Starting this year Embarcadero has a new plan to milk money from its customers. With the new ‘Update Subscription’ plan, Embarcadero wants to charge 30% from original purchase price, each year, each customer that wants access to product bug fixes (that were not supposed to be there anyway).
Eve more, there is no warranty that the customer will actually get the bug fixes. Embarcadero clearly states that: “All fixes, updates and hotfixes are purely at
Embarcadero’s discretion.”
Actually it states that twice. So, don’t miss to read it 🙂
Ongoing Maintenance and Hot-Fixes for Previous Versions*
In the middle of a development cycle on an older IDE version? The
RAD Studio team will now continue to release critical updates and
hotfixes for up to two (2) years and three (3) major versions, improving
your investment and enabling you to upgrade to the latest version on
your schedule. All maintenance updates and hotfixes will only be
available to users on an active Subscription and cannot be downloaded or
purchased separately. Versions currently under Ongoing maintenance
include XE7, XE6, and XE5 versions. Active subscribers will also have
immediate access to beta hotfixes, providing the most timely access to
critical fixes. All fixes, updates and hotfixes are purely at
Embarcadero’s discretion.
Link
Some stores are already selling upgrade subscriptions for 2000 pounds + VAT.
There is another way to get updates?
No. The FAQ clearly states it:
Can I obtain updates and hotfixes without a subscription?
An active update subscription is the only way to obtain updates and hotfixes for current and prior (up to 2 years) releases.
I see a big incoming wave of programming towards Lazarus.