Comments on: FREE Upgrade Program Begins

By: Ian Molee

Ian Molee — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:39:26 +0000

No, Matt, I’d been using the EAPs all along. It told me my license had expired and then IDEA quit. Perhaps I could have tried uninstalling and all that in an attempt to game the system, but I’d planned to buy it all along and thought I’d fall within the upgrade period, based on last year’s announcement.

It’s okay, I’ll consider paying for an upgrade when 10 comes out if it looks compelling enough. My first exposure to IDEA as a corporate license at a former employer in the 5.5 days, and even that old version did nearly everything I’ll ever need and more.

By: Egor Malyshev

Egor Malyshev — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:18:12 +0000

Viraf, yes, if you buy an IDEA-8 license now, it automatically grants you a free upgrade to IDEA-9 when it goes GA. You also can run EAP builds even without IDEA-8 license, because they come with their own one, valid for 30 days and prolonged with every new EAP, though expiring at the moment of IDEA-9 GA release.

By: Viraf Karai

Viraf Karai — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:21:14 +0000

If I buy the IDEA-8 license today and apply it to the IDEA-9 EAP, will the license automatically be propagated when I upgrade to IDEA-9 GA?

By: Matt Moriarity

Matt Moriarity — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:47:17 +0000

Ian, I don’t think you have any right to be mad at JetBrains. You could have waited until they announced the upgrade program. And you didn’t even have to go back to Eclipse, you could have just kept using the Maia EAPs, each one reset the 30-day trial period. That’s what I did, so now I have my license.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:02:38 +0000

Ian, not trying to be a jerk, but I also can’t “justify” upgrading to 9 (in the terms of explaining it to my wife), but that won’t stop me!

By: Ian Molee

Ian Molee — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:56:21 +0000

I understand that there needs to be a cut off, and thanks for the explanation of how you set the free upgrade cutoff. Unfortunately, knowing that the date will be 6-8 weeks before the release doesn’t help unless the release timeframe has been publicized.

Given the lack of even a pro-rated upgrade fee or people who bought just days before the free upgrade cutoff, I feel somewhat insulted as a customer, but perhaps more so as an early adopter, having been an active user of the Maia EAP, and having reported various errors and bugs, in the hopes of making the product better for its eventual release. Perhaps in the future your pricing structure can include incentives for those who have participated in the wide-scale testing that’s inherent in using an EAP and reporting issues, or provide a pro-rated upgrade fee based on how long before the cutoff point one has bought his license. Maybe you’re doing well enough that you don’t need to entice upgraders, but it would be a nice nod toward the active and fervent community that has, in no small part, engendered your success.

I know I want 9.0, it being the environment that I’ve been using, but I can’t justify sending JetBrains any more of my money at this point. Maybe when 10.0 drops.

By: Egor Malyshev

Egor Malyshev — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:20:01 +0000

Unfortunately, whenever we start the program, there always are people who have bought a license a couple of days before, and so are feeling disappointed. We understand them, but it is impossible to avoid this situation.

As for the time frame, we usually start our free upgrade program about 6 to 8 weeks before the estimated launch of the new version. Last year’s estimation was for the beginning of October, while this year we schedule it for November.

By: Ian Molee

Ian Molee — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:02:24 +0000

This is upsetting. Last year, IDEA 8, which was released November 6, 2008, was offered for free for those who’d purchased a license for IDEA 7 on or after _August 22, 2008_. This year, the cutoff date was moved up over a month, to October 1. Why?

This affects me since I bought my license on September 21. While I realize there was no guarantee of the cutoff date being similar to last year’s, I expected it to be similar. If I’d known, I would have gone back to Eclipse for ten days, rather than be expected to pay an upgrade fee for a product I’ve only just bought. As it is, I’ve been using the Maia EAP for pretty much the duration of my IDEA use, so I have no interest in version 8, the version I technically bought. I only bought when I did because my evaulation license (for EAP, too, apparently) expired on September 22.

Since I’ve been using v9 the whole time, I’m faced with the decision of upgrading my month-old license next month, or downgrading to v8, neither of which I consider an acceptable resolution.

By: Lance Miller

Lance Miller — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:29:12 +0000

“Decade” means 10 or 10 units. Not necessarily 10 years although that is its most frequent use. So that sentence simply means within the first 10 days of November.

By: Marcus Brito

Marcus Brito — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:24:50 +0000

Or at least first decameron