to badly underestimating the work involved to get our Hero Lab product developed and solidly established, we allowed Army Builder to languish without an update for three years. Now that Army Builder V3.2 has been released, users who purchased AB three years ago are renewing their licenses and finding themselves required to pay for three years during which we didn't release any new updates. They aren't liking this requirement - for obvious reasons.
We've been listening to these concerns, and we've been working to come up with a better solution for our users. We already have a bunch of new capabilities planned for Army Builder in early 2010 and beyond, so maintaining the $12.50 annual extension system should work well. Users will continue get access to frequent program updates, and we don’t have to wait another 2 years before releasing a new version that users feel is “worth” paying $30 for.
Where we need a better solution is for users who allow their license to lapse and want to jump back in a couple years later. Our solution is to revise the license mechanism. New Army Builder purchases will continue to include a full year of free updates, just as they have since V3.0 was introduced. The annual license extensions for $12.50 will remain in effect as well. This allows users who prefer extending their license every year to do so, just as they are now, with instant access to all new updates. However, for users who allow their licenses to expire for a significant length of time, we're introducing a new option.
Regardless of how long your license has been expired, you can now renew your license and receive a full year of free updates from the date you renew. This option is specifically designed for users whose license has been expired for more than a year, and the price will be a flat $27.99, which translates to $15 to get caught up with all past releases plus a one-year extension from that point forward. This effectively puts a cap on the renewal cost for long-expired licenses. Users whose license has been expired for a year or less can simply purchase two extensions under the current model and get a net longer extension period for a lower cost.
To illustrate everything clearly, let’s look at some examples of how this will work:
· For a user who extends his license every year, there will be no change. You’ll continue to get immediate access to each new release of Army Builder as soon as it’s released, as well as all data file updates, for only $12.50 a year.
· For a user who waits up to a year after his license expires before renewing it, there will also be no change. If the new version of Army Builder comes out 11 months after your license expires, it will continue to cost only $12.50 to get access to the new version.
· A user who waits more than a year to renew their license will save money with the new approach. Instead of having to buy multiple license extensions and ending up with only a few months of continued coverage, the $27.99 flat fee will immediately upgrade you to the newest version of the product and then extend the license to a full year from that point forward.
This new structure will go into effect at some point in early September, after we've been able to get everything properly implemented and tested. In the meantime, you're probably wondering how this will impact users who have already extended (or replaced) their licenses using the old structure. The following changes will apply:
· Anyone who purchased a two-year extension within the last six months will be considered to have purchased the new flat renewal option. If the user's license is currently set to expire less than one year from the date when they purchased the two-year extension, the license will be extended to a full year past the date when the extension was purchased. This will be done automatically.
· Anyone who purchased a three-year extension within the last six months will be considered to have purchased the new flat renewal option *plus* an additional one-year extension. Consequently, the user's license will be handled as outlined above, plus the license will have an additional year of extension applied to it. This will be done automatically.
· Anyone who purchased a completely new license to replace an expired license within the last six months will be treated similarly to the three-year extension above. The user's newly purchased license will have an additional year of extension applied to it. The caveat for this situation is that we won't be able to recognize this situation automatically. If this situation applies to you, please wait until we announce that the new system has gone into effect. At that point, contact technical support with both the old (expired) and new license numbers. We can then apply the appropriate extension to your new license.
This solution should benefit everyone who has already purchased license extensions or a new license to restore a long-expired license, as each license should receive additional months (or even years) of licensed operation. Further, anyone who purchases an extension prior to the new system going live will have their license treated as outlined above, so it will save users a few dollars to purchase extensions now instead of later.
The bottom line on all this is we acknowledge the lack of AB updates has uncovered a flaw in our licensing mechanism and we're taking steps to correct it. The changes we're instituting will hopefully be viewed as a reasonable solution that both works for the current situation and provides a reasonable safeguard for users in the future. It allows users to renew an expired license with a suitable cap on the cost, regardless of how long the license has been expired. It also supports our original vision for AB, with updates at least once a year. And I think most of you are going to really like some of the stuff we have planned for release in 2010. :-)
Thanks for everyone's support throughout the years, and thanks for your patience as we work to get this issue suitably resolved.