Why the Big Secret?
I was just wondering why the testing and release of 4 was kept so secret?
Was it just for competitive reasons?
"As any translator will attest, a literal translation is no translation at all."
Comments
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Paul Golder said:
I was just wondering why the testing and release of 4 was kept so secret?
It was to torture us beta testers.
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I'm not really certain Paul. I suspect that it's about funding. If People knew that L4 was due in two months, they just wouldn't buy L3 even though the crossgrade/upgrade / engine upgrade would be free or amazingly low priced. (your definition of any of the above matters of course).
Logos as a corporation needs money to run, pay it's bills and it's employees. So sales have to continue during the beta period.
They needed a larger group of people to beta test the software and make it as bug free as possible (or to hound them about handouts...) So they selected some of the most active users/spenders to be in on the secret.
That's my imperfect understanding coupled with a fair guess.
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I bought the Logos 3 last week. Imagine how I feel to have not been told that one week later I would have to go through and upgrade. And now only part of everything is working.
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Frank Bristow said:
I bought the Logos 3 last week. Imagine how I feel to have not been told that one week later I would have to go through and upgrade. And now only part of everything is working.
I would definitely encourage you to call Logos...maybe when the dust settles a bit and you won't be on hold, and let them know your situation.
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Frank,
There's actually no loss to have purchased 3.0 last week. You retain all the functionality of 3.0, which is helpful as some addin's (such as sentence diagramming) are not yet available in 4.0. Further, 4.0 does work as it is supposed to (assuming you own a pc [:D]), and has many amazing improvements over 3.0. You can upgrade to the 4.0 engine for free, though you will not get certain add-ins. You can do a minimal upgrade to get just those additional add-in's, or you can upgrade at an extremely discounted rate.
In other words, you get 3.0, you get 4.0 for free, and you get discounts on new packages. It's a win-win-win situation for you! Please ask any questions you have though! We're all eager to help.
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Frank,
As Philip says, contact Logos. I would really be surprised if they did not give you a break on crossgrade.
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Paul Golder said:
I was just wondering why the testing and release of 4 was kept so secret?
My conjecture is that because L4 was such a new critter in comparison with the move from L2 to L3, they didn't want a bunch of misinformation or early Beta issues circulating around the internet. Having been in the process I know that there was a lot that could have been said early in the process that would ultimately have been misleading as issues were resolved and features added. Logos has a whole lot riding on the success of this release and I think they might have just been guarding themselves against the spread of misinformation.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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Paul Golder said:
I was just wondering why the testing and release of 4 was kept so secret?
Was it just for competitive reasons?
And maybe in part because it would be so hilarious watching all the chatter on the
forums with twitter count down and such, particularly knowing which
posters were in on the beta and were just playing along [:D]0 -
And which of the beta testers occasionally posted a screenshot in the general forums causing him massive heart palpitations....
Not that I'm naming any names of course. [;p]
Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 0 -
Thomas Black said:
And which of the beta testers occasionally posted a screenshot in the general forums causing him massive heart palpitations....
Not that I'm naming any names of course. [;p]
There were some close calls...
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Frank, everyone can understand your frustration. But realize you do not have to upgrade to 4.0. You can use 3.0 and have everything you purchased with no loss of value.Frank Bristow said:I bought the Logos 3 last week. Imagine how I feel to have not been told that one week later I would have to go through and upgrade. And now only part of everything is working.
Think of it like this. You just bought a 2009 Ford and now the 2010 models are out. Did you get ripped off by Ford? No. L4 is designed to be a new model, not a replacement for L3.
The bad news, Ford wont let you trade in yoru 2009 model for a 2010 without you taking a loss.
Logos will let you trade up from v3 to v4 and you will lose nothing and only gain new resources, tools and books.
Hope that helps brother.
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Joe,
the only difference there is that we know when the 2010 Fords are coming out. But your point stands.
L4 is new and can be used along side L3 without a single problem.
Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 0 -
Joe Miller said:Frank Bristow said:
I bought the Logos 3 last week. Imagine how I feel to have not been told that one week later I would have to go through and upgrade. And now only part of everything is working.
Frank, everyone can understand your frustration. But realize you do not have to upgrade to 4.0. You can use 3.0 and have everything you purchased with no loss of value.
This argument does nothing to help. The problem our brother is having is an emotional reaction that I think is perfectly natural. I also think that the others are right. Call Logos and courteously ask for something. They will likely grant a request. They are very generous. But that would be frustrating. I often go to stores and am told by sales people, "You can buy it to day and I would be happy for you to do it, but we are putting this thing on sale next Tuesday when the new ones come out." I appreciate it and it makes me more loyal. So if Logos is smart they will respond to your feelings.
Joe Miller said:Think of it like this. You just bought a 2009 Ford and now the 2010 models are out. Did you get ripped off by Ford? No. L4 is designed to be a new model, not a replacement for L3.
The bad news, Ford wont let you trade in yoru 2009 model for a 2010 without you taking a loss.
Logos will let you trade up from v3 to v4 and you will lose nothing and only gain new resources, tools and books.
Hope that helps brother.
I see this kind of analogy used all the time and I don't think they are comparable. First, he wasn't buying a car. That is a unique purchase that costs usually a lot more money. The biggest difference however, is that he can drive on the roads just fine with that older car for years to come. With a software upgrade like this, there will be a time when he cannot use it in the same way. To not upgrade eventually leaves you running an orphaned product. Secondly there is no real financial loss to Logos with data. The cost of letting him download the newer version is minimal. The cost of taking a car in trade will literally be thousands of dollars. If he had waited the one week, he would get the newer version for the same cost to logos. In addition, it costs less for a company if they have fewer people on the older product to support. So there is a financial incentive aside from profit for Logos to get us to upgrade.
For a good take on all of this I recommend a book called Free: The Future of a Practical Price by Chris Anderson. And guess what? You can get it for free. And he's making a killing on it. Digital products are just different than tangible goods. Google is making a killing giving a lot of things away.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin A. Purcell said:
To not upgrade eventually leaves you running an orphaned product.
My 89 Honda accord feels like an orphaned product. Is it a bad thing when your digital library is more monetarily valuable then your car?
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Okay, I provide the information and you provide the counseling :-)Kevin A. Purcell said:This argument does nothing to help. The problem our brother is having is an emotional reaction that I think is perfectly natural.
Your powers of observation are truly astounding Kevin... so wait let me get this straight, he was not buying a car? LOLKevin A. Purcell said:irst, he wasn't buying a car.
Let me pull up my files on Windows 1.0 in my Textwriter, and see what it says.... oh wait, all software changes and eventually older versions are left behind.Kevin A. Purcell said:To not upgrade eventually leaves you running an orphaned product.
Blessings,
Joe
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Paul Golder said:
I was just wondering why the testing and release of 4 was kept so secret?
For various reasons, ranging from not killing ongoing sales to not having a negative reaction based on unfinished prototypes, etc.
Plus, we figured we were finally big enough that we could pull off a release that got some buzz going, particularly with the iPhone app as a complement to the desktop software. And it looks like that's worked -- the density of blog posts, twitter comments, etc. is great. (And did you see your Bible Study Magazine in the mail yet? Should arrive this week with Logos 4 info.)
See http://search.twitter.com/search?q=logos+bible for an example of how much buzz there is this week around Logos...
BTW, we have always taken care of people who bought right before the new product. This time there was not only a "free upgrade" period, but we even figured a recent purchase of the base package into a sliding discount schedule that gets reflected in your custom upgrade pricing. I checked Frank's record, and he wasn't hurt at all by buying last week, except in the hassle of installing and learning Logos 4 right after getting into 3.
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