We see your point.
Let us explain our position on this issue.
1) It is well known that some software companies are offering Free Upgrades for limited time
while other offering the Upgrade Price option.
2) We have chosen the "Upgrade Price" option as we knew from very beginning that it will take time and efforts to implement everything that is planned in SymSMB project. That is why we have decided that we will add new options and increase price accordingly in order to reflect current ability of the software.
With such approach:
- customer is paying for what he get right now (not 1 year later!), have tested with Trial version and is satisfied with;
- company is not charging customer in advance for features that will be available 1 year later
(it is just other definition for the "Free Upgrades" option, isn't it?);
- customer investment is protected as he/she can always (not just for 3, 6 or 12 months!) pay the price difference if he likes new product;
- company treats all customers same way (why should we respect less the customer who invested in us 1 year ago vs. customer who have paid yesterday);
- software developers are more motivated to add really new and really useful features to new version rather then something like color schema choosing.
3) If there is a need to create new version in order to fix some serious mistakes
or to add some simple features then this new version will be provided as a free upgrade.
4) If our position on this issue doesn't seams to be reasonable for you... Well, we are sorry
to hear that it is disappointing you, but we still not loosing hope that our products and customer service we provide will make you our happy customer!