{"id":32558,"date":"2021-05-21T16:20:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T20:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=32558"},"modified":"2021-06-07T11:40:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T15:40:08","slug":"new-many-tricks-upgrade-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/21\/new-many-tricks-upgrade-model\/","title":{"rendered":"New Many Tricks Upgrade Model"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob Griffiths<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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In theory, upgraders and new customers for a new release funded all the work we did between initial release and the major update. In reality, that model is broken for us—and for you, our customers—and it’s been broken for quite a few years.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

A related issue is the amount of other work we have to do for free; there’s no way with our current model to ever cover the time we put into updating for new macOS features, or to work around bugs in other apps that cause problems in our apps, etc. […]<\/p>\n

So you’re not happy (no new features) and we’re not happy (stressful, no revenue stream). Clearly the model had to change. So we changed it.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

At the end of the full year, you’ll own the latest version released during that year, and you can keep using it without any sort of restrictions. It’s your app, and it won’t stop working just because a year has passed. At some point, if you want to update to the latest version, you can do so by paying a much lower “update only” price—and that price also includes at least one more full year of updates.<\/p>\n

This is not a subscription in any way. You own the app, and you decide when (and even if) you want to add features we’ve added to the app over the time since your original year of updates passed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It seems like they are keeping initial prices the same and offering a year of updates for 50% off. So, for a customer who wants to always be current, this represents a price increase vs. the old model of up to 9 years between major upgrades. But, as popularized by Sketch, it’s a good compromise vs. subscriptions in that you’re not renting the app and are never forced to upgrade. In theory, you can get access to new features sooner because they don’t need to be held for business reasons. And the predictable schedule has benefits for both sides. For the customer, there’s not really a bad time to buy. For the developer, as long as you keep making good updates you can get smoother revenue.<\/p>\n\n

Rob Griffiths<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[The] App Store doesn’t support anything like what we’re trying to do. Thankfully, we don’t have to answer it right away, as our App Store apps aren’t up for major updates right now. (Moom 4, which will be our next major update, won’t be in the App Store, because it’s not allowed under their rules. It’s only there today because Apple allowed the current version to stay when they changed the rules.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Benjamin Schaaf<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Sublime Text license keys are no longer tied to a single major version, instead they are now valid for all updates within 3 years of purchase. After that, you will still have full access to every version of Sublime Text released within the 3 year window, but newer builds will required a license upgrade<\/a>. These are the same license terms we use for Sublime Merge<\/a>, and they allow us to deliver more frequent and exciting updates as soon as they're ready, without having to roll them into a new major version.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n