shielding and health

[Javier Gerardo]

Right.  Free upgrades do not bring in money.  MIR 2.1 is from several years ago, and is 5G at $89.95 a copy, if memory serves.  I have been doing research, experimentation and development ever since, and v3 is going to have 41 different goals (instead of 1, like v2.1 has); it will be based on some pretty deep research, instead of a general concept, as v2.1 is; and it will require me more than a month to build.  MIR 2.1 took me a day to build, and 2.0 took me three days.  V3 is two generations down the road from v2.1, and is therefore vastly more advanced, powerful and complex, which is why it's taken me years to develop and will require more than a month just to script and build.

If I were to give you a free upgrade from v2.1, that would mean I don't get paid for literally years of research, experimentation and development.  Some of that experimentation had be in life threatening situations as I tested how well MIR 2.1 worked. (Twice, specifically, I was at risk of my life ending in order to properly test the program.)  It would also mean that none of the work that I have done to advance the underlying technology from 5G to 5.5G to 5.75G gets paid for.

So no, no discounts and no free upgrades.  No upgrades for life.  Sorry, but we have to make a profit or nobody will be able to buy our products.  That is why I said above, decide now whether you want to buy v2.1 and have something at least, if worse comes to worst before I can finish v3, and then pay again for v3, or just wait and buy v3.

And by the way, to the general public, once v3 is released, there will be no refunds of V2.1.  Not pointing at anyone in specific, but I know some of you like to try to refund an older version to circumvent our rules and get a discount on a newer version.  We will not be allowing that anymore.  We must stay profitable or have no incentive or ability to keep going.  Remember that.

If I may ...I wouldn't expect free upgrades for life, and I doubt anyone else does. However it would make total sense from a customer service point of view to offer a free upgrade if a new version comes out within 30 days, just like most businesses offer a price protection for example. This way, the money that you would get 30 days from now comes into your pocket right this moment and perhaps, as a little reward for being an early bird, the buyer gets the new version at the price of the old version. This way you wouldnt have to waste time on processing returns. Or, if you really want, and it would still be good customer service, you could offer to upgrade buyers within a certain time period before the release of a new version just for the difference between the new and the old version. 

Otherwise, you will antagonize any buyer that buys the old version, and then a week or two later, finds out he has to pay again, and probably even more than the previous time, for a new version. That's definitely not going to bring any repeat customers, no matter how good your products are

That brings me to an interesting thought.
Why not have a limited time offer like "for 2 weeks after the product is out the old users can get it for 50% off" and the official announcement when it begins and when it ends is written in the forum in the news section. Also you could make it "choose 60% off if you agree for "no money back guarantee"
You have the following benefits:
- people can't complain that they have to pay full price if they already bought the previous program
- money comes rolling in early
- the offer is time limited, so it's not that people can use it years later
- more activity in the forum of certain people because they want to stay up to date
- keep early adaptors of your programs happy.

I would also change some of the free programs like ASC to "pay what it is worth to you". Maybe it is a nice marketing thing.

Since not all of us are monitoring what programs will be updated, I kind of agree with the discount that Shannon is proposing in that way even those who want the latest version will just have to wait and not having a feeling of buyer's remorse due to buying an older version.