Software and cars analogies usually are as witty as inadequate.
Perhaps, but analogies shouldn't be necessary in the first place. If you believe the current pricing model/practice is somehow unfair, why don't you suggest a better alternative? The only one I can think of is a subscription basis. For your fee, you would have the right to use any version of program for exactly 12 months. That way, you would never have to decide whether to upgrade after 8 or 10 months. On the other hand, unless you renewed the subscription, the software would stop working after 12 months. While a subscription would clearly be "fairer," I don't think many users would like the idea of having to pay the fee each and every year to keep such software running. If a subscription were an optional alternative to the current model, I suspect JRiver would price renewals the same. In other words, it would be $25 to use the
current version as long as you like, or $25 to use
any version for 12 months. If there were such an option, I would have difficulty choosing. So I'm content with the current model, and find it difficult to see how it can construed as being unfair.
Having said that, it's interesting to ponder a hybrid model... A renewal fee would include the right to use a new version introduced within 12 months, but only to the end of the 12 month period. At that time, users would have the choice of continuing with the new version by paying another renewal fee, or reverting to the prior version (which would continue to work indefinitely). It seems to me this would have to completely remove any perception of unfairness. At the same time, it may make business sense to JRiver. More users would automatically upgrade to new versions, and that would put their renewal decision in a somewhat different context—a negative decision would mean giving up the new version. Okay, I'll take it back—some
will complain about that.
