So how about a Renew-All Support button?
Anyways, I went through and added everything to the Cart manually and tried to CheckOut - It just hangs there with the bouncing bar moving up and down?
Anybody else seen this? Suggestions?
@GSnover,
First, thanks for the report. I took a look at the issue you ran into and it looks like the issue is specific to renewing the Rest API module. We have since patched the issue and you should be able to continue renewing your modules.
I’ve also opened a ticket (FREEPBX-11227) on your behalf on the Renew All modules button.
Yup - that worked. But on another note, if I let support lapse, that means I am not getting modules while it is lapsed - but when I renew you are selling me 12 months of support - but just now when I renewed all my modules, you all back-dated the support to when they expired - in essence I just paid for 12 months and got a little over 10:
Conference Pro Expiration Date 2039-10-26 (Free Updates until 2016-11-16)
Endpoint Manager Expiration Date 2039-05-20 (Free Updates until 2016-11-16)
EPM for UCP Expiration Date 2040-04-08 (Free Updates until 2016-04-08)
Extension Routing Expiration Date 2016-04-01 (Free Updates until 2016-04-01)
Rest API Expiration Date 2039-05-22 (Free Updates until 2016-11-16)
Rest Apps Expiration Date 2039-05-22 (Free Updates until 2016-11-16)
Sys Admin Expiration Date 2039-10-31 (Free Updates until 2015-11-16)
Fax Pro Expiration Date 2039-10-25 (Free Updates until 2016-11-16)
Xmpp Expiration Date 2039-10-31 (Free Updates until 2016-11-16)
This is not how I read your initial support announcement - buy a license, and if you want updates after a certain date, you need to renew support - OK, that works for me.
But if I had waited a year and a half, I would have to buy 2 years of support, even though in the intervening year, I got no support (module updates) whatsoever to get a module update?
It seems like you all are aiming for not only purchasing the module, but then requiring continuous support from that point forward.
I think we need some clarification on this from management. This changes the pricing structure fairly dramatically for commercial modules.
Greg
So you’re basically saying you are getting ripped off a little? Aren’t you taking advantage of all the modules update releases and development that was going on during your lapse period once you renew at the discounted rate? If so, isn’t only fair that you pay for that? If you don’t want to update your modules, you aren’t required to renew support.
In comparison to most software support agreements, there are usually re-instatement fees due to what explained above, so backdating the renewal is similar to a reinstatement fee in my mind.
Yes, that’s 100% correct. There’s no functionality for ‘gaps’ in upgrades.
It’s not required. You get one years free upgrades. If you want upgrades after that, then you need to buy support from that date onwards. Nothing is stopping you using those modules when they’re out of support, you just won’t have access to updates from after your support period expired.
I am not management, just to clarify. But I think you misunderstood the original announcement.
Heh. That would be funny. “OK so you can have patches that were added until here, but NOT for these 6 months, but from after those 6 months onwards you’re fine. Oh, those patches you don’t get are required for the newer ones?”
Ok everybody, take a breath - anytime anyone questions the Schmooze folks here there is a righteous pile-on to defend the benefactors so let’s just skip that shall we?
Software is not hardware - especially in FreePBX, there is continuous improvement and refinement to not only add new features, but adjust and react to changes in the Asterisk ecosphere - in some ways and at certain points in the last 12 years that I have been doing Asterisk installs/maintenance there have been times where things are changing TOO fast.
Nothing is stopping you except I would like to see you recover a machine back into production with out-dated modules - I just removed our last trixbox (really) from a customer site that refused to get with current software and it is a royal pain to restore that database and get it working again. So let’s not kid ourselves - if you are going to try and use any of these commercial modules, you will have to have current versions.
Endpoint Manager saves more money than it costs so it is always a no-brainer for all but the smallest installs we do, but I think I am going to pause in the future before I do any additional commercial modules.
Actually, that’s something I do care deeply about. I don’t want people to be stuck with a broken system, and we’ve talked about this internally a lot. Basically, if you get to that point where stuff is broken, and it’s our fault, tell us about it and we’ll try to make it good.
One thing that explicitly is NOT going to work is version changes. If your commercial support ended when 13 was out, and you then tried to install a 14 machine, it’ll be extremely unlikely that the 13 modules will work with the 14 system.
But our aim is, if your support ended when 13 was out, you should always be able to use a 13 system with those modules, no matter how long ago it was (… well. Within reason. Don’t come and show me this post in 30 years time and demand I dig up an ISO for your install)
Again, this isn’t any official ex-cathedra statement, this is just what I want to achieve.