As an end user I am interested in knowing how people feel about Microsofts increase in the annual maintenance fee? Do all end-users pay this? Is the fee Country related? -john
What increase?? How much are you being charged? The maintenance fee is not mandatory, but if you choose not to pay, you give up the right to software fixes, service packs and upgrades on the standard product - so my guess is that 99% of end users pay it.
In germany you once had the right to choose. But as far as i know, it is now mandatory for all new licenses to sign a upgrade-contract. You have to pay 10% of your license per year. And the ones that want to jump on the upgrade-train later (from older contracts) - they will have to pay all the way back → and instead of 10% it then will be 15%.
We are going from 10 to 16%. It’s such great software, but it is becoming to expensive to run!
We just got hit with that change from 10% to 16% maintenance. We do have the option of buying an extra year at the old rate. But that’s a big expense to face with only a few days notice. The other thing I worry about is what Microsoft will do with the list prices.
In comparison: ACCPAC International charges 18% on their Advantage Series with discounts if you purchase multiple years.
While the percentage increase does appear large, it is important to keep it in perspective, especially when you compare it with other major players in the maketplace. The 16% is still lower than most others and at the previous 10%, it was the bargain of the century in comparison. Most of the end-user feedback we’ve received is more along the lines of how littl time there was before the announcement and the effective date of the change. While they were certainly not pleased with the increase, they all were paying a higher percentage with their previous systems.
I’m gonna go to the South Pacific and write a Free Open source Accounting package …
This must be the only industry where you get payed to solve what you didn’t do the first time. 10-16% annual fee to get FIXES, and people think it’s normal [:)]. ERP, not just Attain, but ERP is way too expensive. ERP/IT must also be the only division in a company where they are not obliged to do cost/profit calculations. Coming out of engineering … I have to say, sometimes strange to get used to.