[DUG] A change in upgrade policy coming from Embarcadero

[Paul A Norman]

Thanks for that Malcolm,

Some of us had understood that prevopusly things had been passed up the line
on our behalfs, and that may have caused a lot of ill feeling,

will do what you suggest,

Paul

2009/9/21 Malcolm Groves <mgroves at embarcadero.com>

>  Hi all,
>
>
>
> I’ve just read through quite a few of the messages in this thread (not
>  all, I admit) and there are a few things in here I should respond to.
>
>
>
> > Actually, afaict Embarcadero have been absolutely silent on the
>
> > matter.  The policy change has leaked out only via *some* resellers.
>
>
>
> Nothing has leaked. Official announcements are coming, but I notified our
> Asia sales staff and asked them to notify our partners and customers last
> week so we could give people as much notice as possible (also for another
> reason, see the end of this email). I posted advance notice to the ADUG list
> here in Aus, and would have posted on this list except Richard asked if he
> could post it. As our local representative in NZ, it made sense to me that
> he do it. Nothing underhand going on.
>
>
>
> Also, the reason I haven’t responded sooner is that I only check the lists
> every week or so, unless someone alerts me to something that needs more
> urgent attention.
>
>
>
> Ø  I still feel cheated that at no time were those of us who bought Delphi
> 2005 which still has many unpatched major problems
>
> Ø  given the opening to more reasonibly  ($) upgrade from it.
>
>
>
> I’m sorry you feel like this, but this is not accurate. Multiple times a
> year we offer discounts/bundles/third-party value-adds, etc to upgraders.
> I’ve got a partial list here and it shows that since 2006 was released we’ve
> done at least 6 such offerings in NZ, and I haven’t bothered going through
> the rest of my email archive to see if there were more. Now, the offers we
> made may not have been enough to make you accept, that’s a separate issue,
> but saying we’ve made no offers to previous users is plainly wrong.
>
>
>
> In terms of updates, we haven’t really changed our policy for a long time.
> Leaving aside people who pay for higher levels of support, we typically
> release update packs during the first 6-12 months of the product’s life (eg,
> 3 update packs for 2005, 2 update packs for 2006 + 11 hotfix packs, etc) but
> once a later version has come out, these typically slow down or stop
> entirely. That may not be what everybody wants, I appreciate that, but
> despite multiple attempts over the years it’s proven difficult if not
> impossible to get update packs for older releases on the schedule. So,
> despite wishing it were different, I doubt we’re going to be able to change
> that.
>
>
>
> I’ve probably missed some questions, feel free to tell me if I have, but
> let me finish on a slightly more positive note.
>
>
>
> In addition to giving people as much notice as possible, part of the point
> of letting people know about this change in advance is so that I could gauge
> the reaction.
>
>
>
> Today we treat someone who last invested in a Delphi license 14 years ago
> with Delphi 1, exactly the same as someone who invested 1 year ago with
> 2009. I firmly believe we should give people who spent money with us
> recently some benefit, especially those who spent money with us during the
> years when you couldn’t have blamed them for keeping their wallet in their
> pocket. So, while I support the spirit of this change, the detail of where
> we draw the cutoff line is still a topic I think we can adjust. In talking
> with customers and staff and watching the discussions on various groups
> around the region and I think I’ve seen enough to go back to our internal
> discussion and suggest we need to change our current proposal. So, your
> feedback is being heard, despite what you might believe from some of the
> comments.
>
>
>
> Lastly, can I just make a request for a fair go for the current Embarcadero
> team? We are well aware that we cannot ignore the “legacy” of decisions made
> by Borland Executives over the years, and we are trying extremely hard to
> walk the line of investing to take the product back above the historic
> levels of quality and innovation you came to expect, and at the same time
> keeping it a profitable business for our owners. I think the local team are
> very open to accommodating requests from customers when they are brought to
> us (I think I’ve approved most of the requests for special consideration
> I’ve seen in recent memory) and hopefully some of you have experienced that.
> I understand that some of you feel like you may have beaten your heads
> against a brickwall at Borland for too long, but can I just ask that if you
> have an issue, you bring it to us and see if we can work out a solution. If
> we can’t keep you happy, of course you should criticise us, but given
> everything that seems to have changed for the better over the last 12-15
> months, I’d appreciate it if you could give us a chance to fix the issues
> before shooting us. My contact details are at the bottom of the email, you
> should absolutely feel free to use them.
>
>
>
> I’ll try and take a more regular look at this thread for the next few days.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Malcolm
>
> * *
>
> *Malcolm Groves
> Senior Director, Asia Pacific*
> Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. | www.embarcadero.com
> Level 2, 100 Clarence Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
> mgroves at embarcadero.com <mgroves at codegear.com>
>
> Mobile: +61 416 264 204 | Skype: malcolmgroves
>
> USA: (510) 962 5736 | UK: 020 3289 1788
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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