Buying new self hosted licence - how to choose few applications?

[asd937]

1 hour ago, Marc Stridgen said:

Licenses that are under the new terms that are not renewed after 24 months will be expired permanently and cannot be renewed. 

Thank you for clarification.

but will the forum running with an expired license be still working?

[Charles]

16 minutes ago, asd937 said:

Thank you for clarification.

but will the forum running with an expired license be still working?

Yes, it would keep working. Just keep in mind that you would be way out of date so it might be risky.

[The Old Man]

On 10/10/2023 at 2:58 PM, Marc Stridgen said:

Licenses that are under the new terms that are not renewed after 24 months will be expired permanently and cannot be renewed. 

I think that's reasonable. It's just the principle of having to backpay potentially up to 2 years to re-enable such a license that is somewhat unnerving. I know it's not unheard of in the software industry practice and no biggie for big tech firms, but from a small business/hobbyist customer perspective, it's less than ideal; if they had the money to do that they would have more likely been able to just continue to renew as normal. It's not like they would have been able to make use of Client tech support or had access to the security and bug fixes during that period.

 

[Marc]

15 minutes ago, The Old Man said:

I think that's reasonable. It's just the principle of having to backpay potentially up to 2 years to re-enable such a license that is somewhat unnerving. I know it's not unheard of in the software industry practice and no biggie for big tech firms, but from a small business/hobbyist customer perspective, it's less than ideal; if they had the money to do that they would have more likely been able to just continue to renew as normal. It's not like they would have been able to make use of Client tech support or had access to the security and bug fixes during that period.

 

I get what you are saying there, however, the changes were put into place to ensure the viability of the classic self-hosted product going into the future. Of course, this doesn't affect your current license unless you want to switch to those new terms. 

The reality is, that the new terms are less expensive for some, and more expensive for others (if you would not have previously purchased multiple applications). 

But exactly the same for any current license holder, as their terms haven't changed. (unless you choose to do so). The majority of our customers will find any new license they purchase cheaper, and will certainly find comfort in the fact we made changes to ensure viability. 

In terms of what we are referring to here in terms of renewals, yes, of course paying for something you have been using is more expensive than not paying for something you have been using.

[Charles]

40 minutes ago, The Old Man said:

It's just the principle of having to backpay potentially up to 2 years to re-enable such a license that is somewhat unnerving

That’s not how it works. 

The catch ups only apply on the monthly option as it’s basically a finance for the yearly. With yearly there is no catch up. You can let a yearly renewal expire for say 6 months and then reactivate it later for the normal yearly.

The monthly option was put in place to make it more approachable but we’re considering removing it because of all this catch up hand wringing that people come with it. 

[Cedric V]

And at the same time, it gives you the possibilities to explore new applications, new content delivery material when you were not using those applications previously. So if anything, it gives you more freedom to expand your community. 🙂

[The Old Man]

11 minutes ago, Charles said:

That’s not how it works. 

The catch ups only apply on the monthly option as it’s basically a finance for the yearly. With yearly there is no catch up. You can let a yearly renewal expire for say 6 months and then reactivate it later for the normal yearly.

The monthly option was put in place to make it more approachable but we’re considering removing it because of all this catch up hand wringing that people come with it. 

Ah, I see thank you for clarifying!

[asd937]

Thank you all team members for clarification, IPS is doing a great work.
what is concerning for me now is the cloud exclusive features, I hope IPS will consider making self host and cloud versions identical in features. I would buy two licenses for an old and new project immediatly what is keeping me away is the lack of some features in self host version especially live realtime features. I have a powerful server and can tolerate the load of these features if this is a concern. both approaches cloud and self host are for different subset of people, please unify your product and let customers choose according to their use case.
Regards

[Charles]

It is a common misconception that we are doing "cloud-exclusive features." Invision Community sells its services in various package levels like you will find in literally any other software or service you buy out there. We offer the following packages:

• Classic (self-hosted)
• Beginner
• Creator
• Creator Pro
• Team
• Business
• Enterprise

All of those packages offer different levels of features, support, service, and consulting. For example, our Courses feature is available on:

• Creator Pro
• Team
• Business
• Enterprise

As you can see, Courses is not a "cloud-exclusive feature" but it is exclusive to specific package levels. Another example might be AI based image moderation which is only available on Business and Enterprise packages.

So we are not drawing a line specifically between Classic (self-hosted) and other packages (cloud). There are many differentiators between all the package tiers which is a totally normal way that software and services are sold.

From media streaming to your mobile phone plan right down to your internet service, offering different package for people to choose from offers flexibility of choice in terms of both price and options.

[The Old Man]

Hi Charles,

1 hour ago, Charles said:

For example, our Courses feature is available on:

• Creator Pro
• Team
• Business
• Enterprise

As you can see, Courses is not a "cloud-exclusive feature" but it is exclusive to specific package levels.

It's confusing for some though because aren't those 4 mentioned packages all Cloud only?

Courses (also Enhanced Courses which mentions offering quizzes etc) aren't available on the Self-Hosted according to this:

I don't actually understand why, albeit my only experience so far with Courses was the small one for Providers to complete, which TBH was more like a step-through guide or wizard. Nice experience though! 🙂

Courses appears to the layperson (i.e. me!) just to be an extension of the IPS database and UI like Forums, Blogs or Pages and there's no reason it couldn't be powered on a decent VPS, also the real-time "Who is viewing" or "Who is typing" which sound like AJAX-powered functionality.

 

 

[Matt]

You're focusing on Classic versus Cloud but it's more granular than that, as Charles explained.

2 hours ago, Charles said:

So we are not drawing a line specifically between Classic (self-hosted) and other packages (cloud). There are many differentiators between all the package tiers which is a totally normal way that software and services are sold.

From media streaming to your mobile phone plan right down to your internet service, offering different package for people to choose from offers flexibility of choice in terms of both price and options.

[asd937]

I wont mind a version of self host that include cloud features for an extra price.

[Matt]

The extra cost would make it the same as a cloud plan.

[The Old Man]

Why not add Courses and Real-Time Who is Typing/Viewing to Self Hosted like Calendar is? Seems somewhat odd not to want to showcase and include a feature you’ve already developed that would add value to the product and ultimately help sell more licences.

[Charles]

Again, please see Matt and my post above. You’re still comparing things the wrong way. I explained it as package limits earlier.