Are you bothered by mandatory program update requirements?

[AlecWest]

With me, it all depends on how much I use the software and my opinion of the developer. If I think the developer has my best interests at heart (as opposed to his pocketbook), mandatory updates are easier to live with ... especially if the updates actually improve the product.

What galls me, however, are the software companies that "abandon" their own software for a totally different kind of software ... that requires you to pay through the nose to upgrade. Example?

Canopus ProCoder Express.

Great program for $59. But, online activation was required. And if I had a hard drive crash and had to reinstall it on another hard drive, I'd have to go through online reactivation to get the software to work. Well, I had a hard drive crash earlier this year. But fortunately (ahem), I found a way "around" the reactivation scenario ... which will allow me to use the program forever as long as I repeat the workaround with each hard drive installation.

And you know what? I don't feel a darn bit guilty about it at all. Why? Because Canopus got bought out by Grass Valley and "abandoned" support for ProCoder Express ... less than two months after I bought the software. Their advice to me at the time was to upgrade ($$$) to ProCoder 2 ... which, at the time, was about to be abandoned for ProCoder 3 ... which will eventually be abandoned for Edius ... the Grass Valley "flagship" software - all of which require dongles to work.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[AlecWest]

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