The NEW Hostbill store. Let's talk about it.

[Lawrence]

But on the positive side for us, this forum is open for everyone and we are not afraid of being banned or the thread closed.

You got that right.

1. More work for him.
2. Users would share modules themselves and get paid features free.
3. If license checks where made by features, modules, etc, it would be such a mess, and cause so many problems that users with all features could have potential license problems.
4. Paid customers would feel the product would be a cheap low product.

It is indeed messy. My biggest fear being what you said, I really hope it doesn't come to this. If their servers are down, what happens to the specific module? Does it disable functionality? That would be horrible. Sure the admin area is disabled if the license check fails, but horror strikes when functionality is removed.

[thetrusteeco]

I've been away for a few days so I missed this conversation.

I agree that HostBill needs a store for extra apps and mods made by both Kris and 3rd Party vendors, but... orderpages?

I guess this shows why there are so many bugs in HostBill: the wrong focus.  The orderpages are what sell HostBill.  The bugs are what stop people from buying it.

It seems a bit like Coco-cola getting mad that people are seeing their advertisements and not buying, so they stop advertising until people buy more.

KBKP Software (we know you're trolling here): focus on the bugs.  Include some free orderpages even if you want to charge for premium ones.  And announce what you're doing before you do it.  Most of this thread would have been about the pros and cons of the new store if it wasn't about "Is KBKP going to steal what I've paid for?"

To everyone else: I would expect KBKP Software to drop the price of HostBill to $250 in the next month or so now that it's a more basic software package.  If you're for some reason considering buying it, wait.  Of course, they might just put it back up to $1000...

[Paul]

to say we don't get any new features that come with future updates to the software pieces that we already bought, when we already paid for those updates, is despicable, and illegal. but he is sooo kind and will give us big-fixes, as if that's some sort of feature. the balls on this character... bug fixes are because YOUR SOFTWARE IS BUGGY AND YOU MUST FIX YOUR MISTAKES.

http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/your_rights/your_rights_forms_en.htm

[Patrick]

to say we don't get any new features that come with future updates to the software pieces that we already bought, when we already paid for those updates, is despicable, and illegal. but he is sooo kind and will give us big-fixes, as if that's some sort of feature. the balls on this character... bug fixes are because YOUR SOFTWARE IS BUGGY AND YOU MUST FIX YOUR MISTAKES.

http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/your_rights/your_rights_forms_en.htm

We opted not to renew our $45 annual renewal.  Ours has expired and i see no reason to pay for it now.  We can still pay $45 if we choose but as you said, no new features, why bother.  There are a few bugs sure but not worth even $45 to fix.  No incentive for us (anyone) to renew anymore.  I 100% understand their "premium" store but the fact they removed 80% of included features of which was the selling point, i don't expect too much every friday anymore.

It's rather odd if you think of it this way.

• We paid $299 (a steal) for unbranded, owned + IPAM @ $49.95 & Support Fields @ $4.95 at the time
• They upped the price to $599 to support weekly release cycles.  --- (Nice! *i think*) [now lets fix bugs with the release cycle]
• They upped the Price to $999 --- (to support weekly release cycles?  *uhm ok*)
• They lowered price to $599 --- (Nice, a sign of moving in the right direction and showed good faith)
• They upped the renewal fee's to $299, then $999  --- (I, uh... what - Speechless)
• They lowered renewal fee's back to $45 for everyone --- (Nice.  Now they have their game face on)

Fast forward to today

• Price is back to $599 with a stripped out version of hostbill that only includes 10 features
• No future features as they'll likely be all premium features (If history tells, we know this to be true)
• Removed future third party development
• No ability to contact
• Pay to ask CEO how his day was
• We're all left with an agreement we entered that should include future security + feature updates to existing modules

None of the above would matter too much to existing customers should we all continue to receive what we purchased.  For example.  I'd expect to continue receiving updates for live chat, order pages, modules, at the very minimum feature changes to existing themes.  The new business model of hostbill is that we're left paying $45 a year of which covers ONLY bug fixes to something that should be already included.  We're continuing to pay for something, we should already own and continuing to pay for something that should already be working, functioning and not continuing to pay to fix it.

Edit:

They have also included this:

Value Added Tax
All prices mentioned on hostbillapp.com website and subsites are net prices. In compliance with the European VAT regulations a 23% VAT tax will be added for purchases made by clients inside european union without VAT registered and clients from Poland.

If you're in the EU, were you previous charged this?

[nibb]

I wanted to update this thread to inform the page has now a FAQ and indeed we DO get features introduce to this order pages, modules.

I posted before that it says bugs are free, but I was not sure about new features, but now there is this information there:
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: I purchased license year ago, do I still have access to all orderpages and client themes that came with my HostBill 4.5.8
A: Yes. All orderpages released prior to 4.6.0 are included in download package for customers who purchased HostBill before mentioned release

Q: Will I get new HostBill features/improvements/bug fixes?
A: Yes. All free core features, improvements and bug fixes are released weekly, as before.

Q: Do I have access my HostBill's API?
A: Yes. Access to API and hooks, template and orderpage modifications is not limited!

Q: I signed up before 4.6.0 release, if I download new version are orderpages that I previously used going to be there?
A: Yes. You have access to what you've signed up for.

Q: Can I develop my own extensions or use third party modules?
A: If you've signed up before 2013-05-26 (TOS/License update) than YES.

[Patrick]

I think this was a good discussion and it went off topic a little bit here and there but now that Nibb posted the FAQ, i'm going to lock it.

/thread