880716a@aucs.uucp (Dave Astels) (07/02/90)
I just recieved an upgrade notice from Zortech (for C++ 2.1). I recall someone saying that if you bought 2.0 after May 1, you could upgrade for free. There is no mention of this on the upgrade forms. -- - Dave Astels Internet: 880716a@AcadiaU.CA "I miss my old chair" - Kirk, Star Trek V Bitnet: 880716a@Acadia
horstman@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) (07/05/90)
In article <1990Jul1.170745.9757@aucs.uucp> 880716a@aucs.uucp (Dave Astels) writes: > >I just recieved an upgrade notice from Zortech (for C++ 2.1). I recall >someone saying that if you bought 2.0 after May 1, you could upgrade for >free. There is no mention of this on the upgrade forms. > Is there a similar break if one UPGRADED from 1.x to 2.0 after a certain date? Frankly, I am pretty unhappy about first having paid big bucks to get Zortech 2.0 Professional, only to find out that it was so buggy that I ended up not using it (e.g. the fact that I couldn't have two member functions X::f(int) and X::f(Y) with the same name and different args...). Now they want to have another nontrivial amount (I believe $95) to get the upgrade to 2.1. A complete Turbo C++ Professional only costs me $139. Cay
dan@dyndata.UUCP (Dan Everhart) (07/06/90)
In article <1990Jul4.221202.29476@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu (Cay Horstmann) writes:
date? Frankly, I am pretty unhappy about first having paid big bucks to
get Zortech 2.0 Professional, only to find out that it was so buggy that
I ended up not using it (e.g. the fact that I couldn't have two member
functions X::f(int) and X::f(Y) with the same name and different args...).
Now they want to have another nontrivial amount (I believe $95) to
get the upgrade to 2.1. A complete Turbo C++ Professional only costs
me $139.
What disappointed me was that Zortech 2.0 didn't support pointers to
members, i.e. not the whole language. On the other hand I didn't NEED
pointers to members. The bugs I found in 2.0 were not show-stoppers
(that is until the latest one which appeared when I started using
virtual base classes). Bugs are to be expected in early versions of
compilers in a competitive market, especially for a rapidly evolving
language. What counts more to me is the vendor's attitude toward those
bugs.
Now they want to have another nontrivial amount (I believe $95) to
get the upgrade to 2.1. A complete Turbo C++ Professional only costs
me $139.
Turbo C++ likely has bugs of its own, being a first release. But you
have a point. My own experience has been:
ZTC++ v1.05 $100 (Wow, C++ for only $100)
library sources $50 (Better have these...)
1.07 upgrade free (These bugs are killin' me)
2.0 dev. kit upgrade $250 (Gotta have that slick debugger)
$400 (subtotal)
(hypothetical) 2.1 upgrade $95 (hmmmmm....)
$495 (total)
which is more than list price, way more than mail-order. Moral: A low
introductory price will, in the long run, be compensated for (and
more) by upgrade costs.
Sofware companies LIKE upgrades. 1) They don't have to cut in the
dealer/distributor. 2) There's a lot more return on trying to sell an
upgrade to an existing customer than to sell a product to a new
customer.
In the Zortech vs Borland arena we have the interesting case of
Turbo's introductory price being comparable to ZTC's upgrade price! I
am teetering over which to plunk the $$ on, and may wind up buying
both as insurance.
If you find a product truly unusable, yell at the manufacturer until he
refunds your money. If he won't refund your money, give him as much
bad publicity as you can.bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) (07/07/90)
In article <1990Jul1.170745.9757@aucs.uucp> 880716a@aucs.uucp (Dave Astels) writes:
<I just recieved an upgrade notice from Zortech (for C++ 2.1). I recall
<someone saying that if you bought 2.0 after May 1, you could upgrade for
<free. There is no mention of this on the upgrade forms.
It's an oversight. Call Zortech at 800-848-8408 for your free update.eda@persoft.com (Ed Almasy) (07/09/90)
In article <1990Jul4.221202.29476@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu> horstman@sjsumcs.SJSU.EDU (Cay Horstmann) writes: >Now they want to have another nontrivial amount (I believe $95) to >get the [ZTC++] upgrade to 2.1. A complete Turbo C++ Professional only >costs me $139. I had the same feeling up until a few days ago. I'm currently evaluating TC++ and ZTC++ for an upcoming project, and comparing the two on features quickly reveals some substantial differences. The library shipped with Turbo C++ is VERY sparse relative to the Zortech library, almost so much so that if you're really hooked on TC++ I would think about buying both and doing the work necessary on the Zortech library source to use it with TC++. At least in some areas, this is a case of "you get what you pay for".