SoftMaker.com

If you've bought softmaker 2008 after october 1st there was a free upgrade, right? I'm just unsure how that works...

You don't have to do anything special. We will look this up (later this week) in our customer database and will send them out automatically.

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

A nice news.

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Love SoftMaker Office more and more.
Wish SoftMaker Office have a better future.

I bought SoftMaker Office 2008 on Dec 2nd, 2008, and till now haven't received any upgrade information from SoftMaker.

That's because unfortunately you are not entitled to a free upgrade. You paid just EUR 19.99, but the condition for the free upgrade was that you had to purchase at full price (EUR 69.95).

That 19.99 price however entitles you to upgrade pricing of EUR 49.95, which means that in the end you are not paying more than a customer who would have started with SoftMaker Office 2010 in the first place.

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Obviously you are free to define your price policy. But let me emphasize just two points which from customer's position don't look well balanced.

1. You say:
"...you are not entitled to a free upgrade. You paid just EUR 19.99, but the condition for the free upgrade was that you had to purchase at full price (EUR 69.95)."

Unfortunately it's not true, I paid the full price. You don't take into account that this special price (EUR 19.99) was given me by SoftMaker because just before I bought Ashampoo Office 2008, reduced version of the same SoftMaker's product, at full price $59.99 (Cleverbridge reference number 3895797).
In fact, EUR 19.99 was the price for the additional component BasicMaker 2008 which was not present in the Ashampoo version. SoftMaker received from me $60 + EUR20, which at that time was approximately the same as the full price of SMO 2008. I hope you will not suppose that I installed and use bouth - Ashampoo and SoftMaker Offices - at the same time!

2. You say:
"That 19.99 price however entitles you to upgrade pricing of EUR 49.95, which means that in the end you are not paying more than a customer who would have started with SoftMaker Office 2010 in the first place."

You suggest to pay EUR 49.95 for the upgrade, just 5-6 US$ less than the full price for US and Canadian customers. At the same time you entitle them to pay $50 for the upgrade.
Here in Latinamerica (I live in Mexico) local currencies and prices follow US$, not EUR. We belong to US dollar zone. So these price differences between US customers and Latinamerican customers look unjustified.
In my modest opinion this consideration should be taken into account, if you are interested in Latinamerican market.

I have purchased Licenses for your Suite (Windows & Linux) and have always paid pretty reasonable upgrade prices (have to wait for them .....

The person in this thread deserves better treatment then what you are offering -- considering he has basically already purchased your product twice (in one way or another).

Personally I would be choked if you did this to me!

Your products run on all my computers and I have to admit this thread has upset me.

Hey you were "giving away" the 2008 Suite over Christmas, and you are blowing off a customer who obviously really likes your product?

Michael, John:

This is still on my list to answer after the holidays. Right now, SoftMaker is closed for the holidays, but please stay tuned.

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

You know what, I tend to agree with Michael here. Even though my situation is much different than his, I have to agree that SoftMaker has been a little lax in its pricing for the already established customer base. They're pretty liberal at giving things away to attract new allegiance to the Suite, which I can understand; but doing so at the cost of furstrating your established, loyal customer base might be a step in the wrong direction.

While it is true that SoftMaker is still a bargain compared to Word, I have been a paying customer since 2002; and have dilligently paid my dues for updraging from one version to the next; from one platform (OS) to the next, as the technology evolved.

Am I getting a fair shake? Yes, because for the money, SM offers the best value if you want both the Desktop Windows and PDA versions. And no when I look at the freebees they've been offering. End result - a bit of frustration!

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Uncle Ben

I've always felt SoftMaker was being fair with me! You do get to know that you have to wait for the best price to you though. Uncle Ben is right that perhaps SoftMaker doesn't target their present customers very well at times -- it is nice to be appreciated

I've probably got at least a half dozen or more Licenses for Suite (Win & Linux)... some of those are for the Ashampoo version too (for as low as $5). I purchased the upgrade to Version 10 before it was even released -- now that's confidence in the product.... SoftMaker DID offer me a great deal on this.

And to be honest, I go out of my way to promote the product to anybody who will listen.
I AM a good customer -- Happy New Year everybody..

I have reviewed this case again, but even looking at this in the most lenient way, we cannot give Michael a free upgrade.

When I first looked at this case, I (mis-)read that he purchased on December 2, 2009 which would be within the timeframe of the free upgrade (if we ignore his purchase price of the 2008 version). I checked Michael's posting again, and he purchased a full one year earlier, on December 2, 2008. I verified this by looking at the customer database.

While we routinely extend the deadlines for free upgrades by around 2 weeks and give free upgrades for people who purchased slightly outside of even that bracket and ask for a courtesy upgrade, we cannot give free upgrades to people who purchased one year ago. Not only do we make our living selling new versions and upgrades, this also would not be fair to people who pay for their upgrades.

As for the free 2008 charity version, I know that it is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it very possibly frustrates some customers who paid for the software when it was still current, on the other hand it brings in many new customers who would never have heard about SoftMaker Office were it not for the Load and Help campaign. Maybe view it under this angle: An influx of new customers guarantees development of future versions of our software, and that's a tangible benefit for all customers.

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Last post (honest) !
I can understand SoftMaker's position completely - however - there just has to be a better solution for Michael here. My copy of Office 10 was much less expensive than you are offering Michael..... I ordered it at the pre-release price special in US dollars (I'm in Canada).

Let me put it another way: I'm retired and don't do a lot of work in an Office Suite anymore, but I have several computers (don't ask).... and I feel obligated to support SoftMaker in everyway I can, so I have a License for every computer, even though I only use one at a time. I wouldn't have SoftMaker on each one if I had to pay 69.95 for each copy. Don't even like Microsoft Office with the bloat (especially on my NetBooks), but you can purchase their basic product for home or student use for about the same price right now.

Enough said. $69.95 is a lot of money in some countries, especially on a home computer where use is limited to a lot of the time just occasional use. Do I think SoftMaker should give their excellent software away - nope! But I would think it is very important to give present users the incentive to keep loving the product.

This really is my last comment.

Obviously, we were all a bit blind: michael wrote it clearly in his first posting that he bought SM Office on 2nd December 2008.
Honestly, when there is a free upgrade for customers buying after October 1st, I wouldn't get the idea to ask for one when I bought mine in December of the year before.

I agree with Jossi on this. I volunteer with a couple of software companies and the point to providing the free upgrade is to avoid having a customer JUST purchase your software a couple of weeks prior to your releasing a new version. They feel ripped off and that makes sense... but a year? In that case, you have been using the product for quite sometime and perhaps one deserves an "upgrade" price, but not free.

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Cheers
Jim

My point was not so much about the free upgrade per se but the liberal marketing policy of SoftMaker in relation to its established customer base, a good component of which dates back years.

I think that Martin's rebuttal provided a clear explanation behind SoftMaker's vision and policy; and while I may differ with it, I’m happy with the explanation – it is clear and right to the point.

Personally, I believe that any policy that is conducive to alienating those who have been supportive of SoftMaker’s efforts from the very early days is risky at best, no matter what the potential payback might be. SoftMaker is betting that those customers who received a freebie today will willingly pay for an upgrade tomorrow … But one must remember that these new customers are the same ones that DID NOT want to pay for SoftMaker before, even after a 30-day trial. So to think that will suddenly sing to a different tune is another risky bet, I think!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I firmly believe that SoftMaker Office is the best and cheapest solution available out there, particularly for those of us who need both the Mobile and Windows versions. I don’t mind paying for an upgrade … Notwithstanding, the one-way freebies annoy me, albeit just a little.

Cheers!

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Uncle Ben