Perpetual licenses being done away with.

[TSP]

Honouring the 4% who helped sow the IPS seed won't break the bank.

Sure, that might be true. But then they can't use the same money and time on something that could benefit all of their customers.

4% seems very harmless, I own multiple licenses but only one is perpetual. So I have given custom (good amount) to the company and I do feel that lifetime licenses should be honoured regardless (yet this will not happen because we as customers will have to accept or move on, companies sadly care less and less about the people who keep them in their jobs).

Well, maybe as a result they can put in some extra benefits for people that have multiple licenses, spend more time ensuring their support tickets gets taken care of properly, fix bugs sooner. Or maybe they'll use the extra time and money to implement more features that people want.

I wish to also respond to this: "companies sadly care less and less about the people who keep them in their jobs)."

A normal customer have probably contributed more to the product than you have (Sorry if this sounds harsh, it's not meant personal). Yes, you have invested in the product when it was fresh and there was a risk the company wouldn't make it. But they did make it and I would say you have gotten more than your investment back. Personally I feel like they do care about their customers when they do this change, they do it because they care about and believe they can improve the product for 100% of their customers, and that is certainly more than 4%.

[GreenLinks]

Its about principal.

Honouring the 4% who helped sow the IPS seed won't break the bank.

They are not breaking any promise at all.

What you purchased is a Forum Script which allowed you to run a forum solution only.

However IPB evolved greatly and become a CMS system that has applications on top of it.

So what you purchased will not continue to exist in future.

They just simply allow you to convert your license with no additional cost to a new product.

[Rheddy]

From what I remember about the perpetual/lifetime licenses, and IPS Staff (let me know if I'm incorrect on this), they were offered at a time prior to the IPB 3.0 suite when the only product IPS was releasing was Invision Power Board. At the time, it was the only product that was offered and the forum software was greatly simplified. Now that I think about it, the perpetual licenses were discontinued prior to the launch of IP.Board 3.0, and that the license only involved the license to IP.Board, it didn;t include Gallery, Blog, Download or Nexus. Those who held perpetual licenses when they were official canceled by IPS were allowed to keep their lifetime licenses but were granted the option to convert their perpetual licenses to the standard 6 month license program (which includes client support from IPS).

It seems odd that this information is being reclassified as new news when it was actually announced as far back as 2011(?). I'm not sure on the date, but it's been a long while since IPS announced the discontinued sales of new purchases of the perpetual licenses. I think what happened was that someone at TAZ posted a new message in an outdated topic and that a bunch of people panicked and raced over here to the IPS forums, thinking that this was something new that IPS had announced. I think members over at TAZ are suffering from some sort of miscommunication regarding the lifetime licenses.

Brandon, Rikki Rhett or Lindy should be able to clarify this.

[Joey_M]

Sure, that might be true. But then they can't use the same money and time on something that could benefit all of their customers.

Well, maybe as a result they can put in some extra benefits for people that have multiple licenses, spend more time ensuring their support tickets gets taken care of properly, fix bugs sooner. Or maybe they'll use the extra time and money to implement more features that people want.

I wish to also respond to this: "companies sadly care less and less about the people who keep them in their jobs)."

A normal customer have probably contributed more to the product than you have (Sorry if this sounds harsh, it's not meant personal). Yes, you have invested in the product when it was fresh and there was a risk the company wouldn't make it. But they did make it and I would say you have gotten more than your investment back. Personally I feel like they do care about their customers when they do this change, they do it because they care about and believe they can improve the product for 100% of their customers, and that is certainly more than 4%.

Removing the perpetual license will not provide them any further time to apply to their product. Why would it? A perpetual license just provides a customer updates which was supposed to be free life. By removing it, they're simply forcing these customers into paying more and this doesn't exactly receive benefits as such, especially not to justify the move. The free conservation and 6 month of support is to 'tempt' people into just surrendering, basically to just accept it but I would be surprised if everyone will. I would also be surprised if the company actually believed it's perpetual license customers would so easily be discarded, as we all have valid points to make and of course a company might perhaps re-consider.

A normal customer? That's pretty cheeky. I assume you actually read what I wrote right? That's not to be offensive, it just seems you've jumped the boat a little here.

I own multiple licenses, I didn't say how many that is but it is a considerable amount. I renew and try to keep them active as much as possible, however I would class myself as a normal customer. Who isn't? Just because I have one perpetual license doesn't mean I am less worthy of having something I paid for honoured.

I assure you, if something effected you. Especially something which would come at additional cost than what you paid for, you would be concerned and would want to express your views.

I don't agree with your summary views, I feel they're missing the fact that some like myself had faith in the perpetual license existing for life as highlighted by IPS.

Lastly, I recall a time when IPS actively promoted the license as it's best offer. I also recall a time I was tempted towards purchasing a second perpetual license, around the time they announced it wouldn't be around after the release of whatever version it was at the time. I just wonder how many people this attracted towards purchasing something they needn't not buy, especially considering perpetual means 'lifetime' and the company itself is still living on.

This is much like a new owner coming and getting rid. It also reminds me of a local hotel which increased it's wedding fee's by more than 70% after agreeing with the couples already booked in to get married/have their wedding reception(s). It's pretty sneaky behaviour in my opinion and not much different at all :)

[CallieJo]

I understand the reasoning behind this decision based on the change in structure of the product(s). However, as a business owner, I would have honored the 4% in a different manner. Purchase the "core" and receive a lifetime forum at no additional fee. Giving them a coupon through Nexus to honor the promise. That would have been my business plan. But, maybe I don't quite understand the new purchasing structure to make a valid decision.

Rational behind the path I would have chosen (keep in mind this is personal opinion based on my business experience):

• Older customers are often your best customers. They have and continue to refer new customers through the best advertisement...Word Of Mouth backed by trust in the company's promises. 4% is a huge number in terms of word of mouth.
• Older customers oftentimes support the company in other ways like purchasing multiple licenses under new license structures. Sometimes even renewing those licenses even when they don't need any updates or support.
• Older customers and customers with multiple purchases are your biggest assets in business, IMHO.

This decision does not affect me directly, but I hope that it does not cause more negativity towards IPS. The more negativity out there based on the company's trust factor, the less people will invest in IPS. As customers, we want to see IPS grow so the products grow and our investments continue to have stability.

Anyways, I hope for the best on all ends...

[Joey_M]

I understand the reasoning behind this decision based on the change in structure of the product(s). However, as a business owner, I would have honored the 4% in a different manner. Purchase the "core" and receive a lifetime forum at no additional fee. Giving them a coupon through Nexus to honor the promise. That would have been my business plan. But, maybe I don't quite understand the new purchasing structure to make a valid decision.

Rational behind the path I would have chosen (keep in mind this is personal opinion based on my business experience):

• Older customers are often your best customers. They have and continue to refer new customers through the best advertisement...Word Of Mouth backed by trust in the company's promises. 4% is a huge number in terms of word of mouth.
• Older customers oftentimes support the company in other ways like purchasing multiple licenses under new license structures. Sometimes even renewing those licenses even when they don't need any updates or support.
• Older customers and customers with multiple purchases are your biggest assets in business, IMHO.

This decision does not affect me directly, but I hope that it does not cause more negativity towards IPS. The more negativity out there based on the company's trust factor, the less people will invest in IPS. As customers, we want to see IPS grow so the products grow and our investments continue to have stability.

Anyways, I hope for the best on all ends...

Very well put, a considered response which if I felt IPS had done - it might have taken some of the blow out of this.

Whereas I genuinely hope the company put themselves into the shoes of people like me. You often see people state that they have been around for god knows how long, however I have. You grow attached to a product, it might seem weird to suggest but once upon a time the community here and product seemed like a family thing. It now seems just another business, I will have to choose if it's a company I want to business with.

Considering it feels like they cannot honour the license agreement which perpetual one's came with.

[Lindy]

It's disappointing to see labels of greed, dishonesty and willful wrongdoing -- as an owner and officer of a company that has prided itself upon largely doing the right thing and maintaining a consistent presence all of these years, you can't help but take it a bit personally.

That said, I understand the perception. I wish we'd all had a crystal ball in 2003 and could envision the growth of IPS from then to now. Perpetual licenses were all the rage then -- nearly all software companies offered them and I can speak from first hand experience in saying most companies found that model to be largely unsuccessful and almost none of them honor them AT ALL today and offered no kind of upgrade, conversion or otherwise. For example, we have/had a license with a certain PHP encoding company. The terms were changed and it became "perpetual use" and in order to upgrade, it became over $1,500/yr. -- significantly more than just buying the software all over again, which is ultimately what we did. Being on the receiving end of that frustration, we're trying to maintain a fair compromise to our customers. We do genuinely appreciate our early supporters - I cannot stress that point enough, however, we are a much different company with a much different product line than we were a decade ago and that is even more true with IPS4. It's not just about forums at IPS anymore, it's an overall tightly integrated community solution -- one that was not available or even on the radar 10 years ago.

It's understandable some might prefer we simply convert all legacy licenses to the new structure and provide infinite, free renewals. Unfortunately, that's simply not a compromise we can provide at this time. There's little doubt that many of our legacy licenses got us through those trying, risky beginning times. At the same time, we'd have not made it past 2006 if it weren't for every license holder from that point through today. Just over 70% of legacy accounts were one off purchases in that 2003-2006 era -- meaning, support wasn't renewed, addons weren't purchased, etc. That is most certainly not to say the purchases were not essential to our growth, but residual income keeps the lights on, our employees' families fed and the software churning along. That's not greed, but rather, basic economics. It's not reasonable to expect current customers to fund a new platform and approach for past supporters/customers. Some of you that have been around for some time will remember complaints from -new- customers when we converted to the standard license scheme -- "we're funding development for old license holders." That was a manageable argument when the software was the same, we didn't have extras and external services, etc. IPS4 changes the ballgame technically and otherwise.

We feel an appropriate compromise for all is to provide our new offerings as a token of our appreciation for past support on the premise of renewals after the free renewal period.

I am regretful of the perception by a select few that we've reneged on our obligations and are acting on greed. I can only hope you'll come to understand, times have changed.

[esquire]

I'm confused by all this terminology without actually seeing the license terms.

Perpetual = If I have a license that I purchased, I can run the software as long as I want, including any future updates to the software during any maintenance and support period. This is what the 6 month "renewals" actually were. If you want to talk about licensing, it was a license to use updates produced during that period.

Non-Perpetual = You purchase a license for a period of time. After that license period expires, you have no right to continue using any version of the software. This is like a SAAS - once you stop paying, your rights go away. The amount of money for a license period, e.g. annual, unless set forth, is subject to be set by the company, e.g. $100 one year and $200 the next.

So... what is the actual licensing structure? Is it posted anywhere? I'm also confused because I heard that if you paid up maintenance fees for version 3 you got a free upgrade to version 4, with no other terms stated. So I'm trying to sift through speculation and get the facts. Thanks for the clarification.

[CallieJo]

I just want to say that I don't think you are being greedy, Lindy. I strongly believe that you are making a decision on what you think is best for your company. Just because not everyone would have made the same choice (including me based on what little I see on the front-end), does not mean that it was a right or wrong choice. Only time will tell.

As a customer, my worry would be negative effects as stated above. The customers it directly affects, I'm sure feel like promises were broken. You chose a compromise and some don't agree with that decision. Hopefully everything will work out in the end....

[GreenLinks]

I'm confused by all this terminology without actually seeing the license terms.

Perpetual = If I have a license that I purchased, I can run the software as long as I want, including any future updates to the software during any maintenance and support period. This is what the 6 month "renewals" actually were. If you want to talk about licensing, it was a license to use updates produced during that period.

Non-Perpetual = You purchase a license for a period of time. After that license period expires, you have no right to continue using any version of the software. This is like a SAAS - once you stop paying, your rights go away. The amount of money for a license period, e.g. annual, unless set forth, is subject to be set by the company, e.g. $100 one year and $200 the next.

So... what is the actual licensing structure? Is it posted anywhere? I'm also confused because I heard that if you paid up maintenance fees for version 3 you got a free upgrade to version 4, with no other terms stated. So I'm trying to sift through speculation and get the facts. Thanks for the clarification.

The original introduced Perputual License simply allowed you to have any future upgrade without any cost. This was introduced on a date where IPB had no add ons or special services

Current structure is a mixture of both definitions. At the moment when you purchase a license , you can use it forever . There is an optional renewal fee. Every 6 months you are required to pay a renewal fee. You can choose not to pay that renewal fee. But if you do that , you'll not have access to special services like spam service and you'll loose your ability to re download IPB until you renew your license again.

[Joey_M]

recall the fallout after IPS went from being free to paid, I wasn't that bothered. I believed in contributing towards it's up keep, however at the time I could understand why people was annoyed. I have a presence on the majority of forum software, I own an VB license but I never really took to it. For me, the only forum software I really appreciated was IP.Board and perhaps MyBB - Which people might turn more towards.

A lot of people use IPB and VB because it's seen as professional, yet it offers many flexible aspects. Yet I don't think it's really professional to repeatedly create friction between customers.

My views and feelings, I believe is understandable and I honestly feel the only reason behind this is to return people into paying customers for all the licenses. Had you have had an expected lifetime hidden a way, it might be understandable and it might be even more so if your offer was fairer but I don't feel right now it is really. You're taking lifetime of updates/upgrades and replacing it with a free conversation and 6 months free updates/upgrades - it doesn't really compare does it?

It's not reasonable to expect current customers to fund a new platform and approach for past supporters/customers.

This is very much down to political reasons really, if you toss the coin. You see there's two sides to everything, yet I don't think it's reasonable to state this. At 4% and considering perpetual means lifetime, I feel it's unfair. My other purchases help, the multiple one's which are not perpetual and my business within your marketplace provides you with further business.

I am not one of these people who believe all companies are bad, I just feel this and many other moves made by this company are and overall it reflects badly.

I can only hope you'll come to understand, times have changed.

Part of me wants to believe this is meaningful, the other half thinks it's business talk. I do understand your position, oddly enough I had e-mailed you prior to your post. I don't expect a response, much like the last time I raised my thoughts.

[Kyle F]

Are we still legally allowed to use legacy versions of IP.Board (such as 2.3.x (like I'm using) as long as the license key is in the IPB License Settings or is that illegal now? Because I'm NOT upgrading to v4. It looks horrible. Both the board and Admin CP. Forums are mainly used on DESKTOPs/LAPTOPS. NOT mobile devices/phones...so why make the board/ACP look like Windows 8's layout/mobile device? It's all flat...it's disgusting to say the least.

I'd personally rather stick to 2.3 regardless of what bugs/errors or security issues you (IPS) seem to say it has.. As far as spam bots, I've already done my appropriate measures to counter them and stop them from registering without disturbing the smooth ability of visitor registrations.

[esquire]

The original introduced Perputual License simply allowed you to have any future upgrade without any cost. This was introduced on a date where IPB had no add ons or special services

Current structure is a mixture of both definitions. At the moment when you purchase a license , you can use it forever . There is an optional renewal fee. Every 6 months you are required to pay a renewal fee. You can choose not to pay that renewal fee. But if you do that , you'll not have access to special services like spam service and you'll loose your ability to re download IPB until you renew your license again.

If this is the case, then it still is a perpetual license. You have a right to use the software you purchased and any updates to it within a 6 month period and during any maintenance periods you've paid. I don't see the difference from IPB 3 since you don't have access to download the versions released during maintenance periods which are unpaid. And if that is all we are talking about, then this would seem to be not such a big deal. But from the way I'm reading the original statement, I'm not quite sure that this is the case.

[Joey_M]

If this is the case, then it still is a perpetual license. You have a right to use the software you purchased and any updates to it within a 6 month period and during any maintenance periods you've paid. I don't see the difference from IPB 3 since you don't have access to download the versions released during maintenance periods which are unpaid. And if that is all we are talking about, then this would seem to be not such a big deal. But from the way I'm reading the original statement, I'm not quite sure that this is the case.

You're missing the important part, free updates/upgrades for life.

Perpetual licenses attracted people who paid more for this ability, an ability staff and management regularly said would never be stripped. It was considered a reward, something IPS want back and offer 6 month free updates and upgrades.

Some won't care, I suspect more will but the majority rule.

[esquire]

You're missing the important part, free updates/upgrades for life.
Perpetual licenses attracted people who paid more for this ability, an ability staff and management regularly said would never be stripped. It was considered a reward, something IPS want back and offer 6 month free updates and upgrades.
Some won't care, I suspect more will but the majority rule.

I don't think I have missed a beat. So you have free upgrades of IPB 3 for life, for which there won't be many forthcoming because it's not economically feasible. After all, how do you expect the developers to afford rent, utilities and to feed their families if they aren't getting paid to develop the software... forever? You'd have to put a lot of money up front into a "nest egg" so you can provide the employees security to fund endless development. Honestly, were you expecting to pay this amount of money to have free major updates for the next 10 years? Maybe I'm not understanding you.

[Joey_M]

I don't think I have missed a beat. So you have free upgrades of IPB 3 for life, for which there won't be many forthcoming because it's not economically feasible. After all, how do you expect the developers to afford rent, utilities and to feed their families if they aren't getting paid to develop the software... forever? You'd have to put a lot of money up front into a "nest egg" so you can provide the employees security to fund endless development. Honestly, were you expecting to pay this amount of money to have free major updates for the next 10 years? Maybe I'm not understanding you.

No, it included all future version.

My perpetual license was purchased well before IP.Board 3, how did I upgraded?

[GreenLinks]

I don't think I have missed a beat. So you have free upgrades of IPB 3 for life, for which there won't be many forthcoming because it's not economically feasible. After all, how do you expect the developers to afford rent, utilities and to feed their families if they aren't getting paid to develop the software... forever? You'd have to put a lot of money up front into a "nest egg" so you can provide the employees security to fund endless development. Honestly, were you expecting to pay this amount of money to have free major updates for the next 10 years? Maybe I'm not understanding you.

The perpetual licenses were introduced on IPB 2 era , license owners received version 2 and 3 with no additional cost close to 8-9 years now. From my stand point , IPB already fulfilled their promise and yet today they are offering a great deal to ex model Perpetual license owners

[Joey_M]

Lifetime License ·
This will give you lifetime license to use Invision Power Board for one installation on all current and future versions. Selecting this option will also give you discounts on many of the extras for Invision Power Board.

Perpetual License ·

This will give you a perpetual license to use Invision Power Board for one installation on all current and future versions. Selecting this option will also give you access to upgrades to the software for all future versions and one year of support is included.

Both Lifetime and Perpetual Licnense(s) state "All current and future versions".

From my point of view, this is now being broken. Still regardless, in business it's bad to state one thing and eventually do other. I keep reading comments which mention the growth of IPS, which included additional profit. I don't expect IP.Blog, IP.Content etc for life, I have never had them that way. Only IP.Board continuous updates/upgrades, something I believe should be honoured because no matter how much bigger this company gets. They will always need the people who continue shell out for it and of course if they split the products, they could still offer the forum for free. As part of the two deals stated above :)

[GreenLinks]

Dude again what you are failing to understand is

IPB 2 and 3 are identical products which are built on IPB Forums

IPB 4 is not identical product as it is clearly not a forum product anymore.

So your rights are technically preserved. If you choose not to upgrade you'll be granted any possible 3.4.x series bug fix or security updates free and you still will have your perpetual license in place.

However if you want to use IPB 4 , which is a separate product , you basically will need IP.Core first. Without that IPB 4 forum app will do no good.

Again you are fixed on wrong terminology imo and i highly blame this on TAZ. TAZ was a great admin community once but IB vs Xenforo battle killed TAZ and many other admin communities. 90% of people hanging out on admin communities are identical. Some are trying to keep their presence to take freelancer jobs, some want to advertise their fav ( and god created ) product Xenforo. Basically most of forum community threads over those boards are used to bullfaeces any other script then Xenforo. They just want to effect the market according to their needs. I personally gave up on all those admin communities. When i need information , i try to gather it from a close friend resource.

[Joey_M]

My understanding is that 4.0 will separate applications.

Example, IP.Content can be installed as a stand alone. I don't see how the forum isn't identical? If they offer a forum component, surely it's one and the same. Changing from IPB to IP.Board, is just a name change and the future release is exactly the same thing. I don't see how branding 4.0 means it isn't a forum application, unless the applications are coming as part of the package.

That would be understandable, however I understand it is not.

When 4.0 is released, I suspect support will be stopped in terms of bug fixes. This is usually the case, right? I have to be frank, I usually upgrade near to the release but this is usually a mistake.

I agree with your points about TAZ, I don't really post on the site much and it's use is really on the decline.

However, again I find myself frustrated as a customer of IPS to find the news out on another site. There hasn't been an apology for this, surely what Lindy said should have been kept private or at least someone had thought of the backlash from this. All companies focus on new customers and forget the old ones, it's an horrible trend with modern day life and I don't this as being any different.

[Makoto]

Are we still legally allowed to use legacy versions of IP.Board (such as 2.3.x (like I'm using) as long as the license key is in the IPB License Settings or is that illegal now?

Using such an ancient unsupported version of IP.Board can be considered a bad idea for a number of reasons (one prime reason being potential security vulnerabilities), but sure, you can certainly do that. As long as you have a valid license for that installation, even if it's expired, you can use it forever, or for as long as you want.

Renewal is only for access to new versions of IP.Board, spam/chat service and support.

When you purchase a license, you're free to use that for as long as you want. As I said above, the same applies to perpetual license holders here. You don't have to renew. When converting over, Lindy is offering all of these license holders 6 months of free renewal. That will grant you access to the most recent version of IP.Board free of charge for the next 6 months. Which also means, if IP.Board is released in the next 6 months, you will get access to IPB4 completely free of charge still. (Please correct me if I'm wrong)

When your converted license expires, you can continue using IP.Board, you don't have to renew. It will be no different than if you had a license like all the rest of us. The only thing you lose access to is upgrades to future versions, support, and the third party spam/chat services.

There is no requirement that you have to upgrade your forum either. Many forums will continue using 3.4 for a long time to come, and 3.4 is still going to be supported for a long time to come. Even if you don't want to use IPB4, I would consider at least upgrading to the latest current release. But, that's obviously entirely up to you.

[Rheddy]

As IPS Support explained it to me, the license renewal fee that we pay is actually for the customer support from IPS. While the license gives us access to new updates to the software, it's the customer support that's the important feature of the license renewal.

The perpetual licenses gives free access for life to software updates and upgrades to only IP.Board, it does not give free lifetime access to the addon components to the IPS Community Suite. I don't understand why everyone is confused by the perpetual licenses. Not trying to sound sarcastic about it but it has been explained by more than a few of us. IPS Staff have also tried explaining it, as well. It's as Lindy explained it.

I think it's kind of funny since it's a new post to an old topic on TAZ that kicked off this debate. :hmm:

[esquire]

From my point of view, this is now being broken. Still regardless, in business it's bad to state one thing and eventually do other. I keep reading comments which mention the growth of IPS, which included additional profit. I don't expect IP.Blog, IP.Content etc for life, I have never had them that way. Only IP.Board continuous updates/upgrades, something I believe should be honoured because no matter how much bigger this company gets. They will always need the people who continue shell out for it and of course if they split the products, they could still offer the forum for free. As part of the two deals stated above :smile:

Personally, I think it was overly optimistic for them to offer this "perpetual" license since it seems unsustainable. Do you believe that they intended to defraud you? What are your actual damages? For breach it's probably up to the amount of money you paid for the license. I don't know how generous the offer is right now. The seem to be trying to correct a short sighted error by giving you value close to what it would cost them to buy themselves out of a breach of contract. Now I can understand the shock of surprise. But is this really as harmful as you're making into being or are they in the ballpark for trying to do right?

[Lindy]

Couple of points -- you will indeed have the ability to completely shutoff features of the suite (gallery, blog, forums, content, commerce, downloads) -- the suite will be a unified download based on what you've purchased, but gone are the days of having to have forums active to have a blog. Again, members, profiles, ad management, search, etc. have all been moved to the core application.

Secondly, I'll reiterate -- perpetual licenses were once all the rage. Customers and companies alike took a gamble of sorts -- from a customer perspective, you gambled on the company being around in 3 years to make your purchase worthwhile. From a company standpoint, we all gambled on residual returns from support renewals, value-adds, etc. Unfortunately, for most, IPS included, the latter didn't come close to materializing. Most (with a few exceptions, of course) never renewed or added anything to the licenses. That's fine of course and we continued to honor the terms of the license all of these years and we'll continue to take care of our early supporters in the best way that we can, but if we hadn't changed the structure after 2006, we wouldn't be here today - nor would many other companies.

In regards to how this topic came to be -- there's not been an official announcement (or even finalization of plans.) A customer contacted us because he was not able to update the URL on an inactive perpetual license. At the time, I felt I was being helpful and up front in informing him of future changes and offering to convert his license to the newer structure and a free renewal (we've offered this for quite some time and have even run promotions.) A short while later, the response was "leaked" to TAZ. :smile: No harm, no foul - though it would have been ideal to announce and address this in a more organized fashion.

Joey - I received your e-mail and responded accordingly. I hope it's of at least a little help.

[esquire]

Lindy - Respectfully, I think your imprecise legal terminology is lending to a bad impression as is the "all the rage" type of expression. While probably sincere, I think others believe that you're laughing on your yachts while changing the license structure, toasting to the fact that the plan all along to finance yourselves on free money worked. You might want to refine the message, e.g. such as the same optimistic revenue projections which are also made with open source software which were later realized to be far above what the reality was for returns.

In addition, the license is still perpetual. You may want to change that wording. The right to receive further upgrades is something else. Quite frankly, you had me ready to pummel you if you were moving me to a monthly paid fee to run my forum. ;)