Replied 18 Sep 2003 16:26:13

I would love to keep up to date with all the luvly software in the world but there are too many so called `updates' released with little or no benefits except to the cash flow of the developers.

I've bought all the versions of Dreamweaver (including `shudder' Drumbeat) since it was first released - but US$399 seems like a steep price for the upgrades described.

I don't use the built in FTP facility it doesn't suit the way I work, so what else is there??

By the way, US$399 is over $700 here in Australia ... a pretty steep `upgrade'!!!

Peter Wiseman
(moved from poll by moderator)

Replied 18 Sep 2003 18:52:20

Too expensive upgrade. OK CSS is nice, but most people are using TopStyle. FTP nice, but it was not too good in MX so most people use WS FTP, Freeware or simlar.

Why isn't contribute in the Studio pack? and I hate it when there different versions of software Flash Pro/ just Flash etc...

I realy only use Dreamweaver, Flash a little and Adobe products like Photoshop/Illustrator. Would of liked to upgrade studio pack or just Dreamweaver, but not too much a difference to me then Dreamweaver version 4. Now Dreamweaver 4 was a great upgrade. This is a small bonus upgrade for big buissnesses with bigger software budgets.

Would buy if upgrades where cheaper. May explains why so many people have cracked copies as seen too expensive for the hoppiest/home user market or if used in the office a little of the time.

Replied 18 Sep 2003 19:16:10

I will not upgrade. $400 is ridiculous for a upgrade.

Replied 19 Sep 2003 05:51:17

<font face='Verdana'>I'm assuming you're saying that $400 is too much for the Studio upgrade, because the DW upgrade is only $199. IMO, $400 for the Studio upgrade is fair...it's in line with the price other companies charge.</font id='Verdana'>

Replied 19 Sep 2003 06:32:07

Mhazard says "I'm assuming you're saying that $400 is too much for the Studio upgrade, because the DW upgrade is only $199. IMO, $400 for the Studio upgrade is fair...it's in line with the price other companies charge"

bull fritters! June 6th I "upgraded" to MX studio plus. Now, they want me to pay an extra $400 to "upgrade" to 2004? there should have been an intermediate price for those who paid for the plus upgrade! Macromedia is acting more like Microsoft every day.

Replied 19 Sep 2003 09:32:07

399 $ for studio mx upgrade : too expensive YES !
i'm living in belgium so macromedia add 21% taxes on their us sales price and i expect i have to pay us taxes AND european (belgian) taxes.
why doesn't macromedia provide a export sales price (excluding us taxes) ?

Replied 19 Sep 2003 18:43:28

I agree that the $399 upgrade fee from MX to MX Studio 2004 is too high. I just bought the MX product in June and paid over $700 for it. Now just 60 days later I have to pay another $400+ (with taxes and shipping). I can't seem to justify the extra cost with the bug fixes and features that are presented. I contacted MM to see if they would be reasonable since I just paid FULL PRICE for the product less than 60 days before the announcement of MX 2004. All I got was the standard company line. Not a very good first impression. All in all I am happy with the product, but I think MM is flirting with disaster with this upgrade policy.

Replied 20 Sep 2003 10:04:38

I am pissed, since Drumbeat, UltraDev and Dreamweaver I have spent hundreds of dolloars, and Now with MX 2004 there is no improvment that I can say WOW, $400 dolloars for what? just a nice looking interface, NO Extension improvments, NO Real support for ASP tags, another word bull***, I am not going to pay for this update even if I have to stay with DWMX for another year or so, and then I may look for another environment! This is a robbery?. Ha $400 dollars PLEASEssss wake me up <img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

ej malahi

Replied 21 Sep 2003 02:45:37

<font size=2></font id=size2>I agree - I think the Suite is overpriced. And I think that sort of overpricing just creates more software piracy. Macromedia should give us a break!

Diane K. Jensen
www.dkjwebs.com

Replied 22 Sep 2003 07:30:09

When will companies (including MM) realise that it's far more profitable to sell 10 copies at $50 than 1copy (plus 9 pirated) at $300. Surely it's just plain common sense. The upgrade price for contribute 2 was fantastic. This upgrade price is plain daylight robbery. Yes there should be a special upgrade price for those of us who are loyal to MM's products. I too bought Studio MX, then upgraded to Plus. Now they expect me to pay WHAT! to upgrade again. No way.

John E Langer

Replied 22 Sep 2003 18:53:55

I think people are using the word "upgrade" wrong here. This is a brand new release of a product. It is not a 'bug fix' of a previous version they are charging you money for.

- If I buy a car at a dealer, they don't let me "upgrade" when a newer version comes out for free - I have to pay for it.

- If I buy a television at an electronics store, just because a newer version comes out that has cooler features they aren't going to give it to me - I have to pay for it.

For some reason, the Dreamweaver community wants it both ways:
1) Excellent product, developed over years of effort and research, which allows them to sell services/product (websites) that result in monies for themselves
2) To pay little or nothing for that technology

... does anyone see something odd about that?

<b>Connman21</b>
www.conncreativemedia.com
<b>DEVELOPMENT SETUP</b>
DW MX Studio
Web Server: IIS5
DB: Access2000/SQL2000
OS: XP Pro
Language: ASP/VB

Replied 22 Sep 2003 19:10:49

I am a software developer for a living. I agree that software should not be free. All I am asking for is a reasonable upgrade policy. If I had known 60 days ago that a new version was coming out and that I would have to pay half again as much for good CSS and PHP support, I would have waited the 60 days to buy the product. The fact is, I am effectively paying $1,200 for a $800 product. Don't you see something odd about that?

I am not asking for the upgrade for free, but I think the policy should be more flexible for someone who just paid full price for the product, especially since my main interest is in getting CSS support that is actually useable.

Robert Latham

Replied 22 Sep 2003 19:49:44

I totally agree with you about the upgrade in your case... you should get a free or minimal upgrade for having purchased the product 60 days ago.

<b>Connman21</b>
www.conncreativemedia.com
<b>DEVELOPMENT SETUP</b>
DW MX Studio
Web Server: IIS5
DB: Access2000/SQL2000
OS: XP Pro
Language: ASP/VB

Replied 23 Sep 2003 21:05:59

<b>Not for free</b>
I most certainly dont want a "free" upgrade. What i want is for Macromedia to get their priorities sorted out.

I am stuck with very buggy DWMX software - and i would like nothing more than for macropedia to get these bugs ironed out before comitting to presenting a "new" product.

If i make a faulty website i have to fix it for free - I cannot just present my customer with a completely new website and expect them to pay for it.

DWMX2004 is NOT a new car - its a paintjob on the version that NEVER worked to its specifications. When they fix this car for real - i MIGHT consider buying a new one from them later on.

Edited by - enkidu on 23 Sep 2003 21:11:31

Replied 26 Sep 2003 06:13:52

You bring up some good points, Enkidu...

It seems everyone's DMX experiences are different, because I have never dealt with many bugs in Dreamweaver at all. Even the FTP client works great for me, mostly due to the fact that I create dynamic sites - which typically require fewer pages than a static site typically does.

The only bug I have ever been frustrated by is having all my site definitions suddenly disappear... which is very frustrating. So, I have learned to backup those defs monthly at least. I'll have to wait and see if this occurs with MX'04.

<b>Connman21</b>
www.conncreativemedia.com
<b>DEVELOPMENT SETUP</b>
DW MX Studio
Web Server: IIS5
DB: Access2000/SQL2000
OS: XP Pro
Language: ASP/VB

Replied 24 Oct 2003 22:07:20

For what it's worth, Con- I haven't seen that particular 'disappearing sites' issue with DWMX2004 yet, and was able to reproduce it pretty consistently with MX. OTOH, there's been a few isolated cases of people's MX sites disappearing after installing MX 2004, so if that is happening to anyone I'd love to hear about it...


- Scott

scott fegette
macromedia, inc.