Want to move to the Mac App Store version?

[JD]

For those of you wishing to move to the Mac App Store (MAS) version of Yummy FTP that was released yesterday, I'm posting 100% discount codes on Twitter periodically throughout the day over the next few days so that you can migrate for free

Follow me on twitter and keep watching for the codes!

Otherwise, I kept the MAS price low ($9.99 USD) to make the transition less painful than the full price re-purchase that other softwares are asking for... 

[albertocab]

I do appreciate you putting free codes on twitter. But charging your faithful customers to pay again is just not right in the first place.

[JD]

It's not that way at all...

Apple provides to way to migrate existing users. They expect people who want to move to the Mac App Store to pay full price all over again! That is wrong, and I completely disagree with that policy.

However, moving to the Mac App Store is NOT a requirement but a CHOICE, an option that I have received many requests for by email.

IF you want to migrate to the Mac App Store then I have provided this ability and have also set the price at $9.99 USD to make it less financially painful. Remember, other software companies are charging full price to move.

The regular version continues to be available to purchase directly from my own webstore, and I continue to provide updates free of charge, like I have done since v1.0  back in 2004.

[Al]

Grey cells are not performing 100% today. I can't see the advantage of migrating to the Apple version.

[JD]

Many people have asked for it because it's a built-in mechanism in Mac OS X itself for software management. It automatically installs for you, notifies and installs updates for you, and keeps track of all your purchases. So there is no problem of lost serial numbers or lost software ever again.

[Flashman]

I'm struggling with this one as well. It's no great hardship to download the software from this site and in fact there are disadvantages to going on MAS such as slower updates and difficulty in going back to older versions if problems emerge. When Agile did this for 1Password they charged me $13.99 but it included a free upgrade to version 4 when that is released.

[JD]

As I have said, it is a choice. You do not have to take it, but many existing users asked me for it so I provided it.

I'm not planning on making any changes to the regular purchase, download and updates available from this very website.

As Agile have done for you, my MAS price is only 30% of the full license price. Other vendors are charging full price.

However, I don't see how Agile can provide you with a free upgrade to a MAS version 4. The capability to do that in the Mac App Store simply does not exist. The only way would be to manually keep track of each person that sends in proof of purchase from the MAS (because Apple do not supply customer data to developers) and then send them a 100% discount promo code when version 4 is released... the problem with that is you can only get 50 of those promo codes from Apple for each version of your app. Maybe that's what they are doing but only for 50 customers? I already used my 50 promo codes - I gave away loads on Twitter and also used some in promotions for the Mac App Store launch. Besides, I have a lot more than 50 customers and it would be unfair just to pick 50.

[Flashman]

I have no idea how Agile did this since I have no real knowledge of how MAS works behind the scenes. On the day that they announced 1Password was going on to MAS there was simply a discount offer for a short time encouraging users to jump from version 3.8 to 3.9 with the promise of a free upgrade to version 4 when it is released.

I've just checked now and it was actually £13.99 that I paid, so around $21.75. I just did a quick search and found a recent forum post where they are sticking to their promise that there will be a free upgrade to version 4 and there must be far more than 50 people who bought 1Password on MAS since September last year. Speaking personally the move to MAS was fraught with technical difficulties and it took quite a while before Agile were able to iron out all the bugs but it's all good now.

[JD]

Hmm, very strange. This lack of migration and upgrade path facility in the Mac App Store is one of its main criticisms amongst developers. Transmit, for example, doesn't have any MAS upgrade or migration option, nor does Fetch, Forklift, Flow, etc so I'm not sure what Agile are up to.

I will contact Agile myself to find out how they plan to do that.

[Flashman]

Perhaps they can tell you how it's done. Try searching Google for "1password free upgrade version 4" and you'll see various references.

One point worth adding is that when Agile announced that from now on 1Password would only be available through MAS the feedback was far from universally popular.

[JD]

Right so here is their great plan :

1. Go Mac App Store only
2. Release v4 as a free update on the MAS only
3. Don't release any further updates for non-MAS customers

Yea, that stinks.

No way am I going Mac App Store only!!!

So, as I said all along: there is no way to give everyone a free migration to the Mac App Store.

[Flashman]

To be fair Agile have continued to supply free updates and improvements to the non MAS version. In fact there have been fewer updates so far for the MAS version. All in all 1Password is an excellent product and their support is fantastic. You could almost call it the "Yummy" of it's own category. How sales through MAS might affect that only time can tell but so far there is no indication that they are any less helpful or committed than before.

Many would agree with you though that going 100% MAS is not something that a large chunk of users would welcome. Speaking purely from my own background in business I've learned to be careful of putting all my eggs in one basket when it comes to distribution and sales.

[JD]

I know Agile are a good company, but their policy means that customers who do not migrate to the MAS are stuck with version 3.x forever and can never ever upgrade past that. There's no denying that it's a kind of blackmail policy to 'persuade' people to move the the MAS version.

[Flashman]

It's hard to disagree and that is largely why there was such massive negative feedback on their forums for an extended period. It's possible that they underestimated the way users would feel about this because I notice their other product Knox hasn't become MAS only.

The other implication of course is that if enough developers go 100% MAS sooner or later it forces users into running Lion and that has all sorts of problems for people running older but essential software that may well have cost a fortune and not yet have been updated. I ended up installing Snow Leopard on a separate drive with a few specific apps that are occasionally needed and that's not the end of the world on a Mac Pro but on other computers it could be a real pain.

[JD]

Indeed, I think they did underestimate their customer's feelings... It will be interesting to see how this plays out for them in the long term.

It seems to me that the vast majority of developers are keeping both a MAS version and a regular version, and I think that's a very wise choice. I don't expect that to change any time soon, from what I've read in developer forums.

The MAS supports both Snow Leopard and Lion, so unless Apple drops support for Snow Leopard, users shouldn't feel forced into upgrading to Lion.

Having said that there are some developers that are forcing Lion on their customers by making their apps Lion only. That's ridiculous and inexcusable, in my opinion : I'm still supporting Tiger (10.4) and PowerPC Macs with Yummy FTP, and I'm still able to add Lion-only features such as Full Screen support.