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Comment by jdauriemma | Hacker News Reader

LastPass is making a huge change to their Free product and giving users only a month to adjust. This is irresponsible at best. I completely empathize with the notion that good software is worth paying for, but a widely-used password manager needs to provide more time for users to transition into another product if they choose not to convert to paid.

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> This is irresponsible at best.

Not sure i agree, they make it very easy to export your info/passwords and are just returning to a previous business model. As another user here commented, it only took 15 min to switch to another option.

> but a widely-used password manager needs to provide more time for users to transition into another product if they choose not to convert to paid

curious how much time that would be

I'm sure some users will find an alternative solution and switch easily. I'm also sure that some users will not. My assumption - take it or leave it - is that the folks who would find this more inconvenient are those who were introduced to LastPass by more security-minded friend or family member. They aren't necessarily inclined or well-equipped to transition their devices over from one password manager to another. This may cause them to abandon password management altogether or do something dangerous like temporarily store their passwords in plain text while they find someone to help them transition to another product.

I think 3 months is much more reasonable, at least. Doing this in the middle of a pandemic is actively hostile. My parents are using lastpass. I'm going to pay for a license for them until the pandemic is over for simplicity.

As soon as I can physically visit them again I'm switching them over to something else in principle, and I'm changing to something else today (which includes cancelling my personal paid-for lastpass account).

It's par for the course for them.

During one of their previous price-hikes when the yearly membership cost doubled, I reached out to their support and asked if I could renew my membership before the price-hike took effect. They refused.

Caveat Emptor.

That's Buyer Beware. In this case it's a free version.

Caveat Liberum?

The emptor's counterpart, the venditor, also has a responsibility. I wouldn't dream of offering a free product that handles one of the most important aspects of consumer data security and then drastically altering it with only four weeks' notice. Many were introduced to LastPass, probably reluctantly, by more security-literate friends and family. These are the folks most likely to be squeezed in this very short transition period because they won't necessarily know how to navigate to a different product and would probably be more likely to do something risky in response.

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