As someone who has to budget for project expenses, I do so on an annual basis; not every 6 months. I use a number of web apps and development apps that I need keep active maintenance up to date. On average, maintenance expenses run from 20% to 60% of the actual cost of the license, per year... JomSocial is charging 100% of the license cost annually, which means we're essentially buying a new license every year. Where is the incentive in this? I can understand paying an additional upgrade fee from one major version to the next but maintenance costs for intermediate updates should not be this expensive... especially when we're talking about an application that is in a perpetual bug-fix mode. It almost feels like we're paying to use beta ware.

Don't take me the wrong way... I love the app and have high hopes for it's potential but feel that I (we), as customers, are being price gouged. Because JomSocial is the only Joomla tool available of it's kind, this gives you a huge advantage but it shouldn't be passed on to the customers as a disadvantage.

For someone who designs, on a budget, for non-profits, I don't have very big budgets so I'm forced to pick and choose! This is unfortunate...!

-Kevin

Hi Kevin,

There are a lot of developers that offer 6 months too. It's a model that allow us to make the product accessible to all our customers. Not sure why you said that we charge the 100% every year. If you check, a Professional license costs $149 and you can renew it for $74.50.- It's 50% OFF. As a regular customer you will have to pay $149 (74.50 + 74.50) only if you decide to be covered 12 months, not 6 months as the original price.

With this model you can choose when to renew the extension. If you think is not necessary to renew now, you could renew the license later or when a major release is ready or even just when you need support. So, probably you will just pay $74.50 per year.

Is not a good idea to charge for specific releases because is complicated to define which is a major release and which one not. We prefer to keep it plain and simple.

Software development is something that never ends. Is not possible to release a version and keep it stable forever. There are a lot of things involved on this like server settings, new server software, different scenarios, new Joomla! versions, etc All of these items are changing every day and it's just one of the reasons that is necessary to update the extension with some bugfix or new features. Same happens with big companies like Apple, Microsoft, etc

The good thing is that if we find any bug inmediatly you will receive an update if your license is active. Another good thing is that if you find any issue, bug or if you don't know how to use the extension you can post a message on our forums to get support.

We appreciate your comments and be sure we will consider your suggestions to improve the products and services we offer. Our wish is to make all our customers happy with our work.

Best regards,