Upgrade Fusion 4 to 5 same price as retail price?

[Mackiewicz]

Hi, I bought Fusion 4x last July. Today Fusion 5 has been released and I select the upgrade buy method in the store.

There I found out that the upgrade price (€43,07) is the same as buying a full retail edition. Is this normal for a major update or can it be a misconfiguring in the store?

[koi]

Sure, just pointing out that you are getting some bonus over a new user (even if it's not something you find useful).

[mdelvecchio]

WoodyZ wrote:

Sorry but the higher then the OS pricing just is not a valid argument in any way shap or form!   Almost all the major software I have cost more then the OS and I have some that cost more then the computer itself much less the cost of the OS.  Software development costs and not everyone can afford to give away their product for free.

fine, remove that crit from my sentiment and the rest remain -- an update released less than a year later w/ no upgrade discount isnt a good way to build brand loyalty.

i dont doubt that Pro is useful to advanced users, but im not one of them. thus comparing apples to apples (non-pro to non-pro price), theres no incentive here, and thats disappointing. it trashes our history as supplier & customer.

[mhornyak]

tl;dr: VMware Fusion 4 works just fine on Retina MacBook Pros and with Mountain Lion.  If you already own it, you don't need to upgrade.  So save your money!

I've bought every version of VMware, so I'm a loyal customer.  I've used it through all its many bugs that I've run into.

I have a Retina MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion.

VMware Fusion 4 runs just fine on it.  No need to upgrade.  None of the new features sound like ones I need.  My Mac and its SSD are plenty fast, and if I need Windows to go faster, I can just use Boot Camp.  Other than the alleged speed improvements (their claims are rather vague, eh?) I don't see any new features on Fusion.   The pro version features I don't need.

If I *were* to upgrade, it's not going to be to a VMware product; I'll try Parallels, since unlike VMware, they haven't done anything to abuse my loyalty.

Parallels will claim that they're faster than VMware.  At this point, I'd rather trust them with my money than VMware--a company that is taking advantage of its customers.

I'm not sure what they were thinking.  I'd fire the marketing team: the market is saturated, the existing product is good enough, and they're not going to sell a lot of new licenses.  They're primarily going to be selling upgrade licenses.  And since the new non-pro product adds no features anyone really needs, no one should or will buy it.  The argument they primarily make in the marketing pitch is that it's great on Mountain Lion and Retina MBP--but since Fusion 4 is too, why bother?

Just think: if they just kept their previous upgrade pricing, I wouldn't have taken the time to post this.  Just one more post among many that will discourage customers from buying the product.

I'm not posting this to be mean, I'm posting it because I really feel like VMware is ripping their current customers off, and I don't want anyone to be ripped off.

[koi]

if they just kept their previous upgrade pricing, I wouldn't have taken the time to post this.

I'm not posting this to be mean, I'm posting it because I really feel like VMware is ripping their current customers off

I don't quite get this. The old upgrade price (e.g. X -> 4) and the new upgrade price (e.g. X -> 5) are about the same (I don't recall X->4 exaclty). If that were the only thing you knew, would you say it's a ripoff?

The difference now is that MSRP for the base version has been lowered to be the same as the upgrade price. I get wanting some bonus for sticking with a product and feeling disappointed if you don't get it, but saying you're getting ripped off seems a bit much. Would you be happier if the MSRP has been raised?

Are you also getting ripped off that someone upgrading from 3 to 5 gets the same rate as someone who goes from 4 to 5?

If VMware really wanted to rip people off, why would Fusion 4 work on Mountain Lion?

If Fusion 4 does everything you want, why do you care about upgrading anyway, regardless of price?

[donreith]

For those of us in the US, its cheaper to buy a new copy of Fusion 4 then get the free upgrade from it. Amazon has Fusion 4 for $45.  In the meantime, the trial license is good for 30 days...

[Gideon007]

If we were to make an educated guess from the fact that loyal users get no discount for the next version this year, we can most surely say that next year there will be no discount as well. So the people that get tricked via the upgrade option to upgrade to the Pro version will have to pay the full price next year. Right? One can see where this is going...

(of course one can easily just buy a normal license again for less money *IF* there still is a normal version next year)

[mhornyak]

I won't upgrade--my point is that I've never seen a company so clearly show how they don't care about loyal customers before.

There's actually a table on one of the marketing pages showing that the price is the same for VMware 2, 3, and 4 owners.  Each version is listed on a line, and each version has the same upgrade price.  So they're really making it clear that they don't care if you've given them money every year.  Most companies want to reward loyal customers, instead of showing them they don't.

I complain because I see an opportunity for VMware to improve here.  If they disagree, that's up to them.  At the same time this is so dumb (IMHO) that I have to say something.

[ArieSter]

The upgrade from Fusion 4 to 5 pro is useless for me to.

I do not need the pro version.

For the same price as a new user i can buy a normal version Fusion 5.

Then I have the right for two licenses (1 fusion 4 and 1 fusion 5) for the same price.

Strange :smileyconfused:

[JohnnyCT128]

From a customer service standpoint  I suggest staying away from this company at all costs.  I have had  issues with advice given to me from support in the past.  I've given  them every opportunity recitify their faulty information, but I would  have had more luck beating my head against the wall.  The forums are  filled with dissatisfied customers, just like me. It's  not just  dissatisfaction of the issue they are having.  It appears more  to be  dissatisfaction with the product and company ethic as a whole.  Well, I  am adding to  that sentiment.  You need to speak to at least 3 people to  get your issue across.  That third person with ask you to give them  time to research in order to provide resolution.  Then you never hear  from them again.  If you looking to alienate your client base.....great  job!

From  a technical standpoint, the product isn't horrible.  I have been a v3  and v4 customer and about 80% of the time I have been happy with the  product.  It's that 20% that frustrates me to no end.  Again, I have  given them a good faith opportunity to satisfy their customer and they  drop the ball time and time again.

Instead  of giving them more money to provide crappy support and a buggy  product, I have chosen to switch to Parallels.  My suggestion to anyone  evaluating Fusion or thinking about upgrading is to run for the  competition.  Maybe if enough people say "I've had enough of paying you  for problems", then they might re-evaluate there company ethics and  start providing there customers with a true satifactory experience.

Until such time.....RUN!!!!