Non-subscription rate?

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#1 Tue, 04/17/2007 - 16:12
RobinDunn

Non-subscription rate?

Has any thought been given to offering a non-subscription rate, or perhaps a lifetime subscription for Vitualmin Pro? I've been playing with the demo today and it seems to be just what I am looking for, but an annual resubscribe fee would through it over the budget I was hoping to be able to give to this project. It's going to be a small server mostly for personal and family use, with just a few (5 or 6) domains, so I'd like to keep ongoing costs down. I'd rather pay more up front than keep repaying year after year.

Tue, 04/17/2007 - 19:50
Joe
Joe's picture

Howdy Robin,

Renewals will be pretty cheap, about a third of the initial retail price (so Virtualmin 10 will be about $39 per year, and Unlimited will probably be $149). So, it's not terribly expensive to renew.

We're hesitant to offer a "lifetime" thing, because we're committing to providing a huge swath of packages for as long as you're subscribed. We're already finding that package maintenance is 50% of my job, and it gets larger with every new OS we support. That's not to say we won't offer a lifetime subscriptions, we just aren't sure how to price it fairly.

You may also note that anyone who buys during the Early Adopter period (ending Real Soon Now, as I've been threatening for over a year) will get an extra year...so buying now gives you two years.

And, of course, the Virtualmin GPL version has no licensing associated with it. It's also missing a few features, which may or may not be important to you, and doesn't yet have an installer or several of the ancillary tools or APIs, but it does most things that folks in a non-profit environment would need.

BTW-Your name sounds very familiar...Have we met or interacted online somewhere sometime? Ah, I see...you're a wxPython guy. I bet that's it (I used to maintain the Enthought Python distribution for Windows, which had wxPython as a core component, among other things). Nice to see you here. Small world. ;-)

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Wed, 04/18/2007 - 01:28 (Reply to #2)
Dirk

Hi Joe,
should my account show the 2 years subscription? For instance mine only shows 1...

Dirk

Wed, 04/18/2007 - 02:25 (Reply to #3)
Joe
Joe's picture

<i>should my account show the 2 years subscription? For instance mine only shows 1...</i>

It's a manual process. I go through and update them every six months or so (I had intended to just bump it all up at the end of Early Adopter, but EA has lasted more than a year!). You'll definitely get your extra year, don't worry. ;-)

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Fri, 04/27/2007 - 15:38 (Reply to #4)
michaeljc8

Hi,

I'd like to voice my request for a non-subscription rate as well.

This is my scenario. I've been a web hosting provider for 11 years now. My philosophy is if it ain't broken don't fix it. I've got dozens of servers with various versions of mysql, php, etc. each with approximately 50 sites. I'm not going to upgrade php for one person and piss of the other 49. I simply move them to a server with the php, mysql, etc. combination they require. Once I install Virtualmin and people begin using it, other than bug fixes for that particular version, I will not upgrade. It'll be soon enough that I need another server and at that point I will purchase and install the latest and greatest version.

Here's how I imagine the pricing scheme for this scenario. There would be a one time charge for any particular version. It would not include upgrades to new versions and it would not include support. Then there's the 10-30% yearly support option which would include upgrades to new versions. If I choose not to purchase support then next year when a new version comes out I can upgrade for a fee (support fee + 10%). Otherwise, the version I purchased should just quietly chug along forever.

Michael

Sat, 04/28/2007 - 02:38 (Reply to #5)
sgrayban

Michael has a good point... Say you just want to get the latest version but you really have no need to upgrade for whatever reason you shouldn't need to.

The only reason I see the need for any subscription is if your the type that want/need the latest for everything. Some don't really need all those pre-install script addons and that seems to be the bulk of the reason for the subscription.

I wonder how hard it is to make 2 versions of VM Pro.... ! that does just a core update like maybe bugs fixes and one that does a full fledge update with all the latest installer scripts ?

Then just the core update wouldn't really need a subscription..... Maybe a small cost like $10 for just that. I dunno but its just a thought.

Tue, 04/17/2007 - 22:44
RobinDunn

&gt; Small world. ;-)

Yes it is. I'm often recognized by folks in places that I don't expect. That's a good thing I guess. :-)

Thanks for the info.

Sat, 04/28/2007 - 09:40
ah...lifes...good

Ahemmm... if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I don't want really want monkeys.

If there isn't sufficient incentive for committed people, like Joe and Jamie, to create and maintain good quality software, we won't get good quality software at all. Everybody loses out. The people behind the scene need to put bread on the table too, you know?

I do think the current pricing is within the &quot;reasonable&quot; range.

Sat, 04/28/2007 - 13:30 (Reply to #8)
Joe
Joe's picture

Hehehe...Thanks A H.

It's true that there is a tendency with Open Source software for users to undervalue it, when asked to put a price on it, even if the features far outpace commercial offerings in the space. Which is why we created a second proprietary version: it allows us to set the price to one that allows us to actually work seriously on it (we're still not able to pay for both of us to work full-time on Virtualmin, but that will change very soon). We have big plans for the future, and part-time work won't get us there.

For folks who consider price the most important concern, there's Virtualmin GPL--you simply can't beat the price. And you never have to renew. GPL will soon be getting its own version of install.sh and software repositories, so it'll be just as easy to install as Professional.

Again, there may be a lifetime purchase price at some point in the future, but it'll almost certainly be higher than most folks in this thread are going to like. (And it won't include a pony or make Christmas come twice a year, either.) ;-)

We're doing the best we can to keep prices fair, while still paying the bills. We are hopeful that as we scale up and begin marketing (we aren't marketing until EA is over--we want to keep the user count manageable while we work out the known issues and blow past our competitors on features and usability) we'll ramp up sales to a level that will sustain the company while keeping prices lower than our competitors.

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Thu, 05/03/2007 - 13:25
MichaelCaldwell

Just to clarify, I have no problem spending $500 for an unlimited license.

On the business side, I prefer to capitalize my software just like my hardware and take the depreciation over several years. That way I increase my net income (not taxable income) by not increasing my expenses (cash flow) with subscription fees.

On another note, on the off chance that Virtualmin doesn't &quot;make&quot; it, if I have customers depending on it I don't want it to stop working.

Tue, 05/15/2007 - 16:11 (Reply to #10)
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Michael,

<i>On another note, on the off chance that Virtualmin doesn't &quot;make&quot; it, if I have customers depending on it I don't want it to stop working.</i>

This should be your last concern.

Jamie and I have been working on Webmin for over nine and eight years respectively (and Usermin six and Virtualmin four). If &quot;being there a year, two years, and five years, down the road&quot; is a concern for your (and it should be), then you can't beat Virtualmin. We're in it for more than money...it just turns out that running a business based on this software is the best way to insure we have time to work on it. Nobody else is going to be this stubbornly devoted to their product for the long haul.

Besides that, we've got quite a bit of investor interest in what we're doing. We will be here for the long haul, and we will have the capital to insure it happens. We're not going to be a small two-man shop forever.

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Tue, 05/15/2007 - 15:41
michaeljc8

I just thought of another way to look at it.

Can I pre-pay for a 2, 3, 4, ... year subscription and have it never expire?

I'm looking at plesk unlimited one-time fee for $800.

Tue, 05/15/2007 - 16:15 (Reply to #12)
Joe
Joe's picture

<i>I'm looking at plesk unlimited one-time fee for $800.</i>

Well, we can't have you looking at Plesk. ;-)

We will offer a lifetime subscription, and that's probably about what it will cost. It'll be available for purchase when the new website goes live in a few days. And, if anyone wants to upgrade from a recurring one year subscription to a lifetime subscription, we'll make that available as well (though buying right now is the best deal you'll ever get on Virtualmin Professional--it's discounted 50% and every Early Adopter subscription will be extended to two years for free when the EA period ends).

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