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

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    #31
    Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

    This bird ain't gonna fly. The numbers don't work. On Dec 6th I rec'd a promo that said:
    All in one bundle
    (which includes the Developer's Edition, Runtime, and App Server)
    PLUS Get All 13 Feature Packs
    and get all future V10.5 Feature Packs at No Charge (including the 2 new ones) Regular Price: $2,627
    YOUR PRICE: $699

    Buy Now
    The new subscription packs says:
    Upgrade Subscription
    You must already own
    Alpha Five v10 or v10.5
    Your Price
    $1499
    So, if you spent $699 for all the above on Dec 6th, Alpha now wants you to spend an additional $1499 - for...???? - - - huh? - - - something in the future???

    To understand the problem we have to go back to square one. We are in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Alpha needs $$$$ But they are going to a, if not dry hole, nearly dry hole. You can't wet your beaker in the same dry hole. Alpha needs a bigger water hole - or several different watering holes. This killer recession with nearly 10% "official" unemployment - and 18% "real" unemployment, with 25% unemployment, or more, in certain geographic sectors, puts many, if not most end user/developers, in the same dry hole that Alpha is trying to tap. Sorry, this bird won't fly. $699 or $1499? You decide.
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

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


    Comment


      #32
      Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

      windows xp disk comes with microsoft IIS on it. You can install it by adding MS apps in software in windows control panel.

      I just did it yesterday on my cheap server and recieved a hard lesson in slow down. Maybe there are adjustments I will find to help, but not happy with this so far.

      As far as the new plan, it may be workable and maybe the price is ok? I don't think the price is low enough to work well and I do believe a monthly plan will be better. Sold software many ways: all up front with yearly maint, half up fron at payments, rent to own, rental. If you heard 200 a month, maybe it sounds better than 2400 a year?

      Whatever it is, it starts sounding like serious contracts will have to be in order. What if Alpha sold to Microsoft/or and you have no copy of the plan you paid for. Heaven help you if something happened to the Selyns(certainly not wishing anything bad - love 'em).

      More will come to my mind. This is just getting started. It is like negotiations and I am not sure how much the board has researche the far reaching and inticate details of the plan.


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

      Comment


        #33
        Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

        Dave as was stated in an earlier post this plan is simply a new option for purchasing.

        Alpha customers and developers will absolutely continue to be able to purchase alpha five (developer, app server and runtime,) feature packs, add ons, books, webinars etc the existing way I.E on a case by case basis. It all depends on what you need and how you want to acquire your licenses.

        The motivation for this plan is to respond to corporations and developers who have been requesting it from us for a long time.
        Thanks
        Richard Rabins
        Co Chairman
        Alpha Software

        Comment


          #34
          Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

          A monthly fee of approx 100/month would be great!
          Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

          Comment


            #35
            Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

            Why IIS??? Why not Tomcat? Why do companies continually cram M$ down everyone's throat? Why not offer a choice!!!!

            Slowly we've been migrating our M$ server stack to Linux or Linux based appliance. Performance has been better, support on many fronts has been better, and the cost has been lower.

            This is not to say M$ doesn't do anything good but why do I have to purchase an M$ monopoly system when I can build a robust Linux web app server or better yet download an appliance that I can run for free? (unless you want support beyond the community).

            Saddened by restriction of choice,
            Joe
            Never take a ride to the edge of your mind unless you've got a ticket back - Jon Oliva - Savatage.

            Comment


              #36
              Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

              Originally posted by cavj1 View Post
              Why IIS??? Why not Tomcat? Why do companies continually cram M$ down everyone's throat? Why not offer a choice!!!!

              Slowly we've been migrating our M$ server stack to Linux or Linux based appliance. Performance has been better, support on many fronts has been better, and the cost has been lower.

              This is not to say M$ doesn't do anything good but why do I have to purchase an M$ monopoly system when I can build a robust Linux web app server or better yet download an appliance that I can run for free? (unless you want support beyond the community).

              Saddened by restriction of choice,
              Joe
              Just to be fair, the AFAS runs only on windows.

              As long as Alpha Software has been doing things for the web, we have had to put our servers on Windows based computers/servers.

              I believe one of the advantages of IIS is that we should be able host several websites on one server without having to use seperate folders in the url (www.mydomain-a.com and www.mydomain-b.com instead of www.mydomain.com/a and www.mydomain.com/b).
              Gregg
              https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

              Comment


                #37
                Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                Is this subscription offer including the tight 29 Dec deadline mentioned on the main site? I came across it accidentally just by browsing this thread. I didn't get any sort of mail-out via email.

                The pricing is very much pitched at the corporate development market with similar $US pricing from some competitors within that field:

                Ironspeed Developer (Enterprise) new licence: $2,295 with year updates; 1 year renewal $1,195 (within subscription)

                PSSoft Windev Suite (windows, web, mobile) new licence: $2,600 (continuous special offer); upgrade from most recent version (typically 12-18 months old) $1,704. There is usually a cheaper early-bird special of around $1,200.

                Powerbuilder 12 Enterprise new licence: $2,995 + $645 for software update; upgrade from previous version: $1,495. There is a variety of support packages available over and above these prices.

                As said elsewhere, it would suggest a substantial rise in the base pricing for Alpha products. Alex
                Last edited by AlexOZ; 12-23-2010, 05:50 PM.

                Comment


                  #38
                  Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                  Originally posted by madtowng View Post
                  As long as Alpha Software has been doing things for the web, we have had to put our servers on Windows based computers/servers.
                  .
                  This is totally out of this thread but I must say that of course you can install Alpha on Linux based computers/servers.

                  Comment


                    #39
                    Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                    For my own point, I think there are some utilities or procedures that could have or should have been put into a feature pack by now.

                    The one that stands out from any others would be for online user registration.

                    I saw the desire for this option while I was at Alpha-U in Las Vegas, where even though we asked about it, the topic was avoided. I still see posts on the message board from new users and experienced users looking for methods accomplish this task that is obviously needed to build a secure website.

                    Value plays a large part in paying for a subscription.
                    Alpha5 10.5 came out near the time of Alpha-U, Las Vegas. I believe feature packs first became available during that week (May 17, 2010 through May 21,2010). Between that time, and September 30, 2010, Alpha Software pumped out 11 feature packs.
                    At the end of September, we were given the option of paying one price to get all current feature packs, plus all future feature packs that came out for version 10.5.

                    The date of the last feature pack was October 29, 2010.
                    No new feature packs in November, and so far no new feature packs in December.

                    I am sure this is coincidental, but I would love to see at least a user registration feature pack before version 11 comes out.
                    Gregg
                    https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

                    Comment


                      #40
                      Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                      Originally posted by cavj1 View Post
                      Why IIS??? Why not Tomcat? Why do companies continually cram M$ down everyone's throat? Why not offer a choice!!!!

                      Slowly we've been migrating our M$ server stack to Linux or Linux based appliance. Performance has been better, support on many fronts has been better, and the cost has been lower.

                      This is not to say M$ doesn't do anything good but why do I have to purchase an M$ monopoly system when I can build a robust Linux web app server or better yet download an appliance that I can run for free? (unless you want support beyond the community).

                      Saddened by restriction of choice,
                      Joe
                      I would very much like an option on Linux. IIS is slower, certainly than its linux counterparts. I was using another app which used to generate php and was running on LAMPP server. The grid used to open lightening fast. Migrated to Alpha and the speed reduced but compromised on speed as Alpha had much more to offer. Was running similar stuff on IIS and the speed was between the two. So we just improve a little on migrating to IIS. But a Linux option would speed up things much faster, in my opinion.

                      M$ loves its customers so much that it doesn't give much room to squirm. Dave, be careful on using XP and IIS. Read M$ license carefully as XP is not allowed to have more than a few clients. Instead of restricting the no of clients, M$ allows any no. to connect but doesn't allow it in license. It is like leaving your house unlocked and leaving a note on the door to not to burgle it. Same goes for Alpha server as it must be hosted on Windows Server if the clients are more than certain nos - I guess 10 (devices) including all peripherials , printers etc.

                      Linux is freedom. So is Alpha from coding (& from VB,at least in my company). Why restrict freedom...breathe free.

                      Cheers

                      CJ

                      Comment


                        #41
                        Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                        Originally posted by madtowng View Post
                        For my own point, I think there are some utilities or procedures that could have or should have been put into a feature pack by now.

                        The one that stands out from any others would be for online user registration.

                        I saw the desire for this option while I was at Alpha-U in Las Vegas, where even though we asked about it, the topic was avoided. I still see posts on the message board from new users and experienced users looking for methods accomplish this task that is obviously needed to build a secure website.

                        Value plays a large part in paying for a subscription.
                        Alpha5 10.5 came out near the time of Alpha-U, Las Vegas. I believe feature packs first became available during that week (May 17, 2010 through May 21,2010). Between that time, and September 30, 2010, Alpha Software pumped out 11 feature packs.
                        At the end of September, we were given the option of paying one price to get all current feature packs, plus all future feature packs that came out for version 10.5.
                        I second Madtowng's opinion. Web user management has been a hot desire for many of us and can see this on many forum questions. It is not difficult to do it manually (coding). But a codeless option would be an excellent feature.

                        I also second Madtowng's second point. I also bought feature packs in blocks and paid more than the option came out for all in feature pack price. You kinda feel cheated !!

                        Comment


                          #42
                          Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                          Originally posted by kkfin View Post
                          This is totally out of this thread but I must say that of course you can install Alpha on Linux based computers/servers.
                          @Kkfin...how? I do not think this is possible?

                          CJ

                          Comment


                            #43
                            Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                            >>I also second Madtowng's second point. I also bought feature packs in blocks and paid more than the option came out for all in feature pack price. You kinda feel cheated !!

                            If you read the feature pack mailings attentively then you should have seen this:

                            "Already purchased some of these?
                            Depending on what you bought, you may qualify for a credit towards one of these offers. Just email [email protected] or call us at 1 781.229.4500 x 1."

                            I got a fair price for my all feature pack deal.
                            Frank

                            Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

                            Comment


                              #44
                              Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                              Originally posted by Clipper87 View Post
                              >

                              "Already purchased some of these?
                              Depending on what you bought, you may qualify for a credit towards one of these offers. Just email [email protected] or call us at 1 781.229.4500 x 1."

                              I got a fair price for my all feature pack deal.
                              I did not response after sending mail thrice. Gave up.

                              Comment


                                #45
                                Re: New subscription plan, leaves room for improvement. (imho)....

                                Originally posted by cjsingh View Post
                                I did not response after sending mail thrice. Gave up.
                                Let me start this right.
                                I love Alpha Software, even more with Richard and Selwyn Rabins in charge (I do remember that horrible time when it was controlled by a different company).

                                Thanks to Alpha Software, I have been able to create some amazing databases, including one for warehousing that charges for storeage by the skid, and transactions by the sku (many skids have more than one item) in a relatively short time.

                                I have purchased multiple developer licenses and
                                AFAS licenses through Alpha Software. I purchased the unlimited runtime licensing through Alpha Software. I signed up and paid for Alpha-U in Las Vegas through Alpha Software. I even purchased all the feature packs, including the option for all new feature packs released for version 10.5.

                                Knowing that this information is in a database because it takes a phone call to get things working when a server fails or is otherwise replaced, wouldn't it be nice if the emails sent regarding such things were customized for what they know you own ?

                                If I received an email saying "We know you purchased all these items, this is what it will cost for this next package", it would certainly make things a lot easier for me to make that decision.

                                I realize the pricing option is only a phone call away, but I am responsible for things around the clock, and quite honestly, just forget to call Alpha Software.
                                Gregg
                                https://paiza.io is a great site to test and share sql code

                                Comment

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