Proton BASIC Community

Hmm,
I am stuck in the middle, the problem is that if you use it professionally you can claim it against tax and god knows what so in effect it does not actually cost you anything.

I do not eat pizza, chinese or other take away, don't smoke (or drink as of this year), walk most places as it is part of my get fit regime and do not pay for sports etc so not sure where I stand on that.

I do find some of the figures mind boggling on something that was around £40 to purchase originally. The problem is that like a lot of people I do not need new devices but pay for the updates whether I need them or not as I appreciate the value Les puts in. I think it is a fine balance as if it is too much then the hobbyists like me will probably just stick with the version they have and then revenue would drop.

I also notice that ME labs seems to be dead as there are virtually no improvements apart from devices so they are probably yrying to claw money back that way.

Just my tuppence worth,
Bob

 

Quote from: RGV250 on Dec 31, 2022, 07:14 PMI also notice that ME labs seems to be dead as there are virtually no improvements apart from devices
Bob

Prolly cuz the guy that did the work passed away a few years ago(Tim was his name I think)

Hello everyone

There is joke going around here which states: Apparently, Americans are getting stronger, $50 worth of groceries previously had to be carried out to the car by two adults.  Nowadays, a five year old can do it!

It would seem that those using Positron for business purposes likely get back a small percentage of the cost.  But professional or hobbyist the price is too low.
If we take a look at the relative cost of other software packages or even games, Positron is low on the price scale.  For example:  A basic for 8 bit Pic Controllers is priced at $270 and doesn't appear to mention upgrades.  A basic from the same source for 32 bit Pic Controllers is priced at $320.  It seems that a fair comparison would place Positron at $50 against comparable products totaling $590.  That is 8.5% of the competitor's price.  Some software companies will rent the software by the month or year, not something in which I would be interested.

And also, Positron has a free version so that anyone can try the compiler out at no cost.  And let's not forget about the Positron documentation. 
Not a rant, but rather an observation.

Happy 2023!! 

I understand the difficulty for users with a low income. However, by buying Positron once, a user can access a huge number of devices and access to updates and fixes for some time. Hobbyists (and I'm one) can stop there if they choose. Positron continues to work.

I've chosen to pay for each upgrade not because I needed it, but because this is quality software, continues to do what I need, has amazing support and I want development to continue.

We are not dealing with a huge corporation. How a single individual (Les) has been able to create Positron amazes me. It's also part of his bread and butter. The UK is not a cheap country to live. £50 for an upgrade does not buy a lot. I pay each year for a number of software packages, why shouldn't I do the same for positron? 

Positron provides some of my mental exercise that hopefully keeps mental decline at bay and provides enjoyment in creating projects that I share with others. All my software is in the public domain. (www.vk5dj.com)

Positron is worth every cent.
It's time for my annual Christmas/New Year present, I hope others will consider doing the same. Give what you can afford to keep Positron development moving.
Cheers
John

Hi John

Incredibly,superbly, and accurately well said and leaves nothing needing further explanation.  I am also a hobbyist and thoroughly enjoy using Positron and would not want to miss an upgrade or new issue.  I believe fair dinkum  would be accurate at twice or thrice the price... 

And you still have the neatest ham station I have ever seen.

73 Hal

Thanks Hal, but I did tidy it up for the photo!
John

Is it me or do we keep having the same conversation whenever a paid upgrade is mentioned?

Altimately it may make little diffrence to the overall conclusion but rather than the term hobbist I think Commercial and non-commercial user may be more appropriate, where a commercial users is anyone who works for themselves or a third party that financially profits from the use of Positron.

For those who choose not to upgade...

• If they are held in limbo with the version of the compiler as it is at that point, not benefitting from any new corrections or devices. Then they could choose to wait until they feel upgrading is deneficial to them (assuming each new upgrade is not dependant upon having the previous one installed).
• If they still benefit from new correction updates but not access to new devices, in that case whether a commercial or non-commercial user they are still benefitting from Les' time and effort so surely they should contribute to that.
• Regardless of items 1 or 2, everyone benefits from Les' work at some time in some way, particularly in his responces to requests for help that often include working code solution/examples. Another notable contribution for Les which all users can freely benefit from as once posted it can be read/used by anyone and so should surely all users shoud make some contribution (i.e. pay for the upgrade) in recognition of that.

The downside to not keeping reasonably up to date for any user is not so much the lack of assess to new devices, but that code posted in responce to a request for help which takes advantage of any new method/commands may ultimately not be of much help as it would not work with your older compiler version.

Setting an appropriate price point is always a diffcult decision as nobody want to put in a lot of efferot for little or no reward.
It has been mentioned that "the price can not and should not be tailored to the individual priorities of hobbyists" and I can understand the argument for that. However, if non commercial users make up the majority of the user base, setting the price too high could potentially suppress the number of upgrades purchased enough that it actually reduces overall income.

Commercial users can always take a good conscience decision to make additional payments according to the precieved value they get from using Positron or to purchase a "commercial" licence set at a higher price point.

I appreciate that some people may see £50 (or whatever the eventual price is) for an upgrade at being a little high, particualry in the current climate and/or for occasional use, but upgrades do not come around that often and probably work out to around £10 as yearly average so when you consider it that way surely it is worth paying for Les' continued support and maintance of the compiler. 

 The bottom line as seen from a hobbyist, retired and limited resources point of view.
50 USD or pounds or what ever currency, ain't much in todays world, I can't fill my car up with gas for 50 bucks. or waste time in a grocery store for that money.

I have a great C compiler for pic's and use it, but for larger projects Positron is a big timer saver and lines of code saver as Les wrote commands to save the user time and lines of code, so if time means anything Positron pays for itself in 3 or 4 hours of coding with time saved and that's using a very cheap rate of what our time is worth per hour.

As a kicker, hell the documentation is priceless in itself as it's written for people like myself who are not the brightest bulb on the tree.