As someone who is dithering between software choices, it seems mad for a software company to expect someone to buy software today for $99, and have them risk having to pay another $79 if version 3 comes out in 93 days, (when I can buy focusmax today for $149 and use it with Maxim DL).
While I certainly can understand your concern because I am on a budget too,
your statement does not reflect what I and many of us believe: that SGP is
powerful and ridiculously under priced for the features we get. If you
already have MaximDl and youâre happy with it then by all means stick with
it. But Iâd like to point out that even if you do need to pay $99 now and
$79 later, thatâs still less than the cost of the most basic MaximDL
package, not including focusmax.
I am a moderator here but have no vested interest in SGP.
No one expects this. Youâre certainly free to stay on 2.6 for as long as you like. We will never force an upgrade on anyone and youâre not buying a subscription, but a product. Just like if you go to buy a vehicle right before the new model comes out. No one forces you to buy the newest model.
Having said that weâll be releasing SGP3 very soon and anyone that buys now will certainly get an upgrade to SGP3 (which a car dealership would never do 
)
Thanks,
Jared
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As a new purchaser - Jan. 4, 2018 - this is good news and is very much appreciated. I am busy integrating SGP into my imaging routine and I am very much looking forward to version 3.
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net
How about if you just purchased the software around 12/31/2017 will I be able to get the update free.
Pat
Yes, almost certainly. We hope to release in the next 1-2 weeks. Just finishing up some things with regards to the purchase flow and making sure everything is in place.
Thanks,
Jared
Hey,
Charge me what you like
Iâm having it anyway Tee Hee !
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Iâve been thinking and researching even more, and Joel (and Jared), you are correct. I think I took my eye off the ball for a few minutes there, looking at $ and not quality/features.
It is excellent software, and offers an integrated âpackageâ of features that someone new to imaging, guiding and autofocusing (like me), will find very helpful.
Just purchased
You wonât regret it. Iâm not wild about the new model for SGP ( will be once dual camera use is figured out), but Iâve used brand X, maxim dl, and ccdap. All of these programs left a lot to be desired in my opinion, especially maxim. $800 for a program that had constant crashes, lost/faded star issues, subscription, ect. All I got was excuses from Doug and his software guys when I would send in the logs. They always wanted to blame the usb hub.
If you canât design a program that will work with a remote usb hub in todays astro imaging world, you may as well sign off and go home crying to mama. Itâs ridiculous.
Youâll find that SGP does take some time to learn, but for the money and the features that you get, youâll find very few that can compete. I no longer have crashes and combined with PHD2, no lost or faded stars. Just my 2.
+1 No product is perfect and I prefer to stick with one that has consistently delivered hundreds of hours of unattended operation and when there is an issue, the developers are responsive and open minded.
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Iâll never understood how us imagers can spend thousands of dollars on hardware but worry over $99 or even $179 for the best capture software.
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@Gunny01 (or anyone else interested), just to be clear, there is no new model. The model in place now is the model that has been in place ever since SGPro was conceived⌠that is to say we have a very standard industry policy where updates within the same major version are given for free, updates to new major versions incur some cost and a schedule is in place that expires support of older versions (older versions never expire for use).
There is no expectation that anyone purchase SGPro on anything but its merit. If you donât think new versions justify the price tag we put on them, you are welcome to continue using the version you own (forever). We will be releasing SGPro 3.0 next week. Tonight, I will post a FAQ that addresses some of the questions we are seeing and will also post a full feature list for 3.0 so you can make the decision.
I think that maybe there are folks who think we are changing our business model because I made the mistake of saying we will attempt to achieve a yearly cadence with our major releases. This was intended to mean that we have intent to be more active within our current model and not that we are changing. I think somehow, this was interpreted as a âsubscription in disguise modelâ. Maybe? Not 100% sure. We will not suddenly stop helping people because they have not upgraded and we will never force upgrade after you purchase (that is subscription).
While we certainly understand how âfree software for life (after initial purchase)â is popular, when you consider the amount of work in new features, maintenance, support and other expenses between gear, servers, forums, trade-shows, etc, itâs just not realistic.
I thought I was pretty clear when I said ânew modelâ. After all, it is 3.0 that you have been working on and you are changing how new versions are going to be handled, right? I never said anything about your business model. Find it strange that you choose that one word to comment on Ken, while ignoring the compliments that I paid to SGP.
After reflecting on what I saw as a subscription based program, I can kind of see your position with a lot of changes coming along just due to things like cmos based cameras. The technology changes and you guys are trying to keep up with it.
I do hope that there is effort being expended toward two camera use as many here have been clamoring for that feature for quite awhile now. Once that has been accomplished, I will move up to 3.0 or whatever model incorporates that feature. Feels more like a plug in kind of deal to me though, but it does allow the customer the choice of whether to buy or not
Replies via written text suck⌠they lack body language, intonation and everything else that makes my reply inoffensive. It was not an attack on you⌠you just happen to be the last person to comment on a perception that many folks have had. I do not ignore the other nice things you say, but in my defense, those things do not typically require a response (I do certainly appreciate them though). The intent of this is not to start a debate, but rather just to make a point that, despite many threads indicating we are trying to disguise a subscription plan by releasing SGPro 3.0. That said, I honestly donât understand your question (not snarkyâŚ) I just mean it in the most literal sense:
What do you mean by this?
Perfect. We only sell software based on merit⌠whenver it meets that for you is just fine. Multi-camera support is on the list as a 3.X feature (not a guarantee, just intent).
Starting with SGPro 3.0, we have abandoned plugins / addons in favor of a simpler model where all software is included in the base price.
This is certainly part of it. In addition to this, we will publish a list of new features that are beyond our continued struggles to be gear compatible. About to post an FAQ with more detailed answers here.
On point 1 that you made Ken, I probably should have used the term version instead of model. You are correct that the written word can leave room for a lot of interpretation. Thatâs why Iâm not a fan of texting/ email when it comes to communication.
Point 2: It is my understanding that there will be future versions of SGP. Version 4, 5, 6, ect. and that will be up to the users as to whether they pay for the upgrade. Correct me if I have this wrong Ken. As the technology evolves and you guys try to keep up, it is reasonable for you to expect compensation and unreasonable for me to expect free software for life. Society as a whole has come to expect too many âfreebiesâ in life.
Point3: Hopefully you will be able to accomplish that task.
Point 4: Understood.
Point5: Understood.
I hope these points and the discussion here will further clarify your plans, present and future.
I tend to be rather blunt and that, for some, will come across as abrasive, I make no apologies and I try not to be a fanboy. My point has always been to report my opinions and reviews of what works and what doesnât for me. With the money that is spent in this hobby there is nothing worse than to make a purchase and have problems with the product/vendor/manufacturer.
The money I wasted on tsx and maxim was formative for me in a negative way. I go out of my way to convince others to strongly consider and purchase SGP, even though Ken and I do not see eye to eye on some things. SGP is still the best that is out there. For me to say anything else would just be allowing differences in personality to interfere with the truth.
Again, my hatâs off to Ken and Jared.
I donât see how the proposal from Ken & Jared differs from the offerings from the likes of Microsoft, so really donât understand why people are getting so hung up on it.
If you have a PC running W7, and you want W10, is it free?..ermâŚnope. This has been the case forever, and if you donât want to upgrade you keep your old version and use it until support stops, which it has to at some point. Take XP, no longer supported, so if you want to upgrade to the latest W10, guess whatâŚyou pay.
Itâs a ludicrously good value piece of software, works brilliantly, and you guys deserve rewarding for your efforts.
I already have 2x, and have no problem with paying to upgrade to 3x as there are new features in it which I like. If there wasnât then I could just stay with my current version until it becomes XP.