Pesky Software Rant !

[Agteros]

It can get worse! See what IBM(others do this as well!) does to their corporate clients: http://blogs.flexerasoftware.com/elo/2011/05/is-ibm-ditching-the-processor-value-unit-pvu-software-license-metric.html

[Guest Omega Man]

 

And also, thanks to piracy, I agree with having an annual fee.

 

I've been in the software game for 15 years and there were "enhancement fees" looong before piracy became an issue. The enhancement fees you pay cover the developers salaries.

 

This is the way I see it but I do admit I'm rather jaded by the whole "enhancements" thing.

 

There's a small Software company (Let's call them RapePac). They develop a brilliant new product. The programmer who does it is called Davo. The product is good but it has some issues but they take it to market anyway.

 

RapePac are making money hand over fist but there's a problem. The software isn't stable. Davo told them to hold off on the launch but they went ahead anyway. Sales start slowing but Davo, Now Technical Director still has to get paid. The product is bombing out all over town. Davo has a nervous breakdown and leaves.

 

RapePac's Sales Director has a think and comes up with a brilliant idea. RapePac comes up with a plan to provide themselves with a continuous revenue stream. Enhancement Fees. Davo comes out of the nuthouse, Hires a crack team of developers and starts banging out "service packs" (bug fixes)

 

They all live happily ever after.

[Slowbee]

Well, have you ever considdered how much goes into software development?

 

And also, thanks to piracy, I agree with having an annual fee.

 

that is why you pay upfront, for the software development. I dont mind paying for that. But I object to a yearly fee. Updates should be optionall!

 

Again, so I buy the software now, soon will be the budget speech, then I wont even get a full year out my software before I will be told I can buy an update, and get ripped another one. Stuff 'em. I'll figure something out in excell and with my accountant. All I really want it for is easy processing of payslips with leave, uif etc.

[Minion]

Autocad?

A little bit, but mainly FEM, CFD and CAE software.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

that is why you pay upfront, for the software development. I dont mind paying for that. But I object to a yearly fee. Updates should be optionall!

 

Again, so I buy the software now, soon will be the budget speech, then I wont even get a full year out my software before I will be told I can buy an update, and get ripped another one. Stuff 'em. I'll figure something out in excell and with my accountant. All I really want it for is easy processing of payslips with leave, uif etc.

 

Yeah, we also used Pastel Pay roll, supposed to be the best but.......we ended up having a full on contract with them cos we didnt have dedicated IT staff and there were always friggin issues, usually at month end.!

 

There are other options though, a mate of mine uses the Quick books pay roll, he only has 12 employees so he says its fine for that, have you had a lookie see at that option.?

[The expat cyclist]

that is why you pay upfront, for the software development. I dont mind paying for that. But I object to a yearly fee. Updates should be optionall!

 

Again, so I buy the software now, soon will be the budget speech, then I wont even get a full year out my software before I will be told I can buy an update, and get ripped another one. Stuff 'em. I'll figure something out in excell and with my accountant. All I really want it for is easy processing of payslips with leave, uif etc.

 

Have I told you I loooooooooooooove excel???

Funny enough, I have just finished making a payslip program for my wife. It calculates tax, UIF, commission, VAT - whatever you want. Man, it is kickass!!!

[Rocket-Boy]

Ah Well that makes sense. See every year they wait around for the budget speech and then straight away start smashing out updates for the coming financial year taking the new tax rates into account.

 

In this particular case you are actually paying for an actual developer to update the software.

I work for a software dev company and if there are amendments that need to be made like that then they are normally parameter driven and simply need a recompile to update.

If it is more fundamental the it can take a little longer but not much. If it isn't parameter driven then the need better devs.

[Thug]

I just got notification that the anti-virus software that I use on my netbook is due for reneal before the end of the month.

 

I'm using ESET NOD32 and the licence renewal fee for 1 user is the same as the licence fee for a 3 user licence for Norton!

[Slowbee]

Yeah, we also used Pastel Pay roll, supposed to be the best but.......we ended up having a full on contract with them cos we didnt have dedicated IT staff and there were always friggin issues, usually at month end.!

 

There are other options though, a mate of mine uses the Quick books pay roll, he only has 12 employees so he says its fine for that, have you had a lookie see at that option.?

 

funny enough you say that. I was told the quickbooks gives issues and is a problem. But I am going to have a look now, if there is no yearly fee I am in ! Sock pastel !

 

And Thug. Dont get me started on these virus program things. I am sure that is an industry that makes diseases to keep itself employed with annual forced renewals.

[kosmonooit]

DIY - problem sorted!

[GrumpyOldGuy]

funny enough you say that. I was told the quickbooks gives issues and is a problem. But I am going to have a look now, if there is no yearly fee I am in ! Sock pastel !

 

And Thug. Dont get me started on these virus program things. I am sure that is an industry that makes diseases to keep itself employed with annual forced renewals.

 

..Hmm, okay, .....all I can say is he appears quite comfortable with it and he is certainly no IT pro.

 

...........but on the subject of Hassles, I can tell you, we had out fair share with Pastel, so.......dunno, maybe they have a demo version?..............do software companies do that?..........they should.

[Agteros]

do software companies do that?..........they should.

 

Demo versions and limited time/use options are used quite aplenty for software packages.

[MintSauce]

I hate Pastel. I own a small company and I run the single user version called Pastel Express. In the 7 years I've used it I've needed support twice. Both times it would have taken maybe 2minutes of their time. Each time they refused and said I had to pay the annual support fee which is roughly R2500. For a priogram they sold to me initially for R1000.

 

So, that means my small business would've coughed up R17500 for two phonecalls to sort out two minor issues in 7 years.

 

I've tried reasoning with the customer manager after she phoned to ask why I gave them a negative rating. Why can they not have a cheaper version for small businesses? Like R250-500 a year and limit the amount of calls or something? Well, why should they when they've got you by the balls?

 

Imagine buying a car for R100000 and then when you need a lightbulb replaced being told you have to pay an annual fee of R250000 for them to tell you over the phone how to do it?

 

F*** Pastel. Sooner rather than later my business will need a bigger system and you can bet your ass I won't be using Pastel.

[Thug]

In respect of Quickbooks, I've just upgraded to a 5 user licence from QB2005 to QB2012 as an interim measure whilst we implement SAP later this year.

 

QB2012 was a once off cost with no annual licence fees. You get free 30 day support after purchase and thereafter they charge R400 per hour if you need a consultant.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Demo versions and limited time/use options are used quite aplenty for software packages.

 

Okay, fair enough, I dont know much about these things, but it just sounds like it would be the way to go.