This is the kind of shit that makes me embrace piracy more and more.

Years ago, we bought this software that specializes in something we do at work. Super specialized software but met all of our needs. Expensive at $600 per license, but it was supposed to be for “life”. So we figured it was worth it.

Until we upgraded to Windows 11 this year because Windows 10 won’t be supported after October this year.

We upgraded the computers (yes, we bought multiple licenses of this, some even as late as last year, so only got a few uses) and didn’t think twice about it. But after upgrading, this software now shows as unlicensed.

No worries, we kept our licensing information in an event like this. Oh, it doesn’t recognize it. Oh, their specialized number changed too! Wtf alright, well I’ll just reach out to their support for help.

Their support is super slow and not just because they’re on the other side of the world. I have to usually reach out to “sales” to get someone to actually help me. Days later, they respond saying that we need to pay for a “reissuance” of the license because the OS changed.

Huh…?

It just upgraded! It’s still the same computer we installed it to. Wtf dude. How is this fair?

This is like your car’s transmission going out while still under warranty and the manufacturer denying a warranty replacement because the tires and color of the car changed. Yes, the VIN we gave the car is still the same, even the license plate is the same…but yeah, we won’t honor this without you paying us because it’s fundamentally a new car now!

Go fuck yourself. Truly.

This is not a new computer. This is the same computer. This is a new update that we didn’t necessarily want but we have no choice in the matter. You can verify that your software has been installed here since the day we activated with your license.

No pirated version exists for this nor would we use it since we’d get in trouble for it. But man, this is the kind of crap that deserves a pirated copy because this is absurd. I can understand being paid for your hard work and trying to avoid people skirting around paying you for each computer they install to, but this is overdoing it. You’re now being greedy and double dipping. No other software we use has this problem. And $600 is a bit much when you do this kind of crap. Even if you are only charging partial for “reissuance”.