Announcing MinimServer 2

[simoncn]

(19-12-2019 17:29)DavidHB Wrote:  Please forgive me if I am being obtuse, but I'd like to confirm what appear to be the implications of introducing MinimServer 2 for existing MinimServer users.

Thank you for these detailed questions. I will do my best to answer them clearly.

Quote:If I understand things correctly, MinimServer is moving over progressively from a "donation-ware" to a subscription pricing model. New features will be added to the subscription, rather than the "free" software. Otherwise, the "free" software will remain, for the present, on the same licence terms as before. As far as I can see from the website, it is still currently possible to download and install MinimServer 1.

All the above is correct, except that MinimServer 2 (without MinimStreamer) does not expire so it is not exactly using a subscription pricing model. After 12 months, the user would not be able to receive updates without a subscription but the software would continue to run.

Quote:The current MinimStreamer licence associated with MinimServer 1 expires, IIRC, at the end of July 2020. Will it then be necessary for existing MinimServer users to transition to MinimServer 2 in order to continue using MinimStreamer? Or is there no decision about this yet?

MinimStreamer has always been licensed for a limited period, unlike MinimServer. Until now, this period has been extended before it ends. Assuming that MinimServer 2 and MinimStreamer 2 are available on all platforms by 31 July 2020, I do not intend to extend the current MinimStreamer 0.7 license beyond this date.

Quote:And will Minimstreamer 1 be replaced in due course with the Starter edition of MinimServer 2?

No, all the current features of MinimStreamer will require a MinimServer 2 full license so will not be available in Starter Edition. Also, there will not be a Starter Edition of MinimStreamer.

Quote:I see that the MinimServer 2 licence will allow the use of the software on up to 3 devices. Currently I use MinimServer on 4 devices. Would I have to purchase and maintain an additional licence for the 4th device?

I was expecting that some users would be in this situation and I have waiting for comments on this in order to judge what options and pricing should apply for users who need to run MinimServer on a larger number of devices. It could be an incremental fee per extra device or there could be tiers such as 3 devices, 5 devices, more (how many?) I would welcome feedback on this aspect.

Quote:Will the installation of MinimServer 2 require the prior removal of any MinimServer 1 installation? Or does the former overwrite the latter?

The previous installation is overwitten and the user's settings are preserved.

Quote:I hope that these questions are helpful in clarifying things. And I fully recognise that the fact that Simon has offered the software effectively free in the past does not entitle anyone to assume that it will remain free permanently. An initial cost of £28 and a renewal fee of £10 do not seem to me to be in any way unreasonable, given the functionality that the software provides and the costs of the systems it typically works with.

David

Your quesitons are indeed very helpful and I appreciate your comments about the pricing levels. I would be surprised if current users who appreciate the unique features of MinimServer and MinimStreamer were not willing to pay £10 a year for this. For those who are using MinimServer only because it is free, other free servers are available.