Batman -- I totally agree.
I actually find products like Purebasic and Blitz3D that offer unlimited lifetime upgrades to be highly worrying, because ultimately they'll need a new source of revenue, which means orphaning the product and releasing something new and incompatible.
One of my favorite ever programs is a Macintosh program called GraphicConverter. I bought a license in 1991, and it has gone through about 200 minor and 4 major revisions since then. They FINALLY charged for an upgrade this year. This is the exception -- most programs with free upgrade policies simply die on the vine. I think GraphicConverter continued as long as it did because it was selling tens of thousands of new licenses every year...
I actually find products like Purebasic and Blitz3D that offer unlimited lifetime upgrades to be highly worrying, because ultimately they'll need a new source of revenue, which means orphaning the product and releasing something new and incompatible.
One of my favorite ever programs is a Macintosh program called GraphicConverter. I bought a license in 1991, and it has gone through about 200 minor and 4 major revisions since then. They FINALLY charged for an upgrade this year. This is the exception -- most programs with free upgrade policies simply die on the vine. I think GraphicConverter continued as long as it did because it was selling tens of thousands of new licenses every year...