Richard

As an example, I created something like this for a different forum back in 2003 or so:



You click on the small charmap icon to bring up the popup, and then click on the symbol to insert it in the post.

I'm interested - if you are willing to pay for the service, why you are not willing to transfer to the standard license?

After all, if we offered the service for say $25 per 6 months (not saying we will) what benefit would paying for that have over switching to a standard license?

After all, we have said we will trade your license at no charge, it's not like we're demanding you shell out $150 for a new license to take advantage of the service ;)

If they decide that this service doesn't meet their needs, then they can't revert back to a perpetual or lifetime license and will be stuck with the $50/year fee.

I think it was around $150 when yearly licenses were about $60. I know I paid $200 or more for my lifetime license when it was available. I don't recall the exact amount.

But as I said before, it's not about what you paid for the license, or how much you pay to renew it. A license is a license, and should be considered equal. They should be giving it to all license holders, or make it separate service. I'm not against paying something to help with the costs of running this service (as it seems to be their concern), I just don't appreciate their initial tactic.

They're talking about it, so we'll wait. But I expect nothing less than equal treatment for every license holder. What ever is/was paid for a license should not be put into the equation.

You keep saying a license is a license, but in this case it's not entirely true.

Lifetime license included access to upgrades and technical support
Perpetual license included access to upgrades and then you had to pay $30/yr for technical support
Standard license requires $25 every 6 months to retain access to upgrades and technical support and also includes new services that IPS may offer in the future. Basically the costs of those services are factored into that $25 you pay every 6 months.

Lifetime license holders are not paying anything more, ever, so you are getting updates and new versions without IPS getting any compensation for their continued development.
Perpetual license holders only pay for technical support, which in most cases isn't needed, though some pay the fee just to support IPS.
Standard license holders are paying $25 every 6 months, which supports these new services that IPS deems suitable and cost effective (they wouldn't include a service where they would be spending more than what they are getting in for example).

It doesn't get any simpler than that. Hope you can understand now.