Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!pacbell!skivs!dr From: dr@skivs.UUCP (David Robins) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Who should pay for upgrades? Summary: If due to bugs, the company. If due to new OS, the user? Keywords: New OS's, updates, upgrades Message-ID: <2702@skivs.UUCP> Date: 20 Oct 88 20:14:53 GMT References: Reply-To: dr@skivs.UUCP (David Robins) Organization: Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA Lines: 33 In article joseph@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Seymour Joseph) writes: > I am just settling in with my //GS and am discovering that GS/OS is >a mixed blessing for now. In spite of Apple's statements that GS/OS ... >Activision (now MediaGenic) claims that updates for registered users >will be coming "in a month or so." It is the "or so" that worries me. >Since I own all five of these, if there is a charge levied for the >upgrade I am going to be quite angry (and poor). This is a problem I have with upgrades. When Apple changes the operating system, the software companies have to fix their products to accommodate the change. Can they be expected to also foot the bill for mailing out new disks to users, when their product worked just fine (not enough bugs to warrant an update) under the operating system that existed when the software was written and marketed? After all, Apple has been changing operating systems faster than most users can keep up with them. They have released ProDOS 8 v1.4, v1.5, v1.6, v1.8, System Disk 1.x, System Disk 3.1, System Disk 3.2, System Disk 4.0 [GS/OS] all within the past 1 year or so. Therefore, I can see the company paying for fixes to a faulty product when updates are available. I think probably the user should foot the bill (hopefully small) for UPGRADES to products that operate under new operating systems. Otherwise, software companies may not write as much software; they will worry that each new OS may bankrupt them if they are expected to upgrade everyone for free. Fair is fair. Comments? No flames, please. -dave -- David Robins, M.D. (ophthalmologist / electronics engineer) Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, 2232 Webster St, San Francisco CA 94115 415/561-1705 (voice) {ucbvax,ihnp4,bellcore,lll-crg,lll-lcc}!pacbell!ski!dr The opinions expressed herein do not reflect the opinion of the Institute!