License Policy Change?

[Joshua F]

I was attempting to download IP.Board from the client area as I normally would but it seems that is not an option anymore if you have an expired license. Is this intended or was there a policy change to licenses?

[Saiga]

It's always been that way.

[Joshua F]

We use to be able to download the last release before the license expired.

Example: License expired on 1/1/13, v3.4 just released. I would be able to download v3.4 and patches, but not 3.5 later on without a renewal.

[Mark H]

That's correct. As long as the license has active support, you can download the latest versions.

But once support has actually expired, you'll no longer have access to download. It's been that way for a very long time.

[Joshua F]

Ahh, I see.

[enddDD]

Our product licenses renew on a six month basis*, providing access to continued upgrades, support, and services.

If you do not renew on your expiration date, your products will continue to function. However, support, product upgrades and additional services (such as the IPS Spam Monitor, and IPS Marketplace) will be unavailable until you renew.

You can renew at any time without penalty to regain access to IPS services.

The renewal cost we show on this page is what your renewal will be in 6 months based on the products you've chosen and the current renewal pricing.

But somebody who has expired his license should be able to get the version before the licence expires.I mean,that in your document it is not written that canot download the past version,it says that canot upgrade,and dont have support ,ip spam and other.IPS version that he pays it still has to be downloadable,or you make something that is not right.I mean,somebod pays for his license,and is normal that he can have acces to download what he pays,even after his license expires,not upgrades and other,but his license what he pays.In other words if i purchase 3.4.5 version ,and my license expires when ips is on 3.4.6(after 6 months),i should be able to download the 3.4.6 (or at least 3.4.5,wich i have paid already)version,and should be blocked to download newest versions,and things that you said there.In my opinion it is not correct to ask for money,for something that people already paid.

[steve00]

Normally people would keep the file(s) they downloaded somewhere safe as a backup so if they were required again at later date then they would use the file(s) they have already downloaded (also saves time as no need to wait while having to download file(s) again)

[enddDD]

Normally people would keep the file(s) they downloaded somewhere safe as a backup so if they were required again at later date then they would use the file(s) they have already downloaded (also saves time as no need to wait while having to download file(s) again)

And if you lose your file?? :))

[steve00]

as the saying goes .... backup, backup and did I forget .... backup

[Kyle F]

Daily backups should be essential to any community or website, regardless of size or age. Always backup your files!

[bfarber]

This comes up every 6-12 months or so because a newer client does not realize the policy in place. Honestly, it confuses me, because I can't think of really *any* software that if I lose the installation for I can still access it once my subscription has expired. If I purchase something on disk and I lose the disk, usually that means I'm out of luck. I have an IDE I use for work here, and if I lose the installer for it I can't redownload it from their site.

We do not track what versions are available when each license expires (without some sort of manual human intervention to go look), so we have no way at this time to allow you to download the last release before a license expires after it has expired. We simply give you full access to a product, or no access. Additionally, we do not keep available products that are unsupported, so if your license expired when 3.0 was available for instance, there would be nothing to "make available" now. We strongly recommend you keep a backup of your downloads in case you need them once your license expires (or at any other time for that matter).

[3DKiwi]

Personally I think as a forum owner you're being reckless letting your support / licence expire and it's not as though IPS charge a lot.

[Tarun]

I assume this is different if you're under a Legacy Lifetime/Perpetual License; is that correct?

[Rheddy]

This question always comes up because nobody bothers to search the forums. Seriously. And this always happens with newer IPS clients more than with anyone else. Most of us who have been clients of IPS for longer than a year know how the system works. Maybe IPS should create a guide or article explaining how the licensing works and post a link to that guide in the header area of the accounts of every client account (via the client account page, not the forum page). Surely, this would make it easier than having to answer this question every six months.

[Lindy]

We're fairly clear that downloads, support and services are tied to license renewals. We also send out an e-mail prior to expiration -- however, there was a bug preventing this from happening recently and that's perhaps what happened here.

[Rheddy]

That may be, Lindy. But, the OP's inquiry is simply the result of not searching the forums. I've been an IPS client since January 2005 and the first thing I do is try searching the forums. If I can't find it, because the topic doesn't exist, then I post a topic. If I don't get a response then I use the IPS ticket system. The OPS should have simply sent in a support ticket because they surely would have given him a proper response. Since he's probably been a previous client, he has access to that. Since his status on the forums marks him an an "inactive" license holder, he's asking a question that should have first been served by searching.

I think too many people resort to posting a new topic rather than searching the forums first. Sure, it might be easier to post the topic but that usually implies that someone doesn;t want to take the effort to go through the process first. I have seen topics like this posted on too frequent a basis and that it gets asked so often and so frequently that I'm shocked that IPS doesn;t have a guide that explains how the license, client support and the renewal process works. I think if IPS created such a guide that there might be fewer of these topics.

And before anyone says anything, I just did an easy search for "license" and I got five pages and found several topics on "IPS License" on the first two pages of topics. That is how easy it is to search the forums first. :yawn: :yes:

[Soniceffect]

That may be, Lindy. But, the OP's inquiry is simply the result of not searching the forums. I've been an IPS client since January 2005 and the first thing I do is try searching the forums. If I can't find it, because the topic doesn't exist, then I post a topic. If I don't get a response then I use the IPS ticket system. The OPS should have simply sent in a support ticket because they surely would have given him a proper response. Since he's probably been a previous client, he has access to that. Since his status on the forums marks him an an "inactive" license holder, he's asking a question that should have first been served by searching.

I think too many people resort to posting a new topic rather than searching the forums first. Sure, it might be easier to post the topic but that usually implies that someone doesn;t want to take the effort to go through the process first. I have seen topics like this posted on too frequent a basis and that it gets asked so often and so frequently that I'm shocked that IPS doesn;t have a guide that explains how the license, client support and the renewal process works. I think if IPS created such a guide that there might be fewer of these topics.

And before anyone says anything, I just did an easy search for "license" and I got five pages and found several topics on "IPS License" on the first two pages of topics. That is how easy it is to search the forums first. :yawn: :yes:

That said however, Lindy taking the time to answer the topic is how any management team should react regardless of whether someone has taken the time to search or not. Thats what we, as customers, pay for in our support, buying our licences etc, and the reason many of us have either always been with IPB or come back to IPB as a result of bad customer service elsewhere :)

[enddDD]

keiichi morisato why should i, if i am a new customer,search the forums about the license??It should ips job to tell me.And they tell me but they did not tell me when i make a purchase ,everything that when the license expires it is like i dont have any license.

tell me,where do you see here that it says,that i do not have acces to any version of the product after my license expires.Please tell me where,because i cant find it:

Our product licenses renew on a six month basis*, providing access to continued upgrades, support, and services.

If you do not renew on your expiration date, your products will continue to function. However, support, product upgrades and additional services (such as the IPS Spam Monitor, and IPS Marketplace) will be unavailable until you renew.

You can renew at any time without penalty to regain access to IPS services.

The renewal cost we show on this page is what your renewal will be in 6 months based on the products you've chosen and the current renewal pricing.

But somebody who has expired his license should be able to get the version before the licence expires.I mean,that in your document it is not written that canot download the past version,it says that canot upgrade,and dont have support ,ip spam and other.IPS version that he pays it still has to be downloadable,or you make something that is not right.I mean,somebod pays for his license,and is normal that he can have acces to download what he pays,even after his license expires,not upgrades and other,but his license what he pays.In other words if i purchase 3.4.5 version ,and my license expires when ips is on 3.4.6(after 6 months),i should be able to download the 3.4.6 (or at least 3.4.5,wich i have paid already)version,and should be blocked to download newest versions,and things that you said there.In my opinion it is not correct to ask for money,for something that people already paid.

[bfarber]

In turn, there is nothing there indicating that you DO have access to download anything once your license expires. :smile: As with most software companies, if your license is expired, your ability to download the software is revoked.

We will be updating our website in the not-too-distant future and I will keep your suggestion in mind when we do to see if this can be made clearer.

For the record, however, we are not asking for money from you to download the version you already have access to. It is expected that you make a backup of the software that you download and you can freely continue to use that version for as long as you like. We simply don't give access through our site to redownload it once your license expires, for the reasons I stated above - but you do not need to pay to run that version so long as you already have a copy of it (which you would, if you downloaded it before your license expired and kept a copy of it).

[Dmacleo]

is it even easily possible to make it so user could only d/l the version released during their active license?

I would expect, and could be wrong, its not an easy task.

if it were this could actually be a huge customer relations coup.

this actually hit me as the zips I had saved (and then backed up) were corrupt and I needed to renew (was planned anyways but had to do it 2 weeks earlier than planned) to get good zip with the few files I needed.

[Rikki]

I have clarified the text in the renewals popup.

[Lindy]

is it even easily possible to make it so user could only d/l the version released during their active license?

I would expect, and could be wrong, its not an easy task.

if it were this could actually be a huge customer relations coup.

this actually hit me as the zips I had saved (and then backed up) were corrupt and I needed to renew (was planned anyways but had to do it 2 weeks earlier than planned) to get good zip with the few files I needed.

It's not easily done, no. We obviously know what version was available and this is something we're going to be paying more attention to in 4.0 as we have some that borrow a newer version than they're entitled to without renewing. Working out what should be downloadable and if it's even still available, however, is a different story. It may not be an active version and one we would be willing to resubmit for download.

Beyond that though and as part of the bigger picture, renewals fund development and keep the innovation flowing. If nobody renewed, we wouldn't be here as a company, so to be honest and transparent, we're not woefully interested in providing perks or convenience to not renewing. We do allow continued use of the product after license expiration, which many other companies don't, but that is really where it ends. Extended download access, upgrades, services, etc. do require an active license and have for years.

Rikki has clarified a bit more on the site and if necessary, we elaborate further. I certainly don't think someone should need to search our community to understand how the license works - I feel it's clear on the site, but if they end up here, we've missed something. :)

[Dmacleo]

I actually don't have any real issues with the current setup, was just wondering as I got hit with a pretty rare issue. didn't know if it was possible to easily do it, and as suspected its not, and then capitalize off it somehow as a customer benefit to keep them coming back. but I am not well versed in customer relations so take that with grain of salt :P

[Ricw]

We're fairly clear that downloads, support and services are tied to license renewals. We also send out an e-mail prior to expiration -- however, there was a bug preventing this from happening recently and that's perhaps what happened here.

IPS offers No Worries, if they use IPS hosting services, they will receive all new upgrades free and superior support service from the best forum or board application on the market.

I was a true newbie a couple of years back with little computer experience, when I got this idea for a board, considering the knowledge base who reside here, I still consider myself a newbie. However, I do read! Before purchasing, with the intent of comparison, I read the documentation from the top ten companies who provide board applications. After studying these top ten, I determined who I considered were the top three, joined their boards, asked questions and tried out their free service, if it was available.

Knowing that licenses expire and support service with the license, I decided to go with IPS hosting services, the cloud before it was. To tell the truth, I always thought once I learned the product, I would buy a license. Now, I could care less about a license and cannot wait until my board reaches the need for hosting 450- 30GB, Priority Support, Design and SSO included. By the way, what is SSO?

One other question, I know that technically Priority Support starts at hosting 100, but if I am receiving superior support at hosting 40, what is the difference between priority and superior support? :smile: Thank you IPS support services, and it is appropriate to call out Rhett Buck, who with knowledge and patients answers many of my support question.

In closing, I also want to thank many of IPS members who have answered many of my ah, ah, ah, Ok I will say it dumb questions. It also is appropriate to call out AndyF, who has answered many of these questions

Rick

P.S. My guess is that some read about hosting services, the cloud and confuse it with a license or they didn't read the documentation.

[Ryan Ashbrook]

Knowing that licenses expire and support service with the license, I decided to go with IPS hosting services, the cloud before it was. To tell the truth, I always thought once I learned the product, I would buy a license. Now, I could care less about a license and cannot wait until my board reaches the need for hosting 450- 30GB, Priority Support, Design and SSO included. By the way, what is SSO?

SSO stands for Single Sign On, which basically means it's an integrated authentication system whereby if someone logs into (for example) the main site for a client, then they are also logged into IP.Board, and vice versa.

So essentially it's a type of drop-in replacement for the built-in IP.Board Login and Registration system that integrates with a 3rd party application. :smile:

The opposite is also true - where some clients will integrate their systems into the IP.Board Login and Registration system (rather than utilize their own). So when a member logs in, they are then automatically logged into the 3rd party application as well.