Shame on Agilebits and 1Password

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I have been a hearty and enthusiastic user and advocate of 1Password. It is an awesome bit of software that greatly improves the security and experience using the internet. A password store, one of its strengths was the cross platform package, and the plugins and apps for your phone. I used it on my macs and my work PC, using dropbox to keep it all synchronized everywhere I was at.

For $40, to get the windows and Mac package, it was well worth the money.

Alas, the Agilebits folks have gone greedy. The version on the Mac went from version 3 to 4. A paid upgrade. Not a huge deal, I don’t mind an upgrade fee to keep software current, and up to date. But this upgrade broke the PC side. Suddenly my dropbox data store was jacked. And the plugin for version 4 on the mac just plain crashes on the PC.

Once you upgrade your database to version 4, the PC version can still read it, but it seems to not be able to add new login credentials. Boo. And you have to jump through hoops on the Chrome browser, because it will try to load the version 4 plugin, which is NOT supported on the PC.

The support forums claim that they are furiously working on the PC upgrade, but it will be another paid upgrade. So instead of upgrading both packages for one fee, I am going to get to pay twice for it.

And then I found that my app for my iPhone no longer can access my logins. How much for the new version? A shocking $17.99. Really?  I have bought both the iPhone and iPad app in the past.  I could see a buck or two, but eighteen bucks?  Fuck me.

Alas, there really isn’t a competitor.  Yes, I could go the keepass route, and have a largely manual but secure repository of logins. But there is no good way to export my 1Password data into it. And with over 600 logins recorded, I am not going to do that by hand.

I get that it costs money to develop and improve the package, that the testing and maintenance of the browser plugins is a complex task. But the current path you are on is close to alienating an early user, who has probably referred 20 people who bought your package. You really need to think about your pricing for upgrades, and your customer loyalty.

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geoffand

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