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Comment by GlacierFox | Hacker News Reader

Is this actually a one time purchase or are you doing the "Actually if you read the small print I actually mean until I reach version 2.0, then you have to pay again" approach?

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Developers are entitled to earn more money when they continue working. On the other hand, it is unfair how consumers have frequently needed to re-purchase products that they bought with the impression it would last a long time.

At least, the developer should specify how long the product will be supported for security and bug fixes.

A great solution, if you can pull it off: You continue maintaining the base product indefinitely, but "v2" features are disabled until the user pays more. And if you buy v2 in full you get the full feature set.

I don't really care about any of that. I just hate when a product is advertised as "one time purchase" when it actually isn't. I haven't got a single problem with developers charging for a new version, just be crystal clear about it.

users who bought a license of MonsterWriter version 1 three years ago are using the latest version today without any additional payment.

That's cool. What happens when version 2 comes out. It just says 'one time purchase' on the purchase page. One time purchase forever? Or one time purchase and then more times when the time is right to pay one time again?

Why do you need to read the small print to "guess" the obvious - unless "lifetime upgrades" are advertised, they are not part of the package. Also, you don't have to pay for v2, you can continue to use v1?

Parent don't need the answer, the question is rhetoric, they want OP to change the wording in their pricing page.

Are you saying you expect to pay one time and never again and want continued support for the lifetime of the app?

Not GP, but I do want to know that I have a path to having ongoing access to my data (which could include a fair and usable export process into a format that’s at least readable [PDF, docx, tex, other]) without a permanent on-going expense.

I see this reponse a lot after I comment on a product which doesn't make it crystal clear on what they mean by "one time purchase". It's a great draw but most of the time it's disingenuously false in an environment (software) where it's almost impossible to offer that.

I have zero issue with developers charging for a version 2, updates, maintenence, etc. Just make it crystal clear.

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