Pricing scheme ripoff!

[TronixA923]

As a lifetime license holder of Mailwasher, I can truly say that the latest pricing scheme is unfair. A program should not stop functioning becuase of a built-in timer. If you want to cut off access to your spam-cloud network after a year(that I never subscribed to) that is fine but if you want to render your entire program useless without payment is reprehensible. Even a virus scanning product will continue to run after its subscription expires. Not to name names but Spamihilator has a great bayesian filter and best of all it's free and they have nice plugins for the product.
I may consider buying a licence if you get rid of the product deactivation, but as it stands, I'm not paying one cent.

[anniebrion]

Take a look here: http://forum.firetrust.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=6550

[mrozenhart]

You can keep pointing people to rusticdog's post, but that doesn't change the fact that people with a lifetime license (people who supported Nick when Mailwasher was still a free program) feel ripped off..

[rusticdog]

You can still keep using the old version, that will never expire. You have what you paid for and that was a lifetime license for that version of MailWasher. You were offered a free license to MailWasher Pro and that too had free updates for the life of that program.

Maybe we should have changed the name, but it's a separate program, and there is no free offer this time.


So even if for example you donated $5 on the 22nd of September 2002, you still got the free upgrade to MailWasher in 2004, and can keep using that for as long as you want, with free support.

[anniebrion]

Maybe we should have changed the name

MailWasherX 2010 (X for Xtreme) would have been a good name

[rusticdog]

We had a lot of ideas, they were all pretty bad though....especially mine

[anniebrion]

You should have had a competition and x years fee MWP as the prize.

[rusticdog]

I don't think a competition was ever thought of. Told you we aren't very smart.

[stan_qaz]

Competition is good, you can blame the folks that did the voting for whatever goes wrong.

[mrozenhart]

I wasn't offered anything..

Edit:
Never mind, you meant the upgrade from Mailwasher to Mailwasher Pro..

[TronixA923]

I just want to clarify that as a lifetime license holder of the old version of Mailwasher, I understand that this program has been rebuilt from the ground up. As such, I wouldn't mind paying a ONE TIME fee of like $35-$40 for the 2010 version. What you have done that I completely disagree with is that you FORCE people using Mailwasher 2010 to pay ~$10 annually just to keep the program functioning.
Here's what's unfair- there will be cracks for the 2010 program that will allow it to operate indefinitely but probably without access to the online spam service. Why is it fair that the pirates will probably be able to do whatever they like with an illegitamate copy of your software but you're going to force your own customers to shell out money annually for software they may like just fine without having to upgrade to 2011, 2012, etc...
Imagine if Microsoft did the same with its office products...do you think Microsoft Office would still be the #1 office software? They did do an experiment with the whole "rent" concept and found that very few were going to buy off on the whole rental concept.
Why don't you "sell" me the software and then, through innovation, convince me to upgrade to 2011, 2012, etc... This is how other software works and call me a cynic, but what this mandatory fee tell me is that you guys weren't getting enough subscribers to your online paid annual subscription service, and this is why you force people to pay out annually now starting with 2010 because it forces you to become a subscriber to the online spam service or else the software ceases to function.
I'm not a mailwasher hater...I was looking forward to paying for 2010 but as soon as I saw the post about the built-in annual kill switch (if you don't pay), I immediately decided not to make the purchase. While the $9.95 annual fee (or however much it is) isn't a whole lot, the principal of the matter is more important. Please let the "Big Cheese" know that you have potential customers who are holding off paying for 2010 not because you're asking for money but because of the way the program stops working after a year if the customer doesn't pay.
If you guys can change this one fact about the software, not only would I pay, but I'm sure a multitude would as well. I'm not asking for another lifetime deal, but for God's sake, don't make the software quit working if I decide I like 2010 version just fine. What you should do is offer free upgrades until 2011 is released then stop allowing the customer updates until they upgrade and also cut off the online spam service. This is fair I believe and if you are innovative, you have nothing to worry about.

[TopDog]

As a long time customer (since 2004) I understand the need to charge for an upgrade to new versions and I appreciate all the upgrades for free through the years. So I'm not upset about the new version cost. But as others have voiced, I don't agree with the annual subscription. And if the main cost of the new version is FirstAlert then I can do without that feature to keep the current version running past a year. I never used FirstAlert anyway. I'm having problems with the new version hanging daily during evaluation of mail and if it persists I will be going back to version 6.

Mailwasher has been one of, if not the most valued programs I own. The only feature I'm enthused with in the new version is the ability to search the recycle bin. Bottom line I very much appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this program, the fantastic support I have always received and the superb quality of the program. But I cant see paying an annual subscription for Mailwasher. If given the choice to upgrade to new versions for a fee or annual subscriptions I would choose the upgrade fee.

Again Thank You for all the hard work and saving me much pain in dealing with e-mail.

[helendwallace]

You must be too young to remember when $500 and more was the normal entry price to any useful program. Software developers have to get paid somehow. When software is given free (like Mailwasher Free) there are other options like MW Pro that bring in some money, and now they seem to have a third option where you pay much less, but do it every year. Is $10 per annum too much to ask?

[PhilRose]

Wow. So because some pirates might steal software you deserve to get it free? Some people steal cars but I don't expect Toyota to supply me with a free Prius...

[Sidewinder]

I find it interesting that there is all this "noise" being created when for less than $1/month you can have a truly creative new program to protect you incoming mail stream that is up to date, fully supported including bug fixes. That amount is not more than a single bottle of water, no where near the price of a can/glass of beer, coffee per cup at most of the fast food retailers. Time to join the current decade. QWITURBITCHEN!