Quote:
Originally Posted by Eugee
But from the way the FAQ reads, if I don't renew my license, then in two years I won't even be able to INSTALL the software I paid for! (As my license will be closed on the server, doesn't this mean I can't install the program to a new machine anymore?) That's different than my license working *forever* and so I'd like some clarification.
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Basically, that language represents a guarantee that we aren't going to just go away and leave people hanging. In our early years, some people were worried that we might just fold up shop and disappear one day. So that language was added about 10 years ago as a reassurance that we would keep the servers going for at least two years, even if we closed up shop. I never dreamed that someone would look at it as a liability, but I guess it could be viewed that way in hindsight.
If Microsoft were to close up shop tomorrow, then anyone who relies on the internet activation of copies of Office or Windows would be unable to do so from that point forward. The same applies to smaller companies, such as us. We put the two-year guarantee in there to eliminate concerns that we could just disappear one day.
Licenses are not automatically yanked on the server. The language includes the word "may" - it does not say anything absolute. In fact, to this day, no license has ever been closed on the server due to not being extended.
To put it into perspective, we've kept the everything going for all the old V2.x licenses for five years now (i.e. since V3.0 was released). We obligated ourselves to keep them going for at least two years, but we never turned off support, even though we could have easily done so three years ago. At some point, it will become more difficult to keep that stuff going, but we won't pull the plug until we reach that point. In the meantime, all the old V2.x licenses can be managed smoothly by those who still use them.
I hope this explanation proves helpful. If you still have questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.