Falz and Jim Sachs,
Actually if it was true that Jim had said so it would be a viable claim to make for Falz and a possible complaint to Prolific for changing the rules along the way.

Fortunately Jim hasn't to the best of my knowledge (which is pretty extensive on this forum) actually stated that "updates will always be free".

This of course has nothing to do with Falz' assessment that the features of the upgrade isn't worth the asked price for him/her.

/Tiny Oldie

When I was running things, I made the statement that there will be free updates, and updates that will not be free. My intention was to give away all the background program updates and charge for creature-packs. All that changed six years ago when I turned over the business end to Prolific.

Isn't that suposed to be five years ago? IIRC, Prolific was mentioned around .99K which came out a month or so after I joined the forum (March 2001).

/Tiny 99

Right you are.

This is a copy of the e-mail I sent
 

I do not think it is fair that you charged me $5.95 for the Goldfish update and $9.95 for the Marine Aquarium update, when I paid full price and own all of your screen savers

Including Terrors of the deep. Why are you charging your loyal existing customers for these up grades when a new customer can purchase the current versions for the

Same price I paid for the original versions and now have to pay more extra money to get what a new guy can get for less because they do not own older versions and can

Get the new version with out buying the upgrade. I feel this is bad business and it definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Further more it is just not fair for you to take

Advantage of your fan base you should offer the upgrades for free and use them as a selling point to get new customers, not turn off your original ones. I think you’ll make

More money buy keeping your cliental happy and selling them new products not by raping them on the ones they already paid for once and offering it for less to new

People. Many people will end up not purchasing your new products because they know they will just have to keep paying for it over and over again to keep it current.

I for one will have a hard time spending more money with you or recommending any one to buy your products in the future.

:mad: :TD: :loco:

LOL
 

After reading a post by Jim Sachs in regards to a 2.6 prob with MAC INSIGHT? LOL I love the Marine Aquarium and it is by far my favorite. I was hooked from the beginning and quickly purchased online. Somewhere along the line though I lost the key code and versions later it doesn't matter any longer because free upgrades got lost somewhere... Probally in the same place my keycode whispered off to. :( Oh well. I gave up and continue to wait for that version we were all given a glimpse of within our imaginations. The one where the background corals etc would come to life. The one where the idea to fuel the ank and keep it truly alive and growing was thru creature packs... 3 or 4 fish and an extra bonus or two??? :) Now those would cost and understandably so. I think I gave my part to dream Jim had... Maybe? I suppose I imagined a team of top notch 3D artist all working together to create the ongoing creature packs. Maybe even doing them for a freshwater tank as well. Greed and money is a strange thing. I will not spend another 20 or 30 on the tank. And then another 10 and on and on. Some of us do live by a budget. Hell! I think at that point I will go out and get myself a real starter salt water aquarium. Don't get me wrong Jim. I understand you are an artist and I have been with you from years ago when you released saucer attack for the C64 and that was a long time ago. Thru the years you have continued to amaze us with your abilities with PC art.

So whats the deal with the next real significant upgrade to the aquarium? Something that would give me pause to consider spending more money on the tank. I mean it's gotta be this year because if it's not then I am ready to accept that as good as the aqurium is, maybe there is another that is better. One that took off where this one dared dream and beyond. Things change!!! Wether its the Aqarium or something else, I look forward to hearing of your future project releases. Snapshots of work in progress would keep many going. Fish... Tank... The tapping on the monitor always sounded so awesome. Hope Prolific figure it's out before an amazing product fades away. Later All!

:cheers:

It still looks great but it's also very, very dated now with the same old background. Two new fish isn't a very big reason to update.

I only ever bought the original. I got my money's worth. Business is business. But now I'm obviously not going to get the 3D background for free, if and when it ever eventuates. Which is a bit of a kick in the teeth, sort of if you are made to wait long enough for something you are promised, you won't mind paying for it it even though you were told it would be free. But I'll have to see it in action before I decide to bite.

* Creature packs will cost extra.
* Fish packs created by artists other than Jim (unlikely to ever happen again) will cost extra.
It has nothing to do with Jim being shrewed [sic.] or shrewd. Jim doesn't get much if any of that upgrade money.

Marine Aquarium Time/Crystal/Logo/Clock was created by Prolific and they get all the extra proceeds for its sale. It has always been a separate product from the Aquarium which is Jim's baby. Think of all the features and control panel options that have been added since Jim's last version (.99K). It's huge. And much more compatible. And no more overheating CPUs.

My issue is trying to fold two separate products into one. If they want to make it 1 download for simplicity's sake, fine. But you should still be able to use different keycodes to get different features. One keycode for MA2, one keycode for MAT, one keycode for both.

Will we be able to put the two new fish into 2MD eventually or are they only for MAT?

That's the $64,000 question.

Good news should be coming soon from Prolific.

Jim is correct...

So here is the latest. I have been intentionally silent until I spoke with JimS, Reichart and others. Sorry for the delay.

The upgrade price is going to be dropped from $9.95 to $5.95. The metric we used for pricing included the added crystal tech and didn't consider the people who would only want the new fish. So we are dropping the price on the website for the upgrade. For those who purchased the $9.95 upgrade we will see what we can do.

Separartely from that, here are the formulas we are going to use to issue FREE Updates, to keep inline with Jim Sach's wishes.

1. If you purchased the bundle deals of MA2 and MAT2
2. If you purchased MA 2.5
3. If you purchased MA 2 and MAT 2 separately.
4. Early purchasers of versions .99X
5. Any customer who has purchased 29.90 in serenescreen product regardless of version.

So, I think when all is said and done, most FORUM people and long time fans will be happy.

We are going to start our upgrade script this evening. Once all the new keycodes are generated you will be able to visit our site, and request you keycode via our tech support form.

Our email sending starts tomorrow...

Sounds pretty fair to me.

Hmmm, $5.95... >>thinks--one vente soy mocha triple cappu-latte-cino that will last me a half hour, or a computer screen-art-visual feast that will last for years<< Difficult choice. :D

I paid like $30 for the cd version of just the Marine Aquarium 2.0 Do I get a free upgrade or will I have to pay?

YAY. Way to go Jim, and thaks to Prolific for meeting that very old promise about the .99 adopters getting updates. you guys rule.

..Sachs Rex...

Now I really don't understand ?
 

Look I paid for the MA2 product and now I paid an additional $9.95 for the latest upgrade you say you will soon be offering for $5.95. So what I want to know is will I recieve a credit for the $4.00 difference more importantly will I be eligable for free upgardes in the future ? I would hope so ! the e-mail address on file is themovingvanman@bellsouth.net please check and see and tell me if I will be eligable for this credit and the free upgrades. Thank You !

It is ridiculous that long time loyal customers should pay more than for original + upgrade than first time users. That guy has every right to be upset.

Upgrade payments, if ever used, should be either optional or priced very low, not like 1/2 or 3/4 the full price.