[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] DocHoliday77:
[MENTION=4788211]Aerowinder[/MENTION]

I can totally see where you are coming from. And my statement about keeping beta testing internal was simply just to point out they do have an option. I agree its not the best option, but it is one. I completely agree with you about the benefit of public betas, as I had stated before as well. But I did not realize they would just shut down any part of it without some sort of notice. While I dont expect a beta release to continue functioning after the final release, I would expect a little bit of a grace period before just shutting it down like that! And without notice too. I would agree that this is not good practice.

I realize that the purpose of V2 and V4 are the same, and they offer very similar functionality, but I was under the impression that V4 was a complete rewrite and does add to the features and functionality of V2. Exactly what the differences are, I cannot remember off the top of my head, but I do recall reading about some of them when the beta was first released a month or so ago. But even if the biggest difference is better stability for now and in the near future, I think its worth paying for the new version. Updates can only take an app so far before it needs a major overhaul. And often, starting from the ground up is the best approach when you want to provide a quality product.

Also, try to consider it from a business standpoint. I think it is reasonable to assume that the majority of people who are going to use the app, have long since purchased it. Meaning most new updates and work involved are done with diminishing returns. After a while it begins to cost a lot more to keep it up to date than they receive in sales revenue. If a business continues with that kind of path, pretty soon you will get no updates and the app will simply just die. I do think that it would've been good if they allowed current users to possibly upgrade at a lower cost, but then, I kind of think that is what the .99 sale does anyway. If not for the sale, I would be in more agreement with your position on purchasing the new update. $4-5 is kind of pushing it to begin with, and if you paid full price for the previous one I can certainly understand the resistance there.

All in all, I do get your position on not wanting to purchase the same app twice, I think everyone has been in similar situations where they would be unhappy about a purchase. But I think it has more to do with perception, at least in certain cases. If you look at it a certain way, you might get downright angry about what a developer does, but if you look at it from a different angle, it could have quite the opposite affect.

I remember maybe a year or so ago, there was a weather app that was gaining some popularity, but then the developer decided to create a new app based on the original, but with everything his customers had been requesting. They now had to buy the new one. But to make it worse, he completely took the original down, so no one could even re-download it anymore. After a lot of complaints and gripes, he then proceeded to piss everyone off even more still by re-releasing the original, but as a "Classic" version for which people had to buy a second time if they preferred it over the new one! Needless to say his popularity seemed to die down quite a bit after that.

I know that is OT but thought I would throw it out there as a comparison for a really horrible "upgrade path" chosen by a developer.

In ending, I agree with you that paid updates can be a slippery slope, but in some circumstances, it may be unavoidable if the developer wants to continue providing his products to people. At least it isn't one of those where you have to purchase features by IAP's! Or worse yet, having to spend $50-100 to get enough coins or gems to get the one really cool in-game item! :(

I must say, though I usually completely agree with what you say, I do tend to enjoy disagreeing with you bro! You always have excellent points to debate against! And you never try to prove an impossible point, just because you really want it to be true! :good: :cool:

:cowboy:

---------- Post added at 05:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 AM ----------

Wow! I did not expect that post to be that long!!!! Didn't realize it until I hit Post Reply and it showed it to me!