C1LE free upgrade

[tarves57]

I just got an email from PhaseOne saying that C1LE users can have up to one free "upgrade". However, when I go to the site I find it confusing (yes, easily, before you say it...8-)). It doesn't say whether this is a free upgrade (in which case I would just love to get a free upgrade to Pro!), or whether it is simply a free update to version 3.5.

Can't make head nor tail of it...... and in any case, the upgrade/update page seems to be down.

Has anyone with half a braincell more than me worked it out?

Thanks,
Susan

[theoldmoose]

An upgrade that counts against your one free upgrade, is for a major version rev (like from 3.5 to 4.0). P1 plans a major release again in October, so if you purchase a 3.5 LE now, you should get a free upgrade for the October release. Any intermediate releases, like a hypothetical 3.5.1 or 3.5.2, would be included anyway, and doesn't count against your one free upgrade.

Previously, purchasers had free major upgrades if they had purchased within a certain time period. This caused problems with folks that had just purchased prior to the expiration of the six month period (for LE, for instance), or in one circumstance, (Pro, I believe) there was a more liberal policy that was letting folks get multiple major upgrades for free. Now Pro, if I recall correctly, is limited to 2 upgrades in the future.

In all of these cases, though, there is no free upgrade between product categories, but P1 and/or Pictureflow/Rawworkflow (their North America authorized dealer and support site) frequently run special upgrade pricing promotions, when new major releases are announced, to encourage folks to move up to a more capable package (DR->LE->SE->Pro, etc.)

Right now, DR folks can move to LE for $39, which is a very good upgrade deal, mainly because P1 is dropping DR as a product. As of yesterday, DR is no longer available. P1 delayed announcing the special DR->LE upgrade to avoid a rush on DR orders in the weeks leading up to the discontinuance of the DR product. But, MTapes had been dropping hints on the support forum that DR folks would get a really good deal on an LE upgrade, mainly to allay fears that DR users would be gouged by being forced to move to LE when DR was discontinued.

Aside from the big flap yesterday, when it was discovered that 3 major features (there may have been more) were pulled from the new LE, making it effectively a downgrade (P1 has subsequently apologized and promised to re-release LE in a week or so with all the missing functionality restored), MTapes is gone this weekend to cover the World War II Memorial dedication in DC on assignment, leaving the forum and his brand-new (fairly broken) we b site on auto-pilot.

I would hope that things are running much more smoothly by sometime next week. I have been waiting to order a display calibration system from MTapes, only to find their buy links are currently thoroughly broken.

One final thought: Probably best to think of version upgrades as updates, and product upgrades (i.e. from LE to Pro) as 'upgrades'. Unfortunately, both P1 and MTapes have been less than careful about verbage, much to everyone's confusion.

[slejhamer]

Thanks for that post, oldmoose. I was searching the rawworkflow site trying to find related info about updates and upgrades and timeframes, but with the site down more than up it's quite difficult. Plus, the way you explained it is complete and understandable, unlike the random snippets you (sometimes) pick up on the support forum.