I just purchased Dorico on April 3rd, less than 2 months ago. 4 week grace period? Really?
I own a license of nearly everything Steinberg makes, and have religiously paid for upgrades for over 10 years.
I feel violated. Another $100 after less than 2 months?
Low blow, Steinberg. Low.
Whatever deadline the the company chooses to set for the grace period, there will always be customers on the other side of it who feel aggrieved. I’m sorry that on this occasion that includes you. For what it’s worth, the four week period has been the standard for quite a few releases now, and applies to all of our software products.
Dear Daniel,
It’s a difference though being on the other side after four weeks or after, say, 12 weeks. Your employer should know that. You’re right: The day Dorico 2 came out someone came along claiming a grace period offer and it turned out he bought the software December '17 (!) There will always be dissatisfied people. However, in my opinion and experience four weeks is not enough to get acquainted with a piece of software – not even 8 weeks, depending on your remaining life. I think that both trial and grace periods are too short and should either be lengthened or changed to 30 days of actual use (if that is technically feasible).
The same thing as described above happened to me with another software manufacturer. I still have a weird vibe about it although this dates back several years. I have since felt too proud to throw my money after them and have never updated. I do like their software! I still feel profoundly repelled by their customer policy.
My feeling is grace/trial periods should be three months. After that time, the software doesn’t feel brandnew anymore. Of course, this is an individual opinion.
I regret you have to represent company policy, maybe even against your own conviction. It is unfortunate in my eyes to see how you and a dedicated team work on an adorable, user-friendly experience, while company officials do not.
I think it’s a little unfair to assume that Steinberg company officials do not care, especially considering the years of investment they made to bring Dorico to market. I’m sure Steinberg executives make decisions they consider fair even though each of us might have made decisions differently.
Well, it’s a pity that mothership Yamaha doesn’t have a loyalty program or something to reward the faithful for being there, buying every release keeping those developers employed and our products alive. I have been a faithful $upporter of Steinberg since Nuendo 2.0, took a gamble on Dorico even when competitive products serve my needs just fine. No good deed goes unpunished. Another $100, please.
Latest versions:
Nuendo
Cubase Pro
Wavelab Pro
Absolute 3
Cubasis
other trinkets
and now Dorico, 2 mos. old in a few days.
Regarding Steinberg officials I can see that my post has been a bit bold with a scheming undertone. I don’t insist, one morning coffee later.
Still, I maintain my opinion regarding grace / trial periods.
It is possible to reasonably disagree about the proper length of grace periods.
In the back of my mind is the Cakewalk situation: a year or two ago they offered an unlimited upgrade option for SONAR Platinum (for a reasonable fee). Then more recently they went out of business. Although another company picked up the software, one wonders whether SONAR will ever be able to keep pace as competitors improve their product. So I am willing to pay for upgrades if they help the company continue to stay in business and maintain and improve their product(s).
Dear Derrek,
So am I.
I am not concerned by Steinberg’s grace/trial period policy, having bought Dorico back in mid-2017.
But being in aveter’s or ghranek’s place, who both seem to have bought a full license 4-8 weeks prior to the release of Dorico 2, I know that I, too, would have been highly irritated, as mentioned in my post above.
It is true I don’t know anything about the constraints that a company is exposed to, and I have read your post regarding Cakewalk carefully – I wasn’t aware of Cakewalk’s fate. All I can do is utter comprehension for the unfortunate few (hopefully) who slip through the net after mere four weeks and two days of doing what I feel is a considerable investment.
Thank you for replying and helping in another post of mine!
Edit 1/6/2018 8.20pm:
Gibson owned Cakewalk! Now that explains a lot! In that case, and being aware of my ignorance as regards both companies and their internal processes, I’m tempted to say the downfall of Cakewalk has less to do with Cakewalk’s failed customer policy and all the more with Gibson’s sinking star.
Actually, now Cakewalk Sonar is owned by BandLab’s. And they continue the development of Cakewalk Sonar, but now the name is Cakewalk by BandLab. I purchased it as a life time upgrade in the past like Derrek. The good thing is now it is a life time product for everyone. Bandlab gives Cakewalk by BandLab for free to everyone.
For Dorico I think grace period is too short. I bought dorico 1, and upgraded to version 2. Since I get dorico 2 in april I can’t complain about grace period. But I can complain that some of the new dorico 3 features should have beeen in dorico 2. I hoped guitar related, chord related, etc things gonna be in a dorico 2 update. But after it’s release, dorico 2 did get very few updates and that is why some of us are a bit sad. Now, we need to purchase again which we will happily do. But I think if steinberg could have balanced the promised updates by giving some of them in version 2, many of us would be happier.
I’m sorry to be a Dorico groupie, but that’s patently untrue (edit: well, I suppose opinions, by definition, can’t be true or false. Maybe “crazy” is a better word). Have you followed Dorico from 2.0 to 2.2.20? The 2.2 update alone had more added features and workflow improvements in it than 4 years of paid Finale upgrades.
That’s my opinion, which is only tangentially related to the discussion of how long a grace period should be.
No need to be sorry, we are all Dorico groupies 
You are right, version 2 got updates. And they are huge, if you consider from a version 1 product to 2. But my point is some of version 3 features would have been good in version 2.
Finale is a mature and long time software. You can’t wait the next version would be miraculously advanced like Dorico. I have finale v.25 (not the latest) which is great, but I like Dorico more. And I appreciate the devs doing with Dorico.
For the main discussion, mate, 4 week is too short. I am sure anyone would be sad who missed the grace period with a few days, weeks or months.
We all wished for more features [of “xyz”] in v2… or even in v3. When you purchased v2 the capabilities—and limitations—were well publicized (including on this forum). Plus, there was a trial version available to see if it suited your needs before buying. To say that “these features should have been included in v2” — well, those features just didn’t exist yet in the development. The team isn’t withholding features from previous or present versions - they just aren’t finished yet. Wish (and suggest) all you want, but until those features are fully developed, they won’t be included until they are ready. JMHO.
Fair enough. I should have said “would have been” not “should have been”. We just hoped. Also I did not say “these features should have…". I said “some of the new dorico 3 features”. And you know there is a difference in the meaning.
I think, there is nothing wrong for withholding features from present versions, as long as keeping the balance.
Just to be clear, we have never withheld a fully-developed feature. We’re fairly open about the things that we’re working on next (barring a few surprises we like to keep in the bag) and listen carefully to what customers are asking for next. We don’t have infinite resources so have to make choices about what we can do next which inevitably means some users feel like they’re being left out. Given how much we’ve added to Dorico in the three short years it’s been in the market place, I hope you’ll agree that we’ve demonstrated our commitment to adding amazing features that make every update extremely good value for money.
One paid update a year at £85 is £7 a month and I get paid for using it every day. Certainly the cheapest tool I own, other than Logic which doesn’t have to make a profit.
And there is no reason why anyone can’t start setting aside a little money now for next year’s update…