MemoQ - Policy on upgrade fees?
Thread poster: Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Sep 5, 2009

I know this is not a technical question, but it might be interesting for all users/potential users of MemoQ as it can be an important business decision in the long run. Please feel free to move it to the right place if this is not quite the adequate one.

I can see the price of MemoQ (namely the Translator Pro edition) in the Shop area of Kilgray's website. I know how much will MemoQ
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I know this is not a technical question, but it might be interesting for all users/potential users of MemoQ as it can be an important business decision in the long run. Please feel free to move it to the right place if this is not quite the adequate one.

I can see the price of MemoQ (namely the Translator Pro edition) in the Shop area of Kilgray's website. I know how much will MemoQ cost when I buy a license and I know that I will be entitled to using it for unlimited time.

However, what is Kilgray's policy on upgrades? How much will it cost me to receive upgrades to the solution as they become available? What are the options and related costs?

(I ask this as I know how important the costs of upgrading Trados releases has been for most of us, old users of Trados).
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Grzegorz Gryc
Grzegorz Gryc  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:39
French to Polish
+ ...
Annual fee Sep 6, 2009

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:


I can see the price of MemoQ (namely the Translator Pro edition) in the Shop area of Kilgray's website. I know how much will MemoQ cost when I buy a license and I know that I will be entitled to using it for unlimited time.

However, what is Kilgray's policy on upgrades? How much will it cost me to receive upgrades to the solution as they become available? What are the options and related costs?[/quote]
AFAIK an annual fee, 20% of the software price.
It's not so bad, as the usual* fee contains a basic service agrement and the Kilgray's service is really rapid, at least for me.

*I say "usual" because, e.g. SDL PSMA is 20% too, the same policy is adopted by Terminotix.
BTW, after the purchase, Terminotix explains the upgrade fees when when the service agreement is not prolonged (it's rather prohibitive).

(I ask this as I know how important the costs of upgrading Trados releases has been for most of us, old users of Trados).

IMHO Kilgray is driving somehow in the SaaS model direction (see the partnership with Beetext) but you have 2-3 important upgrades by year, so you have a good ROI.

Cheers
GG

[Edited at 2009-09-06 06:42 GMT]


 
Kevin Lossner
Kevin Lossner  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 07:39
German to English
+ ...
Mature approach to maintenance Sep 6, 2009

If approached in a less rigid manner than SDL, I think Kilgray's new policy is the correct one. I tested MemoQ long enough before I bought it that I was aware of and had the opportunity to take advantage of the continued free upgrades to early adopters. I did not, because at the time I was not convinced that the platform would serve my needs in the same way that other packages did and do.

However, over the course of a year and a half I saw tremendous improvement in the product, and
... See more
If approached in a less rigid manner than SDL, I think Kilgray's new policy is the correct one. I tested MemoQ long enough before I bought it that I was aware of and had the opportunity to take advantage of the continued free upgrades to early adopters. I did not, because at the time I was not convinced that the platform would serve my needs in the same way that other packages did and do.

However, over the course of a year and a half I saw tremendous improvement in the product, and I experienced first-rate support (mostly information provision and assistance with test licenses, as I wasn't using the product a lot because certain features were missing). When I finally coughed up the money for the license I paid a lot more than I would have a year before, but the product had improved to the point where it was worth more than that. I get so much value from it that I don't even grit my teeth when I see the specials on ProZ are quite a lot less than I paid.

It's really all about the ongoing return on my investment and whether Kilgray's product helps me to work more effectively. It certainly does that. I bless the development team every time I translate Trados bilinguals (TTX or DOC/RTF) with the package, because I can also import the unsegmented content and avoid common errors that occur when working with Trados or working with Trados files in other environments like DVX.

There are more improvements scheduled for this fall and winter which should address my last serious concerns regarding MemoQ's shortcomings in certain areas that are important to me. The bigges point for me is to have something like DVX's "external view" available so non-CAT users can contribute as translators or editors or I can export a table of comments in context quickly for my clients. And the editing engine that drives me nuts (drops the first letter when shift-clicking left to right to select among other things) will be swapped out I'm told.

These improvements cost time and money. Over time the user base of Kilgray must be an asset for the company to remain at the level of support it has achieved now. Youthful enthusiasm might perhaps inspire some to think otherwise, but the reality is that there must be an economic incentive of some sort to keep improving the product over the long term. My actual favorite product, Déjà Vu X from Atril, does not have such an incentive. The current (or at least recent) support policy is free upgrades forever. That used to include support, but in recent years the Atril team has largely remained hidden in its cave, and upgrades exist only as rumors among a few beta testers. I am still waiting for upgrades promised a few years ago by the CEO. In the meantime, the product is showing its age, and while it's still light-years ahead of Trados (even Trados Studio 2009, since it is in fact stable), it needs an overhaul in a big way. In many respects I still think it's a better product than MemoQ, but only for me because I am self-supporting and know most of the workarounds I need or know how to rely on the excellent user network. I very much wish Atril would offer me an upgrade that I have to pay for (at something like 20% the new package price) and bundle it with a year of support and other upgrades that do in fact get produced and released. I have a list of things I would gladly pay Atril, Kilgray or another vendor today to have them added to my main tools. Maybe these companies should think about opening up the interfaces in a way that would allow the development of a viable add-on tools industry via standardized interfaces. That would seriously entrench their products in the market if any reasonable competent Java or .NET programmer could add stopword lists to the DVX Lexicon or add term extraction tools to MemoQ.
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Pablo Bouvier
Pablo Bouvier  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:39
German to Spanish
+ ...
199 eur for a single version jump or 620 eur for the last version Sep 6, 2009

Hi, Tomás: you did not read internets information anymore or are you so stressed that you feel better asking at ProZ? Just joking... I think this is a very fair price policy, taking in account translators in not so privileged countries that may get better versions MemoQ versions too, without having to spend 620 eur in one go.

From Kilgrays Internet pages:

We also created the world's cheapest upgrade path. If you want more than what memoQ
... See more
Hi, Tomás: you did not read internets information anymore or are you so stressed that you feel better asking at ProZ? Just joking... I think this is a very fair price policy, taking in account translators in not so privileged countries that may get better versions MemoQ versions too, without having to spend 620 eur in one go.

From Kilgrays Internet pages:

We also created the world's cheapest upgrade path. If you want more than what memoQ 2.0 offers and you see that memoQ is a good investment you can decide to pay EUR 199 for a single version jump, i.e. jumping from 2.0 to 2.1, from 2.1 to 2.2, etc. or you can buy the full version for EUR 620/USD 910 and get all upgrades for free - for one year. If you want a version jump license, please send us an email.
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Gergely Vandor
Gergely Vandor
Hungary
Local time: 08:39
English to Hungarian
an important question Sep 6, 2009

...that was correctly answered by Grzegorz.

The annual upgrade/maintenance fee is 20% of the purchase price. We are aware that this isn't immediatelly clear to all buyers, so we are working on a guide that will explain all details around licensing and upgrades.

Best regards,

Gegrely Vandor
Kilgray


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks a lot! Sep 6, 2009

Gergely Vandor wrote:
The annual upgrade/maintenance fee is 20% of the purchase price. We are aware that this isn't immediatelly clear to all buyers, so we are working on a guide that will explain all details around licensing and upgrades.

Thanks a million Gergely and everyone!

[Edited at 2009-09-06 17:25 GMT]


 
Lia Fail (X)
Lia Fail (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:39
Spanish to English
+ ...
on special offer prices? Sep 6, 2009

Gergely Vandor wrote:

...that was correctly answered by Grzegorz.

The annual upgrade/maintenance fee is 20% of the purchase price. We are aware that this isn't immediatelly clear to all buyers, so we are working on a guide that will explain all details around licensing and upgrades.

Best regards,

Gegrely Vandor
Kilgray


Can you clarify what price the 20% is likely to be based on? Book price or price we purchase at?


 
Gergely Vandor
Gergely Vandor
Hungary
Local time: 08:39
English to Hungarian
20% of the official price Sep 7, 2009

Lia Fail wrote:

Can you clarify what price the 20% is likely to be based on? Book price or price we purchase at?


It is 20% of the official price, so your discounts from Proz or otherwise apply only to the purchase, not the annual fee.

Best regards,
Gergely


 
Grzegorz Gryc
Grzegorz Gryc  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:39
French to Polish
+ ...
Official price Sep 7, 2009

Lia Fail wrote:

Gergely Vandor wrote:

...that was correctly answered by Grzegorz.

The annual upgrade/maintenance fee is 20% of the purchase price. We are aware that this isn't immediatelly clear to all buyers, so we are working on a guide that will explain all details around licensing and upgrades.


Can you clarify what price the 20% is likely to be based on? Book price or price we purchase at?

Normally, the official price is applied unless specified otherwise.
Of course, I would prefer the purchase price listed on http://www.proz.com/tgb/256

Cheers
GG


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:39
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
My fault!! Sep 7, 2009

Pablo Bouvier wrote:
Hi, Tomás: you did not read internets information anymore or are you so stressed that you feel better asking at ProZ? Just joking... I think this is a very fair price policy, taking in account translators in not so privileged countries that may get better versions MemoQ versions too, without having to spend 620 eur in one go.

Thanks a million Pablo! I admit that it was entirely my fault. Just too busy I reckon!

Thank you so much for checking the website and copying the important details. I owe you one!


 


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MemoQ - Policy on upgrade fees?






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