Install Invalidates License

[Guest]

Why is it that Hyena checks for updates that will invalidate your license? Most software vendors include MINOR revisions within thier licensing agreement. I fully expect to have to pay for an upgrade to 7.0, but not for a minor revision.
Roughly it would akin to Microsoft charging for Service Packs.

[kstanush]

Re: Install Invalidates License

There isn't any such thing as a minor vs. a major upgrade. Its all relative. If you purchase v6.1, you can't expect to get all v6.x updates, as that is an unpredictable set of updates over who-knows how long. If a user purchases Hyena and gets v6.9, are they supposed to get a different number of updates, or none at all ?

We try to release several updates a year, and our revision numbers are based on what we think is the amount of new functionality in the software. A longer time from one release to the next is generally due to more functionality in the update. If the time that has elapsed is greater than the amount of maintenance that has been purchased, then an upgrade charge would apply if the upgrade is installed. We try to always point out that the user should check the maintenance expiration date before installing a new version, and in any case, going back to any version that can be installed is just a matter of downloading the previous version.

[kstanush]

Re: Install Invalidates License

Also, we do not charge for patches, those are free. Patches to a release are given letters, ie v6.5 'B' is a patch to v6.5, and is always available to anyone that can run v6.5.

[Guest]

Re: Install Invalidates License

Most software packages use a X.Y versioning system to signify X=major revision and Y=minor revision. Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, etc.
The argument about 6.9 is invalid. If there are no major changes made to the product (ie a 7.x release) the next minor version update should be 6.10 in a simple major.minor schema.

To put this in a different light let's use Windows as an example. I purchase Windows 2000. During the course of ownership MS releases Service Packs, hotfixes, and even enhancements to the original product I bought. Why? To fix items that needed correction AND to provide functionality that could not be delivered with the orignal release. Would I expect to get Windows 2003 as an upgrade? No. It's a completely new product and a major update (2003.yyyy vs. 2000.yyyy).

This could be resolved if you'd remove the check for update functionality once the maintenence period has expired. It's ridiculous to tell someone, "Hey look we've got an updated version, please install it." Then put in the fine print, "Please pay us another $100 in the next 30 days."

[kstanush]

Re: Install Invalidates License

We manage our software update schedules the way we do to offer customers features as they are developed instead of waiting for some artificial versioning scheme. As I said, software version numbers are all relative and they only represent what a development company wants it to represent. In the example that you cite, we would have to increment the major version number, like most software companies probably do, just to warrant an upgrade. That does not make sense. One of the reasons that Hyena is as popular as it is is probably because we did not force it to fit the mold of packaged software from multi-billion dollar companies. We have the advantage of being a small company and we use that advantage to release new revisions when we have enough functionlity for our users to put into use.

I would not use Microsoft version schemes as an example, as Windows is a rather mature product (or immature depending on your point of view). Years between updates to any package is crazy. But Microsoft develops their version schemes to fit what they feel customers want and to conform to their ever-slowing method of releasing new versions. Perhaps this is why they recently reorganized in an effort to be more timely in their releases.

The check for updates feature in Hyena is a rather simple mechanism that is part of our installation package. Its not something that can be easily modified by us. But it can also be easily disabled. The update mechanism is meant as a simple way of telling users that an update is available. Since a majority of customers have purchased maintenance, and with email increasingly becoming ineffective and blocked, this is about the only way that we have to tell most customers that something that they paid for (either the version they purchased or due to maintenance) can be updated.

But whether the update is free or not, we still want our users to know that an update is available. Yes, it would be great if we had a way to have the update reminder know whether a newer version is free or not, but the maintenance expiration is encrypted into the license key and its complicated to work this out with a web page.

Thank you for sharing your concerns as we have been trying for eight (8) years now to develop both fair and cost-effective licensing and update schemes.

[Guest]

Re: Install Invalidates License

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to this. Clearly, I was a little annoyed that this situation occurred, but am a little wiser now.
This experience does not take away from the fact that it remains an excellent product that I recommend and use frequently.

Just a thought:
Hyena already has the ability to decrypt the license key. Why not add that decryption ability into the update app so it could obtain the maintence expiry date? (I know, these things take resources, time, etc. It's a lot easier said than done.)

[kstanush]

Re: Install Invalidates License

The update application is supplied by the developer of our installation software. Its actually a script of sorts that is written in the language of the installation software. The installation software scripting language is very basic and does not have the routines needed to decrypt the license key. The only way around this would be to create a seperate program that would do this and install this along with the software, but that would increase the size of the download, plus give all of the key crackers and hackers out there a new toy/tool to play around with.

And you are right about taking away resource from doing what we like to do : write software !

[Guest]

Re: Install Invalidates License

How can I disable the check for update option?

Since I know I do not want to update, it is really annoying.



[This message has been edited by wilsonp (edited 06-21-2007).]

[cmccullough]

Re: Install Invalidates License

In your Hyena directory is a file called wiseupdt.exe. Either rename or delete that file.

[Guest]

Re: Install Invalidates License

thank you