Sell me Logos 7 today!

John Goodman said:

Sell me Logos 7 today - let me have the books/features as they become available just like with Logos Cloud/Now. Use the same approach as with the Journal Library. Please consider this - it's an excellent idea! If base packages make that too complex then sell me the minimal crossgrade now but give me the option to bump that up to a base package for a couple of weeks after release day.

I'm reminded of the line in the movie "Field of Dreams":  If you build it, they will come."  The thing is, they first have to build it.  They can't sell you a product they haven't yet fully developed.  PATIENCE.

As much as I would like to have access to new functionality sooner than later, there are elements of the get-as-they-become-available formula you propose that give me pause: Logos Now, because of its design, can provide partially constructed functionalities and datasets. Would you want to pay for incomplete features? Should the feature be sold as "Propositional Outlines - New Testament" (since OT outlines became available later)? And what if the feature is improved later, like Psalms Explorer: should it be considered an update or would we have to pay for an upgrade? I would also be concerned that selling individual features separately would result in much higher cost in the end. 

As for buying the next upgrade in advance, say pay two years' worth of Logos Now and pre-own Logos 7 instead permanently (as opposed to lost functionalities if you stop Logos Now), I find the idea a bit attractive, but wonder there also whether the ownership mentality is compatible with buying a product before you know what it will really be like. Logos Now is much like that, in the sense that subscribers cannot fully know what it will look like next year (though this should not be exaggerated). However, subscription gives a greater feeling of being free to bail out if you don't like where the product is going. Now, if you purchase Logos 7 in advance and FL comes up with a new design you find awful in a year from now, you could not expect -- having enjoyed access for one year -- to be refunded. 

Just some thoughts... perhaps you have ideas as to how this could work.

Fr Devin Roza said:

One simple way this could be implemented is for Now subscribers to receive a coupon to purchase a v7 base package / feature crossgrade with a discount based on the number of months they were subscribed to Now. For example, a discount of $5 - $7 / month of subscription.

In that way one could purchase a feature crossgrade of v7 for almost free if you have been subscribed to Now for 2 years.

I like this idea. In order to make it logistically simple for FL, they would need to automate it (something like dynamic pricing).

Just let me know when it's built!

Matt Hamrick said:

I don't understand why people are expecting a coupon for L7 if they are Now users.

It's not an expectation, it's a suggestion. 

Does anyone know when L7 will be competed, Days, Weeks, Months, or Years?

Bob,

I wish you would have written it this way when Logos Now was unveiled. This resonates with me a lot better than the previous ways that Logos Now has been presented.

It sounds like to me that the Logos Now subscription (and perhaps even the Logos Cloud subscription) is paying for webhosting space to hold the data. This is probably an added cost that will be ongoing. You can't really charge for that when you buy a stand-alone product. So a subscription was eventually going to have to occur. This is about the price I pay for webhosting for my website. 

John Goodman said:

The one issue you didn't address and I hope you will think about is dynamic pricing for the cloud rental package. I really don't like the idea that I could join that and pay the same as someone else when I already own 60-80% of what is in the package.

As FL has explicitly indicated many, many, many times, customers like you are not part of the target audience for Logos Cloud.

Bob,

One thing you might consider would be a subscription for enhanced user support. My guess is that most students and lay workers wouldn't bite, but the pulpit minister who absolutely, positively must produce three sermons a week could benefit. It would provide a revenue stream that had a clear and easily explained rationale for a significant part of your user base - and the perceived need would likely be greater for those who already own the most resources, rather than less.

John Goodman said:

It seem's that maybe Logos Now is developing into something else though? A product that will always be aimed as a bolt on and not part of the base package? That's a different prospect.

It looks like Logos/Verbum Now contains two-and-a-half basic parts.

1. Resources and features that directly require sustained costs on FL's part that will never be in a base package (e.g., images hosted online).

2. Resources and features that will be available in the next set of base packages. A recently produced interlinear comes to mind.

2.5. Resources and features that may or may not be available in the next set of base packages; FL isn't sure yet.

Bob,

Thanks.  I am sure FL Corp will do its best moving forward.

I looked at the Logos Now advert again and came away with the same confusion I had the first time I viewed it. There isn't enough information to actually give me a clear idea of what it will do for me and how I use it and how it fits into Logos' product strategy. My first impression was and remains that It sounds like an experiment to see if future products and resources will be leased rather than purchased. Bob said they don't want to do that, but the whole thing is so unclear to me I'm nervous about my continued commitment to Logos as my primary theological library. This thread at the least indicates I'm not the only one who is unclear and has added to my uncertainty about what direction Logos is taking.

George Somsel said:

They will take my resources to the cloud when they pry them off my cold, dead hard drive.

[:D]

Jim said:

I looked at the Logos Now advert again and came away with the same confusion I had the first time I viewed it. There isn't enough information to actually give me a clear idea of what it will do for me and how I use it and how it fits into Logos' product strategy. My first impression was and remains that It sounds like an experiment to see if future products and resources will be leased rather than purchased. Bob said they don't want to do that, but the whole thing is so unclear to me I'm nervous about my continued commitment to Logos as my primary theological library. This thread at the least indicates I'm not the only one who is unclear and has added to my uncertainty about what direction Logos is taking.

jim,

Are we being to hard on Faithlife?  Or perhaps, Faithlife needs to review its marketing and advertising practices?  There is general saying that says, perception or deception can leads one to rejection, even a good product.

Jim, 

You said, "I wasn't intending to complain, just let them know that as one very faithful and long-standing customerg-standing customer, I'm unclear and concerned." Your position is understood. However, an opportunity is an opportunity.  

"Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs." Bill Gates

Virgil,

You quoted John Lydgate as saying, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” What a principle truth! It's also true that "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."  Abraham Lincoln

I am sure Faithlife will do the right thing because it's the right thing to do-- develop, keep it simple and reasonable for all its customers.