CQC Pricing Thread

[Mike]

Hmm, that seems like that was from the night before last. I really misunderstood the string of posts then. I was under the impression that it was the $495 price until today, then it went up another $180 or so until release.

That really wasn't clear to me (not sure if anyone else got this wrong). I don't think anyone currently considering it could ask for anything different there. Nicely done. I am curious on how the price increases are recieved by future prospects, but time shall tell.

Guess I have an email to write.

 

[noshali]

Not sure I understand that. There is no real "sale", the full server is the same as it ever was. the only difference from a few weeks ago is that you cannot buy anything less than the "full" $315 package.

Is that what you were referring to?

From what I understand, the complete package that was $315 recently, is now 'on sale' until the end of the day for $495. After today until CQC 2.0 comes out (if I have followed Dean's comments correctly) it is $180 more than $495. Then when CQC 2.0 is out, it is $895 for the full package.

I have been putting the pieces together in preparation for this (Sage, IR, etc) as it was my intention to purchase CQC (in fact to emulate a setup that I would expect to be very much like yours). I hadn't thought about anything like this so hadn't picked it up yet, figuring I'd get it when the pieces were in place (which I was hoping to wrap up over the next few weeks). That is all I was referring to, had I just bought it I would not have to worry about this (I had no problems with the maintenance, I can understand the need for that).

EDIT: If I'm wrong on this and you can buy it at the old price, my purchase is definitely going in today.

Ok from my understanding...you can get the complete package till midnight Friday for 315...that is what we have. We don't have the media services as that is not out yet. So if you get ti today you will have to buy the media for 75 like all of us grandfathered folks.

Sine 2.0 is not out it will be on sale for 495 till it comes out and then goes to 895.

If you really want CQC...I would suggest you get it before Friday as in that case the price change doe snot impact you at all.

regards,

 

[jeffx]

This increase definitely makes me feel a lot better about my decision to go with HAL2000 and ML3. Previously I was always wondering, "should I have gone with CQC instead?"

 

[DavidL]

mdonovan,
What MainLobby recent announcment? Do you mean MainLobby 3 announcement? Just want to make sure you are getting correct information, which might be getting lost in the current "noise".

 

[upstatemike]

This increase definitely makes me feel a lot better about my decision to go with HAL2000 and ML3. Previously I was always wondering, "should I have gone with CQC instead?"

Personally I won't feel any of these products are the correct choice until I see something that says they have been Y3K certified. I'm not paying this kind of money for something that is just going to blow up at the end of the millennium!

 

[DavidL]

upstate, you're funny
always somthin, isnt' there

 

[Dean Roddey]

Lets flash forward how ever many months it is until say CQC 3.0. Does the maintenance entitle a user to that upgrade or is that another purchase altogether?

The mainteance fee covers all future upgrades. As long as you are paying it, you get all upgrades (of the options you have) that come out.

Now say additional optional modules are released, those are paid events, right?

If it's a minor module (and it is at our discretion to decide what is minor, but it's pretty obvious what is and isn't), we will just include those in the license of full system owners as long as they are paying their maintenance fee. If it's a major new component, then we may change a reasonable fee for that, as we are doing with the new media module in this release, since it's a substantial new tool that a lot of work is going into and will continue to go into.

 

[Dean Roddey]

And what about the users who bought it recently under the understanding that "future upgrades are always free" that was posted so often (and seems to have been edited out of a whole bunch of threads)? Are they grandfathered or is that promise simply erased?

That was never the case. Our policy was always that *major version* upgrades would be charged for, but others would not be. And we've held to that since not had a major version upgrade yet and we've never ever charged anyone for an upgrade so far.

The maintenance fee is basically just replacing that and saying that for one flat fee per year you'll get all upgrades, major or minor that come out, plus we sweetened it with the promise of jsut including the smaller new options that come along for no charge (for full system customers), and we aren't charging at all for the 2.0 upgrade, which we would have otherwise.

A major reason we did this is that we were going to start moving towards a schedule of trying to get around one major release out per year, which is a pretty reasonable release schedule. So instead of charging for those major releases and charging for the new smaller modules that we add in that time (which is a reasonable user account management burdern for us), that we would just make it simpler, charge one mainteance fee, which would be no more than a major version upgrade plus the cost of a new option would be anyway, and do it that way.

So there's not a lot of difference in terms of price from what the old policy would have generated, it's just simpler and it encourages people to stay up to date since they are paying for the upgrades anyway, therefore they might as well take advantage of it.

 

[Dean Roddey]

If I were Dean, I would have the source code in my inheritance. Dependent on how history goes, it could be worth a lot o money. So, I am suprised that Dean is making that statement now. I suspect his partner, his future buy out company, his shareholders, or whatever else good fortune comes Dean's way will have LOTS to say on this issue.
So, being that I consider that statement very risky, I wouldn't put much merit into it today. sorry, dean, just wishing you success in our budding market.

I assumed everyone would make the extremely common sense leap that this meant, if I were to croak before there was a viable company in place that could take the product forward with me, so that our customers wouldn't be left out in the cold. If there is a company in place at that time that could take if forward (and since I plan on living a few more years at least I think that will be the case), then obviously it's not going to be open sourced.

 

[Dean Roddey]

From what I understand, the complete package that was $315 recently, is now 'on sale' until the end of the day for $495. After today until CQC 2.0 comes out (if I have followed Dean's comments correctly) it is $180 more than $495. Then when CQC 2.0 is out, it is $895 for the full package.

No, the original announcement was:

$495 until 2.0 comes out, then the new price. Then because a lot of people were PO'd because they were about to buy, we extended the exsting $315 price until midnight tonight so that those folks who were basically already about to buy could do so. So if you buy before midnight tonight, you can get the full package for $315, which means no upgrade price for 2.0 and no maintenance fee until next year. Sorry, but the George Foman grills are now out of stock so we aren't giving those out anymore as part of the package.

 

[Ripper99]

Interesting how everybody is asking about what happens if Dean dies

It's not like most of the other competitors have some fleet of 50 programmers to take their positions if they are gone, did everybody also ask when Homeseer or Cinemar raised prices what would happen if perhaps Rick or Mario passed away?

I don't think I ever recall Dean saying upgrades would be free forever with CQC..that would be ridiculous for him to even consider, he has mentioned drivers will remain free and that's what counts for me..if you need a custom driver it will cost you but I can say his price is more than fair compared to another company that coded the exact same driver for me.

Many people totally forget the costs for all the extra drivers you may need to have your dream system, I'd rather take 100+ free drivers from CQC with new ones being added monthly than have to worry about what it might cost on top of a products base price to purchase seperate drivers to control things...things add up pretty quickly if you have 5 common HA components and each driver costs $50 or so...do the math and you will see the CQC deal is more than fair with all the free drivers that support common hardware like the Russound and Elk among other things...other companies charge for the same drivers.

 

[Mike]

From what I understand, the complete package that was $315 recently, is now 'on sale' until the end of the day for $495. After today until CQC 2.0 comes out (if I have followed Dean's comments correctly) it is $180 more than $495. Then when CQC 2.0 is out, it is $895 for the full package.

No, the original announcement was:

$495 until 2.0 comes out, then the new price. Then because a lot of people were PO'd because they were about to buy, we extended the exsting $315 price until midnight tonight so that those folks who were basically already about to buy could do so. So if you buy before midnight tonight, you can get the full package for $315, which means no upgrade price for 2.0 and no maintenance fee until next year. Sorry, but the George Foman grills are now out of stock so we aren't giving those out anymore as part of the package.

Thanks Dean (and mbrew and noshali), that clears it up for me (and that makes sense). Sorry about the misunderstandings along the way. I think I've got it now.

I've learned a lot more about CQC along the way. I saw the references to integrators not installing DIY versions and the like in the past, but was not aware (previously) of the price differences and how this was structured to allow a DIY'er access to this.

I think that extension is very fair, I misunderstood it earlier (and saw it as 'you have until tonight to buy at the raised price of $495 before it goes to a higher price pre cqc 2.0, and then raises to $895).

Ok, on the Foreman grills, but what about a set of Ginsu knives?

I should be a proud owner of CQC by the end of the day.

 

[Mike]

This increase definitely makes me feel a lot better about my decision to go with HAL2000 and ML3. Previously I was always wondering, "should I have gone with CQC instead?"

Personally I won't feel any of these products are the correct choice until I see something that says they have been Y3K certified. I'm not paying this kind of money for something that is just going to blow up at the end of the millennium!

That and how will you ever guard against accidentally nicking a water pipe unless everything can be mounted with velcro and is wireless?

 

[lpott6]

This was originally posted in another forum, but I think it is pertinate to the discussion here too.

Perhaps some comparisons to other software "upgrades" might help put this into perspective. Does anyone use Quicken or MS Money. How about Turbotax or Taxcut. They seem to be of the mindset that each new year we should "re-purchae" their software as if we never owned it. Sure they might offer some small rebate for returnning users, but we essentially are new customers every year. In the case of Turbotax, there is some justifcation because the tax laws change each year. Between these two programs alone, I spend over $100 per year, I use the premium versions. How about MS Office or Adobe Photoshop?

I also use Peachtree Accounting software for my wife's business. The version we use costs $695 and every year they offer an upgrade for only $449 for the latest and greatest. Ouch!

My point is that $95/year is not out of line for upgrades/patches for a piece of software like CQC. Or ML or Homeseer for that matter.

If everyone bought software and never upgraded it, the developer would have to depend on new business for all of their revenue. With an annual "subscription" fee, the developer has a base that will support continued development and bug fixes "plus" new business. And I agree that Dean deserves a pay raise and enough revenew to add some staff to help with the work load.

I do, however, think that a 300% increase in the base price is extreme and, as stated by several on this forum and on CT, will cause many to look elsewhere. IMHO an increase to $495 for the entire suite would have had a much smaller impact. I purchased the suite yesterday to beat the increase, but I pity the person that arrives after 2.0 is released, only to find out that he/she cannot afford $895.

If the DIY market is truly a very small market segment and has little impact on the bottom line then this strategy will only alienate them. Again IMHO. I would like to see some numbers on how many new customers the "vocal" DIYers bring in.

Taking the other end of the spectrum, $895 is too low based on the equipment we controll with it.

HTPC 1,000
Media Server 1,500
Elk M1G 750
HT Receiver 1,200
Sony 777 700
Cav 6.6 (soon) 2,000
HDTV 2,500
200 DVDs 3,000
UPB lightning 1,500
almost 14,000

Some of us have more and some less. My point is some are saying that they cannot afford the software. I say if they can afford the equipment, they can certainly afford the software to control it. As Dr. Phil says, "Get real people".

Now the only question is, which software is right for a given situation and is it priced according to its feature set. I'll leave that to each person to decide, I made my choice. By the way, I also own the complete Cinemar suite and Homeseer.

Larry in Denver

 

[Dean Roddey]

I should also point out that there is no per-number of clients cost either, it's a single network license, nor do we charge for all of the nice images we provide for people to use in their interfaces, or any device drivers. So we don't have the kinds of 'hidden costs' of some other products.