This is very frustrating. I bought Dorico 2 some weeks ago. Now I received the email to buy now Dorico 3 and for the time, this appears like a game to grab money. This is unethical. Honestly, is very upsetting because one you buy the license is to have updates, now to break the warranty and obligate you to continue buying the names are changed. Now, in 4 months again will be released Dorico 4, and so on… Appears like a horse racing where the client is punished, including if you buy days ago other version. We are clients, maybe there are persons that want to participate, others pay as charity to help steinberg, but the true in this is that is not correct, when you bought days ago and very expensive the version 2. This is as that sellers that are tricky and then from one day to the other they continue charging you without stop.
I will try to check if can be done something, if not I prefer stop participating in this game and use something else.
There’s a grace period of 4 weeks, so you should be able to get a free upgrade.
And there’s more than a year between full releases, although I know you’re exaggerating for the sake of making your point.
How many weeks does “some weeks ago” consist of. If less than four, the upgrade is free.
The Dorico Team has released major paid upgrades more than a year apart so far; so thinking you will face paying for Dorico 4 in four months doesn’t sound realistic. In four months you are likely to see one–maybe even two–free updates to Dorico 3, and past performance suggests these will each contain major additions or improvements.
Dorico is worth paying for, and the fees are reasonable.
You bought Dorico 2, (presumably) knowing exactly what it offered. You still own Dorico 2, and will own it forever.
The issue here is the rapid pace of development on the part of the team, which users of other software (myself included) are not accustomed to. Why would they be penalized for working so fast? Also, they’ve made it clear that they never withhold features that are ready simply to “bulk up” for a paid release.
Also also, as I mentioned on another thread, Dorico 2 offered TONS of free updates through 2.2.20… far more than several years of paid Finale updates. So there’s that…
Reaper DAW really sets the standard for a great deal in regard to upgrades. $60 gets you free upgrades for many years and the rate of product development is at least as fast as Dorico. I’ve spent $200 on Dorico upgrades already, in addition to the pricey initial cost.
In comparison with Sibelius (direct competitor program of Dorico), the annual cost due to their licence model, is about $ 100 annually.
The upgrade cost now is also $ 100 for upgrades every 1.4 years (approximately). So Dorico could be considered cheaper than a direct competitor.
Yes, there’s the high initial cost, but many also paid that for Sibelius before they transitioned to their subscription model.
Some companies do release frequent shallow upgrades in order to churn up fees - Native Instruments and Izotope have been treading this path in recent years. (And of course Avid has gone whole hog with this approach.)
Team Dorico doesn’t fall into this category. The jumps between numbered versions have been significant, with features that are not only new but sometimes legitimately groundbreaking.
Paid upgrades are vastly better than subscriptions, because you retain the ability to decide when to upgrade (or whether to do so at all). Dorico 2.2 still works fine.
Companies have to monetize somehow. Upgrade pricing means you pay for features, not for the passage of time. It keeps the pressure on the developers to continually deliver something worth paying for. This is the best approach.
Dorico Elements is extremely affordable for the value, look into that if you’re on a budget. Otherwise it is hard to complain about the price given the innovation happening with this product… innovation isn’t free, if you don’t need innovation go with a cheaper competitor.
Finale might be a great option for folks who object to the host of new features. Finale development is now basically non-existent, so there’s no real advantage to purchasing upgrades. Problem solved!
Actually, mine is now zero. I realized about 15 years ago I was physically addicted to the stuff. I was getting withdrawal symptoms on Sundays, after not chain-drinking coffee all day at work on Saturday.
It’s a bit of a punishment for the early adopters to get hit with a $100 upgrade for a 2.2 to 3.0 release (as it was to get to 2.0), considering it’s the early adopters who basically financed getting Dorico off the ground. It doesn’t encourage long time users to upgrade, that’s for sure. The new users who will stay on Sib/Fin for the next few years and come in at Dorico 4 are going to get the best deal.
Good heavens… to the complainers: no one forced you to buy the Dorico. We all had the choice. We all had 30 day trials… we all were able to read the development diaries… we were all able to jump ship at D1… then D2.2… we all had access to the forum to ask questions and read replies…
Quite literally every single program I have ever used has required an upgrade fee for each major release cycle. This is nothing new, and there is nothing wrong with it. I can’t fathom anyone saying, “I can’t believe it costs $XXX to upgrade my cellphone every year.” or, “Well I can’t believe that Hulu keeps charging my bank account for service! I was with them from the beginning and I find their website more cumbersome than ever! Sure doesn’t reward early adopters to make us watch 70 seconds of adds every 5 minutes when it used to be only 15 seconds of adds every 15 minutes!..”
Somebody has to pay the bills of these developers. I’ll give you a hint: it’s us.
I for one think that only charging c. $99 for a major cycle is actually generous. There are programs that I use that were charging that much per release cycle years ago.
These complaints are just ridiculous. The developers don’t owe you anything. They manufacture and sell a product. Take it or leave it. If you don’t like their product, you have 2 other major commercial alternatives and a whole slew of others beyond that.
