UPDATE FROM MABULA
I have had a very rough 2 months unfortunately health wise. I was struck 3x in a row with bacterial infections. The second infection occurred after a routine hospital checkup and I became very sick. I had to rest and take a lot of antibiotics. Once I was recovering and restarting work 1 month ago, I again became sick. The infection was not yet gone, so even more antibiotics and rest was needed. Needless to say, it took a lot of my energy and I needed a lot of rest.
Finally, the infection is really gone and my energy is coming back step-by-step now and I have started work again. I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting for support. I will address all outstanding questions and e-mails step-by step and will be on the forum daily from today.
APP 2.0.0-beta47 will come soon as well, a lot of work was already completed before I became very ill, so the release is also nearly ready for you. Beta47 will be much faster actually. Many workflows will be more than 2x faster, mosaics can even be 10x faster than before because registration really received a major boost... all compared to beta46. Before I release it, I will make sure that everything is working properly and then I will release it.
I am glad to see you are open to changing the pricing model based on the feedback given. I agree with the comments given that the current model is off-putting (as it was to me) since within a couple years the snowballing price just to even open the software goes well beyond other programs like PI or SGP (although that is for capture, but still related). I have a slew of programs for the calibration and integration ranging in prices, and while I am always looking to make my images better and find a better process for that, the inability to even open the program after the expiration date does not seem like a good plan.
A one-time purchase at a similar or slightly higher amount as currently offered that allows full access to the program indefinitely but after the 1-yr period is not eligible for upgrades without an upgrade fee seems like a better way to go. However, if you do want to do a subscription (although Adobe made this a thing, I think it is still not necessarily a well-regarded option by the consumers) then the initial cost should be the same as the renewal cost. This gives a much longer period for new users to spend time with the program before the price alone makes them go to another program and, by then, they will hopefully see it as an invaluable, well-tested, tool so that they are willing to continue subscribing.
Just my 2 cents, but as you said you wanted to hear from more astrophotographers before going to a new model I wanted to share it.
Thanks!
-Annie
www.eprisephoto.com
Hi Annie,
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and concerns, it's highly appreciated 😉
I'll make the changes public within several days now... (more or less like you and others have proposed...).
Kind regards,
Mabula
Hi Mabula
Annual fee is not a good idea for astronomy processing software. I own several ones (not free, like PixInsight, Startools... ) and I will try your software. If 150€ fee is acceptable, I would say it should be valid for major version (from 1.0 to 1.x )
Than, if you release v2.0, so it is normal you can propose a upgrade price, like 50€ for example.
But 150€ then need to pay 50€ every year to use the software is not very nice. More if the software is blocked if licence is not renewed.
In this case, I'm not sure I will purchase your software, even if it has very nice features.
Please think about a fair solution.
Best regards
Philippe
Hi Phillipe,
Thank you for sharing your opinion about this.
I will definitely chance the license model and I will make this public soon..
Kind regards,
Mabula
