Hi,
today I’ve got some time to summarize my experience on the conversation, I had with the FC-support:
The user can use the bought/licensed software as long as he wants it, while the software is installed on the ATV.
If the Software won’t work anymore for any reason, or the ATV dies and the user wants to install the software again, the software needs to be licensed. If the license is (still) valid, the user can download a newer version without no hassle. If the license had discontinued, the user cannot install an older version, because of compability issues.
This is, what I understand from the conversation: I’m invited to buy/license new versions of the software so they can continue working on new/better versions of the software. I’m fine with that, because if I want/need new features for new hardware, I need to be sure, somebody got paid for doing the work. So I pay.
I’m not fine with being forced to pay for new version which I do not need. Thats the case, when the software stops working or needs to be reinstalled because of all the problems we know can happen to software on its hardware…(We are all human, so we all make mistakes which we call bugs).
So, as I’m fine with paying for new features and somehow the development/evolution of software, I’m not fine for paying for eliminating the bugs, which are not part of the acquisition. My money works, so I expect the software to. Again, we are all human and therefore I accept some bugs, like I accept to re-install the software to minimize or locate the buggy behaviour. fortunately for the software developing team, the users report their bugs (and feature requests too) so they can fix them. this should be a win-win situation. Should…
When I’m forced to pay for a new licence, just because my licencetime is over, not because I’m using a newer hardware, or I’d like to have some new awesome features, only because the automatic online-check tells me so, there cannot be a win-win situation… I call this a rip-off.
To be clear: I don’t accuse FC for a rip-off, but I feel ripped-off.
To give anybody a chance to get his own opinion on this thread, I paste the conversation with the support, which I think, I can do in their own forum, because it does not contain any personal data like names.
support:
Hi, as a courtesy you can use the links below to download the latest version. To ensure you continue to receive software updates I’d recommend taking advantage of the update special available in your account.
me:
Hi and thanks for the links.
Would you please tell me, why this is a “courtesy” ?
I bought the Software form you with real money, why should I not be able to use it anymore?
I’d be really interested in that point, so please tell me which part of your general terms and conditions I missed or missunderstood.
support:
Hi, your order was actually for a 1 year license of aTV Flash (black) which expired in September 2012. This won’t affect how aTV Flash (black) works on your Apple TV, but it will normally prevent you from getting future updates, such as the 2.0 and later versions (as shown here: http://firecore.com/atvflash-black-changelog).
Hope this helps.
me:
Hi, no, it not really helped me,
because I asked for the software (last version I could have downloaded from your site, while my license was still active) which i bought from you, not the one you giving me as a coutesy.
as far as i could see, it is not possible to use older (but still bought) versions of this software because of your online-update-enforcement, which the user cannot skip. so its not possible to use this bought software if a newer version exists on your server.
I guess, but don’t know, so please let me know, if I want to install the version I received as a coutesy in, say, half a year, it will not be possible, because of the online check.
So I’m having the same issue/problem again.
Paid for software, which I cannot use anymore, althought the hardware did’nt changed.
Can you please clarify this for me, so I can be sure to be able to use the software I bought from you, when I’d like to use it. No matter if its the year 2013 or 2016.
If you have written in your conditions that after my licence period stopped, I’m not able to use the software anymore, please show me where, so I can read it again, because I can’t remember reading something like this when I bought the software.
support:
Hi, older versions are deactivated for a few reasons, but the main one is compatibility. If you were to install a version prior to 2.1 on iOS 6 based Apple TVs, it could result in some very serious problems. Version 2.2 is compatible with iOS 6, as well as backward compatible with all previous versions.
me:
hi,
you don’t answer to my question!
please answer to my question.
cheers,
support:
Hi, sorry for the confusion, but due to compatibility there is no way to ensure the current build will work again in 1 month or 1 year. It strictly depends on what features/changes Apple decides to release in future versions.
With that said, your copy of aTV Flash (black) will never stop working for as long as you have it installed, even if your license has expired.
End Of Conversation
This seems unfair and makes me sad.