I think a $5 upgrade is a bargin considering what is being put out. There are a lot of programs where you pay $50 a year because there are a few things added to the same program. All I can say is thanks Jim.

str8edge - No need for a multiple-computer license, we've always allowed owners to run it on all the computers in their house.

Ehrrmm!! There's a quite big difference here!!
Star Wars sucks, and MA kicks ass! ;)
*ducks*

And yet I still had to pay full price to see it :)

I saw Star Wars in the theatre five times, bought the VHS tape, bought the remastered VHS tape set, then bought the DVD! Now I'm thinking to buy the Blu-Ray version if/when it's available. We're just hopeless, Jim :D

Yeah, but you're probably talking about Episode 4 (1977). I'm talking about Episodes 2 & 3. I'd love to get my 4 hours back, let alone the money.

Family Guy: Blue Harvest. very funny remake of IV, just not long enough :D

And good to see we keep the one code for all PCs. it does come in handy with about 5 PCs/Laptops in the house. :D

i FINALLY bought the screensaver !! goooooooooo me ! lol. My wife had an earlier version, but we couldn't find the key, so I just went ahead and bought it. I've been without it too long. Can't wait for 3.0 !

Bottom line is, when someone invests time and labour in something (and makes it look damn good!) I will always be willing to pay for it. I don't work for free so why should Jim or anyone else for that matter.

For those new to this forum or to news about MA3, I agree that this thread is a bit long now for newcomers to have to read through from the beginning! - But for an appreciation of what MA3 will be, as opposed to previous versions of Marine Aquarium, I recommend that you at least read the start, and in particular, the first post! :)

I don't personally think that MA3 should be classed as an upgrade of MA2.x at all. - It's a completely different animal, and as such could easily command a 'full price' charge, IMO! - Think what is being described! ... The fish will not just be moving within the scene, the scene will also be moving within your screen! - (Or screen[s], if you have two!). - Whilst the fish may appear superficially similar to MA2, they will be newly developed models. - Everything is new from the ground up!

If we must make comparisons with films, - why not compare a 1.33:1 Full Frame, with a 3D offering/Cinerama presentation, of a completely different movie? - Or say, "I've seen all the other Bond films, can I therefore see this latest one for 1/4 price?"

..... I got the same feeling after sitting through, 'Lord of the Rings' :lol:

Wow that's a lot of posts. My view is:
(i) $5 for MA3 is fine
BUT
(ii) when I bought MA in 2002 there was a promise of a free upgrade to the 3D background, which is actually why I purchased. I don't care about $5 (seems more than fair for the extra features) but would need convincing about what happened to the "free upgrade" I thought I was promised, as I can get a little fussy about promises and stuff, or did I misunderstand?

(It does tend to happen, ZTreewin was "free upgrades for life" and will soon charge for an upgrade, QImage was also "free upgrades for life", but they just put the new features in a new version that required an upgrade fee, which was unexpected and a bit annoying.)

John

I think it boils down to this. Things change. If you don't want to pay for the 3.0, then don't.

This reminds me of Directv in a way. Last year (06)when I first got the HD channels that were new, they told me that next year(07) there will be a new MPEG4 HD box, and that it would be a free upgrade as they were phasing out the boxes I was currently getting. Well, November of 07 rolled around, and I contacted them for the upgrade. They told me that the costs of the boxes had increased so much over the past year, that they couldn't offer them free anymore. I would have to actually pay $250 !!!! for the new box. This was mandatory for me to get the box if I wanted to get the new HD channels they were offering. If I didn't, I'd be paying the same amount of money for my 15 HD channels as I would for 100 HD channels. Well, I didn't pay for the upgrade, and everything ended up working in my favor....

Again, things change over the course of time, and as long as I'm told (in that case I wasn't) that the free upgrade won't be offered for a particular reason, I'm usually ok with that.

See my register date ? Yea, it's been a while. Over the course of the last two years, the price has now changed. I can certainly live with that.

Haha! After Episode 2, I decided to not see Episode 3...
But count me in as a customer for MA3. :)


4 hours... I wonder how many hours I lost watching MA, but I don't want em' back. :)

It's funny I always think twice before buying software for $20, until Jim explained what $20 is... it's the price you pay when you go to a restaurant ONCE... :) I love that, and now for the price of a dessert, we get a new dinner... ;)

jleslie - I'd be surprised if I had promised anything about the upgrade, as I'm usually very careful about making promises. I always try to say something like, "My plan is...", or "I hope to..." But, as we all know, plans and hopes change. With a major revision like this, Prolific and Encore have to get involved, and suddenly there are 20 families to feed.

I say $20, - take it or leave it!

How much does a cup of coffee cost over there these days?

..... Or a cup of tea here in the UK? ;)

I don't drink coffee. Can't afford it. I'm building a house instead.

With prices of games going up (like £50). having a screensaver at around £10-£20 doesn't seem much of a dent in the old funding box. :D

Have the beta testers received only one build of MA3 so far or have their been newer builds that get released every few days for them?

Every few days.

Me too, and I think it's because we understand value. That sense of value varies with the goods in question. $20 for MA3 is a good value. $20 for a dinner is a good value. $999 for an HDTV is a good value. Just because I am willing to pay $999 for an HDTV does not mean I am willing to pay $200 for MA3 anymore than I'd pay $200 for a meal.


Agreed and for Jim it's a labor of love. He wants to do this, and is financially and intellectually enriched by the process. He could stop any time he wants. But he shows no signs of burning out :D