Eric actually stated that this was the smart way to treat the new policy. I would imagine they may just have factored into their projections that people would do it this way.
Sadly, change is inevitable. Sometimes things work out sometimes they don’t.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Po-ta-to, Po-taw-to, To-ma-to, To-maw-to.
Sure, it does not stop working, I never said that, but the goal is steady revenue to get upgrades…which looks and feels and impacts my bank account like a subscription.
I have NO issue with paying for MAJOR upgrades…but this feels different.
Look, Apple and Adobe taught how to convert items to subscription fees (app games, etc.), and now thats the way to do things. But people are being bled dry by subscription fees, and at some point we are spending way to much.
Yeah, it feels different from the ‘minor upgrades free but pay for major upgrades’ policy that many use.
But, and it’s an interesting but, DXO and Exposure software, who use it, issue a major upgrade annually, without fail. So, actually, it’s almost the same as what Topaz offer with one major difference:
If I defer upgrading to the next DXO release for a couple of months and then pay for it I only get 10 months of free minor upgrades.
With Topaz if I defer for a few months I still get 12 months of free minor AND major upgrades. If Topaz get into the routine of annual major updates I could defer a little bit and then get TWO major upgrades for one annual payment. 
I doubt they’ll do that. But Topaz’s model is more flexible than some of their competitors…
I agree, from that perspective, it is a better policy.
I can understand your need to start charging for upgrades but this means you will need to start producing better products coming out of the gate! As a long time customer, I have been able to give you some slack as you smooth and upgrade your products. If you are going to charge for the product, give a one year warranty then start charging for the bugs in your product I think that is a problem. I currently have a support request for an acknowledged problem with Mask AI. I have had to fall back to Remask 5 until the Mask AI issue is fixed.
I want to continue being a customer and recognize the need to charge for upgrades but you are going to have to raise your standards the same as I have to raise my selection standards.
$500 over 5 years for lil changes makes most of us start searching yet again for a company who won’t nickel and dime us to death with a slowly leaking feature parade for a product it should have had day one.
I don’t want to pay a company for what ultimately will become bloatware.
But why would you pay for little changes?
As I said in my post above, the smart people will only pay when Topaz release an upgrade worth having.
Like me, you’re a software engineer - you know this business and that their move to paid upgrades will incentivise them to provide high quality releases. Otherwise customers will walk…
I completely understand the reason and appreciate your need to improve, basically in the long run it will help me. Thanks for all your hard work and I will continue to use, Topaz. I’m a fan!
Hi Albert!
Any 32 bit applications have been moved to legacy and have been replaced.
You can find more information on our Topaz Labs Legacy Products Page.
Hi Sandra,
Our AI Products and Studio 2 are our current products. You can see which products have been moved to Legacy/replaced on our Topaz Labs Legacy Products Page.
This will go into effect August 2020
You are not required to purchase upgrades. You can choose to stay on the version you have in August 2020 if you’d like.
Assuming the last version you updated to is compatible with the new OS or Lightroom version, you will not be required to update.
Good Afternoon,
I was not able to find any support tickets in our system under the email address you have used here regarding DeNoise AI v 2.0.0.
If you are still experiencing an issue with DeNoise AI please submit a ticket here
Hi John,
We released an update to Mask AI yesterday (v. 1.1.0). You can get it using the installers below:
Mask AI Mac Installer
Mask AI Windows Installer
I wasn’t able to find a support ticket under this email address regarding Mask AI in our system. If you are still experiencing issues related to Mask AI please submit a support ticket here
Good Afternoon!
We do not have separate “full” and “trial” versions. Because we want everyone to have the opportunity to try our product in its entirety before buying it, we offer one version of the software with a trial mode. You can exit out of the trial mode after purchase by going to Help → Update Product Ownership, or if you previously logged into a trial using a different email address than the one you purchased with, go to Community → Switch Users and log back in using the correct email address.
Good Afternoon!
Just wanted to let you know we did release an update to Mask AI yesterday (v1.1.0)
You can get the latest version using the links below or by opening the application and going to Help → Check for Software Updates.
Mask AI Mac Installer
Mask AI Windows Installer
If you continue experiencing issues with Mask AI you can submit a support request here
Good Afternoon!
I believe the quote below from Eric answers this question.
Good Afternoon!
Just wanted to let you know we released an update to Mask AI yesterday (v 1.1.0).
You can get the new version using the links below:
Mask AI Mac Installer
Mask AI Windows Installer
If you are still experiencing issues with Mask AI, please submit a support request here.
That would depend on whether or not bug fixes are co-mingled with the minor upgrades. Topaz has not clarified that. There may well be pressure to upgrade on minor improvements if that is the only way to get needed proper functionality.
Minor improvements should never create proper functionality. Minor bugs are inconveniences that don’t prevent the software working and probably be worked around. Things like the app not ‘knowing’ where it should offer to save the photo but offering a dialog box starting at My Computer is a minor bug.
If a bug stops the app working properly then it is a major bug. Whether or not major bug fixes should ever be paid for is debatable.
At the moment, we all have free updates until at least August. If we experience major bugs then we should raise them with Topaz and push to get them fixed.
If a product release near August (etc) causes a major problem I’d expect Topaz to give me the fix for it whether I have an active support period or not. I suspect, in those circumstances, they would do the right thing.
Wrong. Existing users (of Gigapixel AI) have a contract including free life time updates and upgrades. Imagine the other part of the contract - the customer - would change the contract after buy one sided to his advantage and then let you know that you just have to accept that. In what sort of business world do you guys live? -.-
