TuRu00 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 11:50 am
This is a shameless thing. We bought our aeropod or powered devices without being told about this. Mac is Mac, you decided to develop for that platform and if the OS goes to another version or your software is outdated (as is) we do not have to pay for that twice. Just having a look to the software everybody knows what i mean with "outdated" (it is not just a 32 bit platform thing)
I personally bought PowerPod (and licenses), after that an Aeropod (in kickstarter assuming delays and risks) and i think that this is simply not fair for users. I even had a blog about your device helping another users. If you decided to don't update your software for years it is not a thing about users, it is about you and your business model. I use Mac, you told me that your device and Isaac works on that platform for free! Don't lie.
It is my last velocomp product, and i will make it notice on spanish cyling forums.
Best regards
I'm sorry you feel this way but I think a few points are in order here:
1) We spent over $10,000 to upgrade Isaac 64bit, and this does not include an additional $3,000 we paid National Instruments to gain access to the development systems necessary to update Isaac.
2) We support both Windows and Mac versions of Isaac. The vast majority of our customers use Isaac/Windows. We knew that the Mac upgrade was going to be expensive and that most of our customers would not care, because they use Isaac/Win. So, we seriously considered dropping Mac support (check past forum posts about this). We ultimately decided to go forward with the upgrade, knowing that it if we did not we would disappoint some of our Mac-based customers (those who install Catalina).
3) For the past 14 years we have bundled in the cost of Isaac to the purchase price of our devices, knowing that when we
voluntarily make changes to Isaac to
add or improve features, this would be without cost to our customers. We still believe this. However, when the 64bit changes were forced on us (by Apple),
changes that add no customer benefit, that caused us to rethink things. We simply cannot eat the high cost of the diktat from Apple. We are asking legacy Mac customers to pay $20, one time, to help cover our $13K+ cost. Going forward, Isaac/Mac upgrades will continue to be free. We think that is reasonable.
4) Please note that, for NEW customers who order units manufactured after December 1 2019, the 64bit version of Isaac/Mac will be free. I hope you mention this on your cycling forums.
5) Perhaps Isaac's look could be updated. I bet we could make it look like Golden Cheetah...
However, the money we would like to spend on software improvements has, instead, been spent on the 64 bit update.
6) People who are in the software business CHARGE for their software: I just paid $179 for the Catalina-compatible version of Quickbooks 2020 (they update it every year and re-charge for it every year); I will need to pay $348 for the Catalina-compatible version of our payroll software (once they get it working--they haven't released it yet); NI charges $1800 annually for its software suite. $20, one-time in 14 years, seems like a good deal to me, anyhow.
7) We are proud of our ability to deliver products on schedule. We have done two Kickstarter campaigns ...and delivered products within 90 days of the promised date. In contrast, there are Kickstarter power meter companies out there, right now, late by over 1 year, not to mention other Kickstarter campaigns that NEVER delivered. And missed ship dates happen to big companies too: it took Garmin 4 years to bring Vector to market; two years ago they bought an aero sensor company and still have not brought anything to market. It took National Instruments 2 years to deliver Catalina-compatible drivers (and they still have some bugs in them).
I hope all of the above helps you understand our thinking.
future upgrades of Isaac will continue to be free.