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New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

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    #76
    Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

    Pete you are right that it is an option and I would love to know what the options are.

    1 How much is the product without a subscription
    2 Is the new WAS based off of IIS or not
    3 How much is the WAS as a standalone product
    4 Will there be an option for bulk WAS packages and pricing
    5 When is the approximate release date
    6 Further details as to improvements

    I am currently working on a project for a customer that would need a minimum of two sql servers and 5-7 seperate servers to be able to handle the traffic. With some of the above answered I would be able to make a better decision on pricing and maybe seal a deal for both me and Alpha.

    I also purchased the all in package a couple of months ago and have noticed that the feature packs have seemed to stop coming and most likely have due to the work on V11.
    Only Alpha knows the answer to that one but I can tell you that I would have never bought it knowing the direction that has been taken, I realize this also may not have been the intent of Alpha but this is a fact. I will apologize now if all of the sudden we see a couple of feature packs release prior to V11.
    Chad Brown

    Comment


      #77
      Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

      I am not really sure I understand the uproar over having another option, but it seems like every new version brings a new uproar.
      There should be no uproar, however.

      1. The other option can drastically affect the consumers who do not subscribe to that. By having the wealth from the new plan in house, the prices for each item individually can increase.

      2. Most of the uproar is over misunderstandings. If the pricing was explained in more detail and was more palatable, people would not get concerned and have the uproar. I remember the last major uproar and was hard at the negotiations(maybe too harsh sometimes). It was resolved. The only problem I see right now is for a large yearly fee and I think it is a bit higher than needed*.

      3 I have been an avid user of Alpha for over 20 years. I wish them well because it helps me too.

      *We always have sold, rented, put on payments and leased software to other companies. Updates for a version were never charged for as they were basic fixes. Upgrades were charged for in one way or another except rentals where we recieved a check every MONTH. Our subscription plans were paid on a yearly basis, but did not include upgrades. They were for reports of the standard. Other than subscription, reports were charged for on an as needed basis. I can break all this down if asked. The company(I am still associated in a small way) is still in business after it's startup in 1978. It has grown to nationwide + about 7 other countries. I base most of my thoughts around how that has worked out.

      I definitely want to see alpha grow and make money. That is better for us all. I am not connected with alpha in any way except as a consumer. I owe them nothing and they owe me nothing. I see people on here that think they will gain points by expounding on alpha virtues. The brothers will tell you I am not that. I will negotiate with them(for me and all of us) in a hurry and make it public as I do it.

      I still have questions about the suscription plan. Maybe time and users will answer those.


      .
      Dave Mason
      [email protected]
      Skype is dave.mason46

      Comment


        #78
        Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

        Chad,

        You are correct.

        Maybe Alpha decided this all in a one hour meeting? We don't know and they have no obligation to state the why for any of it. The often make decisions like that and then have to think it over later. Most small companies do. Microsoft has rolled back a few decisions as well.

        The questions you have are echoed here.

        aside:
        I am delving into the was as I never have before(not websites). I have been doing websites for many years. The was is different and not what I expected. I intend to use the was for my own sales and promotions on my own servers. 3 sites are needed now and I am having a problem doing that the way I need it. It is ok, I can use another solution. Maybe the was as written is not for me?

        Thank god for this board.
        Dave Mason
        [email protected]
        Skype is dave.mason46

        Comment


          #79
          Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

          I have never complained about Alpha pricing but often complained about the lack of proper documentation/learning tools. I know there are Selwyn's video series - which are great, I learned a lot from them - but many people want to go beyond the basics. I know there are webinars, but not suitable for many of us.

          My worry is V11 will add a few more layers of complexity:

          1) .Net Support- Full integration of the .Net Framework V4. Use any of the thousands of .Net classes in Alpha Five. --> Will there be a tutorial explaining this?
          2) Web Services - Call web services from Xbasic. --> Will there be a tutorial explaining this, what's the benefit, how to use it?
          3) jQuery Support - Improved support for jQuery. --> Will there be some tutorial?

          Comment


            #80
            Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

            Ok. As I said I would, I just signed up for the developer's subscription plan.
            The price involved credits for products already purchased. The credits brought the price down to a point where I will not mind asking my boss for forgiveness since he has not yet given me permission.

            Bring on the feature packs (hopefully something to make online user registration/maintenance easier will be coming in a hurry)!
            Gregg
            https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

            Comment


              #81
              Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

              Maybe I am old school, but have never purchased a car months before I got to even see one. Even if a dealer/manufacturer assured it would get 100 MPG and do 600 mph while it carried 26 passengers in pure luxury??

              Enouigh said?

              GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

              And, yes! I am all about Alpha.



              .
              Dave Mason
              [email protected]
              Skype is dave.mason46

              Comment


                #82
                Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                Any time I pay airfare to go someplace, I trust that by the time I'm ready to use it, the plane will be in good working order, fueled up and piloted by a capable captain.

                Alpha Software has a history of providing such a service, and with Selwyn and Richard guiding things, I should have known that everything would be right.

                I do think a lot of the misguided thoughts (including my own) would have been eliminated if the email that was sent out notifying us of this fantastic deal had been customized to use let us know what our price would be based on current known licensing.
                Gregg
                https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

                Comment


                  #83
                  Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                  Did I say crap! - one of those Homer Simpson moment's "did I say it or think it" - anyhow was a bit apologies if anyone is offended - not a big deal in Australia! - Happy new year to all..
                  Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
                  Albert Einstein, (attributed)
                  US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

                  Comment


                    #84
                    Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                    Subscription, Maintenance, Renewal Plans (call them what you want) are indeed very common in the software business, for example in our department we have a document management application that has a Maintenance yearly price of 23,000 USD for around 20 concurrent users. that includes personalized support and every new version it comes out, and it does not includes access to any of their plugins (in this case would be compared to feature packs). So I think the plans alpha is offering are very reasonable they might not be targeted at the single developer guy but it might be well accepted by companies using Alpha Five to develop their "in-doors" apps. Just buy what you need...
                    Cheers
                    Mauricio

                    Comment


                      #85
                      Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                      Originally posted by chadbrown View Post
                      1 How much is the product without a subscription
                      2 Is the new WAS based off of IIS or not
                      3 How much is the WAS as a standalone product
                      4 Will there be an option for bulk WAS packages and pricing
                      5 When is the approximate release date
                      6 Further details as to improvements
                      Not even one?
                      Chad Brown

                      Comment


                        #86
                        Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                        Direct from the email...
                        Gregg
                        https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

                        Comment


                          #87
                          Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                          Originally posted by madtowng View Post
                          Direct from the email...
                          If your image was to address Chad's 6 questions, you may note that said image does not address any of those questions.
                          Peter
                          AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                          [email protected]
                          https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


                          Comment


                            #88
                            Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                            Chad,

                            I'm not sure who you were asking, someone at Alpha or someone on the message board. These questions about the future are asked each time a new version is on the horizon. And the answer is always the same, the pricing and options will be announced when it makes sense for Alpha to announce them. I don't mean they are trying to be sneaky about it, I just doubt they know the answers to all of those questions at this time.

                            From the vendor's perspective, Subscription Plans are a method to get funds now, for a product that will ship in the future. It doesn't mean they know exactly how things will roll out over the next 12 months. I also bet revenue from SubPlan + NormalPurchases are greater than NormalPurchases alone. Only a mature company with a good track record can sport a subscription plan, otherwise no one would trust them.

                            I purchased the subscription because I believe Alpha is a mature company with a good track record. Not perfect, but pretty damn good over the last several years, and trending improvement. I didn't do much in the way of a cost analysis and I don't need a lot of what was included.

                            As has been said earlier, the SubPlan is an option. You are paying in advance, so it has risk associated with it. For me, you buy it if you trust the company, its seems to be worth it, and are pretty sure you yourself will still be in business a year from now.
                            Steve Wood
                            See my profile on IADN

                            Comment


                              #89
                              Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                              Originally posted by Peter.Greulich View Post
                              If your image was to address Chad's 6 questions, you may note that said image does not address any of those questions.
                              Sure it does...
                              "1 How much is the product without a subscription"

                              If purchased seperately, $5780 or more depending on Version 11 pricing.

                              Admittedly, that is assuming you purchase everything.

                              I was hoping to get answers to some of those other questions during the past week, but was pleasantly surprised when I called to get the subscription plan yesterday.
                              Gregg
                              https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

                              Comment


                                #90
                                Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                                Originally posted by madtowng View Post
                                If purchased seperately, $5780 or more depending on Version 11 pricing.

                                Admittedly, that is assuming you purchase everything.
                                I think that $5780 is a bit of a stretch - especially since Alpha is currently offering v10 developer, RT, app server and all feature packs for $699.
                                Peter
                                AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

                                [email protected]
                                https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


                                Comment

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