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Question on rights - software update
hector123
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hi,
I've owned piece of music production software by a company called FXpansion (recently changed ownership to Roli) that runs on Apple's OSX. The software is still current since the manufacturer continues to market and sell it. The software in question is called BFD3.
Recently, Apple updated OSX to the version known as Catalina and BFD3 stopped working.
FXpansion is aware of the issue (their product doesn't run on the new OS version and needs updating) and has acknowledged it since October 2019. However, judging for the support forums, there are 1000s of people affected by this and despite people asking continuously, the manufacturer is not giving any firm date as to when (and if) this is going to be resolved. As a result, we are unable to use the software we already paid for.
In terms of consumer rights, is there anything that can be argued in favour of people affected by the lack of prompt resolution/fix?
Thanks
I've owned piece of music production software by a company called FXpansion (recently changed ownership to Roli) that runs on Apple's OSX. The software is still current since the manufacturer continues to market and sell it. The software in question is called BFD3.
Recently, Apple updated OSX to the version known as Catalina and BFD3 stopped working.
FXpansion is aware of the issue (their product doesn't run on the new OS version and needs updating) and has acknowledged it since October 2019. However, judging for the support forums, there are 1000s of people affected by this and despite people asking continuously, the manufacturer is not giving any firm date as to when (and if) this is going to be resolved. As a result, we are unable to use the software we already paid for.
In terms of consumer rights, is there anything that can be argued in favour of people affected by the lack of prompt resolution/fix?
Thanks
0
Comments
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What were the terms of the software licence when you bought it? Did they guarantee it would continue to run effectively forever on all future releases of the OS?0
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Blame where it should be.
If you can revert back to a lower OSX there is no issue.
If you cannot it is apple's fault.
Get out of apple while you can.0 -
I doubt any software you have promises to run on every future operating system there might be. You bought something which worked on a particular OS (and presumably still does work under that OS) , it's up to you to check whether it will still work under a new OS.0
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Happens to all computers eventually not just Apple, if you upgrade your OS then not all previous software will work on the new OS and they are not going to continue releasing OS compatible updates forever, they will instead release a new version of the software for you to buy that is compatible with the new OS releases.
In future check with the software providers of all major software you use before doing an OS upgrade to find out if it will be compatible or not.0 -
instructions to roll back to Mojave - https://blog.macsales.com/54622-how-to-downgrade-from-macos-catalina-to-mojave-or-earlier/?utm_source=xlr8yourmac&APC=XLR8YourMac13As a result, we are unable to use the software we already paid for.0 -
Hi,
I've owned piece of music production software by a company called FXpansion (recently changed ownership to Roli) that runs on Apple's OSX. The software is still current since the manufacturer continues to market and sell it. The software in question is called BFD3.
Recently, Apple updated OSX to the version known as Catalina and BFD3 stopped working.
FXpansion is aware of the issue (their product doesn't run on the new OS version and needs updating) and has acknowledged it since October 2019. However, judging for the support forums, there are 1000s of people affected by this and despite people asking continuously, the manufacturer is not giving any firm date as to when (and if) this is going to be resolved. As a result, we are unable to use the software we already paid for.
In terms of consumer rights, is there anything that can be argued in favour of people affected by the lack of prompt resolution/fix?
Thanks
No, Apple made an updated version of their operating system available which you chose to install without checking if it would run your existing software!
Sorry but you need to take some responsibility in this, not look for non-existent "rights" and blame everybody else.
Variations on this happen all the time and you have to accept that you only have two options. Upgrade your software to a version that will work with the current operating system or roll back the operating system and carry on as you were before.
You may also be able to set your Mac up to dual boot so as to run either the current system for most applications, or boot the old system so that you can continue to use this particular application.0 -
Hi all, thanks for your replies.
A few bits of info I appreciate you might be missing which set the tone on these perhaps in a negative way.
- I had to upgrade hardware back in Nov 2019 since my other Apple computer stopped working after about 8 years and it wasn't cost effective to repair it. The new hw came with Catalina out of the box.
- There is an important learning curve (time investment) that makes in general unfeasible to swap or change OSs.
- Before I ordered I was aware of the compatibility issue with some products, but the expectation was that, being this was current software (as I explained, the provider sells this as a current product, I.E someone can go and buy it today for the first time) they would take reasonable steps to provide compatibility in a reasonable timeframe.
- A reasonable timeframe is (in my view) is what other providers I use have done. I use another 2 major brands of music production software. Both of them updated their products within less than a month of the Catalina release. By the beginning of Dec 2019, I was up and running with all the software in my machine except this.
- Receiving the new hw with Catalina and downgrading was in my view a step back given that the rest of the products I use were updated on a timely fashion.
- The question here really is whether or not it's reasonable to make customers wait for more than 3 months for an update. They would have known about the Catalina launch and like others could take reasonable steps to test on beta in advance.
- Just to clarify, and trying to be fair, FXpansion have confirmed they are working on the update but have not provided a time frame for completion.
It's that last particular point I'm querying about. Thanks for the suggestion to check on the software terms. I'll do.
Thanks0 -
It's not unreasonable to expect that software providers will upgrade their applications to work with new operating systems, and that is generally what will happen (because it's generally in their own commercial interests to do so) - but they have no obligation to previous customers to do so, unless there is something explicit saying they will (which I would think is unlikely for any consumer product).0
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It's not unreasonable to expect that software providers will upgrade their applications to work with new operating systems, and that is generally what will happen (because it's generally in their own commercial interests to do so) - but they have no obligation to previous customers to do so, unless there is something explicit saying they will (which I would think is unlikely for any consumer product).
It's not unreasonable to expect some updates but it is unreasonable to expect indefinite updates, most companies will draw the line somewhere and either end the product and support altogether or they'll bring out a newer version that end users would be expected to purchase again.
The software in question has been around since 2013, version 1 was only available for around 4 years, version 2 was available for 6-7 years and version 3 is now in its seventh year so it will not be supported for much longer before they either discontinue it altogether or release a version 4. Since 2013 windows has had 8, 8.1 and now 10 and Apple have had 8 OS releases in the same time so it's obvious that at some point the software will become obsolete.
In this case OP you purchased the new computer knowing that the software was not compatible, it's nobodies fault that your previous system failed, if it hadn't failed you would still be using it with full compatibility to the software. Although the software website does clearly state that there is no current Catalina support but they are working on it and hope to release an update soon, maybe they are having complications and don't want to confirm a fixed release date until they have a stable and working version, if they release it too early and full of bugs that would also be wrong. If they change their mind and stop updating then they are allowed to do that.
The software is £280, if that was bought the full seven years ago then you've had more than your money's worth using it this long. The expected free updates and the costs that go into developing them are the reason more and more software companies are going to subscription services over one off payments because it is more financially viable for them to offer support for longer than with one off payments.0 -
As a software developer myself I can say it's impossible to promise support for all future operating systems and configurations.
Software can only be guaranteed to work with the supported configurations at that time. Even if you get 'free' upgrades of the software within a year with your licence the vendor has no obligation to provide compatibility with a new OS.
Sometimes Apple/Microsoft deprecate, change or remove APIs that software relies upon. Sometimes it can actually be impossible to fix or work around (although this is rare)
If the software's old or not really sold much any more then there's may be little to no chance of updates being published, especially if the fix required to re-establish compatibility is complex.
Just stick with the older version of Mac OSX that it works with.0
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