Towerfan,

You hit the nail. Avid is a B2B company and their primary customers is business users. The new thinking will be giving value to professional users (professional=earning their living with Avid software), not consumers.

I thing 1$ spend on inovations which increase the professionals cash flow, is better spend compare to 1$ for attract some non-business users.

This is not the same as non-business useres are not welcome, but they must understand Avids prime customers is business users.

B2B vs. Prosumer... fine, I get it. How about the one man shop who is a professional and earns a living with Avid? Are they disregarded too?

Just playing devil's advocate here. I really don't care one way or the other, it's Avid's choice how they treat their customers. I would have liked to have made an informed choice too, that's all.

TowerFan:

it's Avid's choice how they treat their customers.

By giving you a $495 upgrade to a $2500 software and include 3rd party software that is valued in the thousands. So you don't get the latest version - makes perfect sense since you got it yours earlier. Now you want a free upgrade but somehow it is being articulated in a way that it makes it seems Avid is slighting you. I really don't understand where giving a huge discount with substantial extra content makes one feel slighted. I just don't.

Do you give your clients free stuff. Do you give them more free stuff if they felt the free stuff is inadequate?

Man, I really don't understand why people like to create "between the lines" controversy here. I just don't. The first part of that sentance was "I really don't care".

I don't feel slighted at all. I like to have a choice. I might choose to re-buy the upgrade so I can get the TP stuff. If I decide it's worth it, fine. If not, I'll spend the cash somewhere else, still use my Avid, and still love it. Signing off...

(BTW - I have 6.5 million customers a year in my day job and I treat every one of them the same. And a lot of them get free stuff from us every day. (And this isn't some veiled jab at Avid.))

I bought the edit software.  The fact that Avid chose to bundle other third party apps was not a major factor in my decision.  But I certainly don't expect those third party apps to be upgraded for free when Avid, to keep faith with its 90-day rule, decide to update their application at no cost to me.

There's an old proverb that sums it up.  Something about "gift horses" and "mouths".

TowerFan:

B2B vs. Prosumer... fine, I get it. How about the one man shop who is a professional and earns a living with Avid? Are they disregarded too?

TF -

there are a lot of us on these forums that are, and have been just that: one man shop professionals.  You look at each purchase and how the cost of that can be returned in additional business or to keep business in-house.  If the formula works, buy it.  If not, you can pass on this one.

My trusty old G4 Powerbook still runs MC very well.  Not the latest and greatest, not the fastest, but what I need in a portable system, this old box still fits the bill and generates revenue.  When that ceases to happen, I will look at upgrade options.  But for now, why?

TowerFan:

B2B vs. Prosumer... fine, I get it. How about the one man shop who is a professional and earns a living with Avid? Are they disregarded too?

Just playing devil's advocate here. I really don't care one way or the other, it's Avid's choice how they treat their customers. I would have liked to have made an informed choice too, that's all.

Sorry for I am not fluid english speaker. But I tried, hounestly, to be clear. I wrote, professional = making their living with Avid NLEs. I am working within our family business, which is close to your one man shop. And I have never been treated better from any software company as I have been by Avid.

I appreciating Avids professional approach to their customers (just compare their readme to other NLE vendors), and knowing their customes use Avid software mainly for living. Avid treat their customers equal, or almost, I think SVT got more attention than I do but they own a few more Avids than I do ;-). But they treat us as we use Avid for living and I you do feel uncomfortable with that, it is You problem, not my. (Just like I will not be treated as a religious fanatic as some consumer electric companies think they customers like. And I bougth no products from them. No size can fit all.).

I understand that free upgrades are not available for those who purchased before March 17th or who may have purchased the download only version. What I am not getting from this discussion is what happens to those of us who purchased a full box upgrade within a two week time frame of V3's release. I referenced the "XPress Pro to Media Composer Upgrade FAQ", dated 4/29/2008, on this board and it states:

Q. So there is no reason not to upgrade to Media Composer now?
A. Unless you need Windows Vista support, you can upgrade to Media Composer at any time.  Windows Vista will only be supported starting with v3.0.

Everything you state here and in the FAQ leaves me with the impression that my having bought the boxed upgrade two weeks prior to v3 release should  entitle me to an upgrade of what I intended to purchase! As it stands, my two week old version is obsolete and probably shipped from a the same loading dock with boxes of the current versions. I would hope that Avid stands behind it's statements above and in the FAQ and provides some means for us 'near-misses' to get what we paid for - current software.

camk:

As it stands, my two week old version is obsolete

There is nothing "obsolete" about your software. All of the third party software shipped with 2.8 works well in 3.0. So, you have the latest version of the best editor out there and thousands of dollars of third party software for free. No one is cheating you here.

I said I would stay out of this now but I think I should state my position.

I agree the upgrade at $495 dolars for MC 2.8 was a steel, to include bundled TP software that must be worth easily $3000 makes a good deal even  better. The only problem I have is as the last guy said  - people are getting an even better deal now, by my calcs approx $900 better deal.

This really is my final word, in life I really like to get the best deals and this time it appears I did not, but i am happy.

Graham

To put an Orwellian spin on it, I think we have all had good deals its just that some of those good deals are better than others. 

I feel that way every time I buy a new CPU...guaranteed a month later a new one comes out.

I'm convinced Steve Jobs watches my Apple store account and sends out a memo to release a new product after I have made a purchase.

That's just life in the fast moving technology business we're in.

 Now there's another thing, looks like i need a new CPU but on that one I will hang on as V2.8 seems to be running ok on my existing system and tommorrow I'll find out how V3.0 works with my laptop.

As an aside then file download (for V3.0) was so big I needed to burn to DVD and what a fuss that caused, still is causing........

Football to watch night night.

Sorry if I confused you Blackdog but I didn't suggest that Avid was "cheating" me but rather, that they are not making this "upgrade" process straightforward for those of us that took them for their word. In fact, they may very well step up and announce to us what may be a very reasonable upgrade. Regarding the term obsolete, I would suggest that you are wrong. When editors in town and I exchange projects, I have to be current with their systems. The same holds true if I edit a project in multiple locations. If someone hands me a project created on a system they just installed and they utilize Avid FX or BCC then my eight-day-old system cannot share it. That is obsolete in my book. I would also offer that at the time my box shipped, both Boris and Sorenson no longer sold the product. As far as Avid FX is concerned, that is an Avid product and upgrades for it are done at Avid's discretion.

Yes, the bundle is good value. That is why I purchased it. But we all knew about this release two months ago and were assured that the upgrade would not be an issue (please refer to any statement by avid including their own authorized FAQ.) So as not to inflame any tender nerves I will say that I believe that Avid will satisfy this precarious situation and I will wait to see how it resolves.

Sorry, your argument doesn't hold up. Avid FX is boris Red. Both it and the Continuum Complete package are perfectly compatible between like plugs in each version. There are a few new plugs but not than many crucial whiz bang amazing effects to warrant all of this hand wringing.

Trust me, I'm in the same boat. I have BCC 4.2.2 also and I'm playing back BCC 5 plugs today. It all still works.

I feel your pain. I go through it with every new gadget release but you need to work through the technology envy and step back and look at this objectively. There is nothing in the new 3rd party stuff that's gonna affect you one way or the other to that great a degree and, if it does, you should be able to justify the purchase with one or two projects.

BLKDOG:

feel that way every time I buy a new CPU...guaranteed a month later a new one comes out.

I'm convinced Steve Jobs watches my Apple store account and sends out a memo to release a new product after I have made a purchase.

yessir . . .Happens to me every time. EVERY time.