Most people have been in the position where they’ve bought a MacBook or iPod only to find out a new version came out a few days later. We feel miffed the company didn't tell us beforehand, cheated us out of our hard-earned money. Software developers are, after all, some of the best tech consumers: we know what it feels like when this happens.
For this reason many companies offer grace periods, a time-frame in which all users who bought the software get an upgrade for free or at a reduced rate. This is a rather unique phenomenon in business. When you buy a car and a new model comes out next week, you don’t expect a free upgrade.
Development costs
Software companies must fight a balance between what is fair and how much money is needed to cover development costs. Developing software takes time. A lot of time. While we'd love people to enjoy innovative, user-friendly and useful software for free, we all know this just isn’t feasible.
A big cat with sharp claws
Apple added to the confusion when they introduced Snow Leopard at a record low price of $29.00 and a lengthy grace period to boot. "If Apple can let me upgrade my entire OS for just shipping costs, I think you could too." Believe us when we say there were ulterior motives behind this. Snow Leopard was, after all, marketed as a major bug fix to Leopard - not many software developers can get away with charging for bug fixes which shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Thanking the loyal
Rewarding our existing customers is a priority. Whether you bought our software one week or five years ago, there will be some kind of discount available. The best way to access your upgrades is via your License Manager. Simply choose your software and click Upgrade Details.
And yes, we always offer a grace period with new software releases. If you qualify you should receive an email from us shortly after a new version is released.