What is Indigo Up-to-Date?
With Indigo 7 (released November 2016 - see Indigo 7 Release Pricing), we introduced a new subscription model for upgrades called Indigo Up-to-Date. Here are the features of your Indigo Up-to-Date subscription:
Unlike some other software subscription models, an active Indigo Up-to-Date subscription is not required to use your purchased Indigo license (see How it works below for details)
A one year Up-to-Date subscription is included with all Indigo 7 purchases (full or upgrade, though some customers receiving free Indigo 7 upgrades from Indigo 6 may receive a shorter free period depending on the age of the Indigo 6 license)
Up-to-Date subscriptions entitle you to all feature releases delivered during the subscription period
Up-to-Date subscriptions include an Indigo Reflector (reflectors are no longer available separately)
Up-to-Date subscriptions include Alexa voice control
After the included first year is over, you will need to renew your subscription (currently $59.95USD - check our blog for any pricing updates) to continue to receive feature releases and for remote reflector access
Bug fix releases will continue to be free after your subscription expires, but only for the feature release (i.e. 7.3 or 7.4, etc) of Indigo you were last entitled to use when the subscription expired (see How it works below for details)
In order to receive future feature releases you must maintain an ongoing and uninterrupted Up-to-Date subscription from the time of purchase, but we allow you to catch up the subscription (see next bullet point)
Expired subscriptions can be “caught up” within 12 months of expiration, but the subscription expiration/renewal date is always based on the original subscription time window in order to maintain the uninterrupted subscription period
If a subscription's expiration date is older than 12 months, then a new license purchase is required to get the latest version (there will be no upgrade pricing available)
How it works
To explain how it works, let's look at an example:
You are a current Indigo 6 customer and we release Indigo 7 on November 12, 2016. On that day, you purchase an upgrade from Indigo 6 -> Indigo 7 (v7.0.0) with an upgrade discount. That purchase includes a one year Indigo Up-to-Date subscription that entitles you to all upgrades (including major) that we will release from 11/12/2016 until 11/11/2017.
On 2/04/2017, we release a new build, v7.0.1. This is just bug fixes so you are entitled to it.
On 3/14/2017, we deliver a feature release, v7.1.0, which contains support for new devices and device types, perhaps adds some other functionality, etc. Because your Up-to-Date subscription is current, you are entitled to this upgrade as well. This continues throughout the life of your Indigo Up-to-Date subscription (ending 11/11/2017) for all subsequent releases (v7.2.x, v7.3.x, v7.4.x, even v8.0 if we were to release it during that time).
On 11/11/2017, your Up-to-Date subscription expires and, for whatever reason, you don't renew your subscription. The current version of Indigo at that time is v7.4.2. Your Indigo Reflector, which we are rolling into the subscription service, will become unavailable the next day (11/12/2017).
On 12/05/2017, we release a bug fix release, v7.4.3, which contains some bug fixs and perhaps a new model definition for an existing Insteon or Z-Wave device. You are entitled to that release because bug fix builds are always free within a specific major/minor version.
On 12/25/2017, we release v7.5.0, which contains a brand new plugin for the latest cool smarthome device. You are not entitled to this version because your subscription expired before we delivered this feature release. For all intents and purposes, v7.4.x (including all subsequent 7.4 bug fix builds) is the last version you will be able to use unless you renew your subscription.
If you had updated your subscription, you would be entitled to v7.5.0 and any other feature releases that we delivered during the following year (11/12/2017 through 11/11/2018).
For the first year after your subscription expires, you may catch up your Up-to-Date subscription at any time. In this example the subscription renewal will cover 11/12/2017 through 11/11/2018, regardless of when you purchase it during that period of time. Essentially, you’re catching up your expired subscription to the current version, which includes all releases we delivered during that period of time.
If, however, you don't catch up your subscription within one year of your previous subscription expiring (a full two years after the purchase of Indigo 7), then you'll need to repurchase Indigo to start a new subscription. We may offer a slight discount to upgrade from the previous version, but it will not be what we have historically offered, probably more in the 10% off range. We believe that any upgrades that are older than two years and haven't had an active subscription basically constitute a new purchase.
You will not be forced to have an active subscription. As you can see from above, if you don’t renew your subscription, you will be forever entitled to use v7.4.x (whatever bug fix builds are available for v7.4). This is unlike subscription models some big software companies use, where you must have an active subscription to use the software.
We are also rolling our Indigo Reflector Subscriptions into Indigo Up-to-Date, so you will only have one subscription per Indigo purchase that covers everything (and you’ll get a free year of reflector service with your purchase of Indigo 7). When upgrading to Indigo 7, we will adjust the Up-to-Date expiratin date by the prorated amount of time left on your existing yearly reflector subscription. Reflectors will only be available with Indigo Up-to-Date, but existing subscriptions for Indigo 5/6 reflectors will continue to work and auto-renew until your license is upgraded to Indigo 7.
Why exactly are we doing this?
The reasons for these changes are numerous - we'd like to outline some of them here. As the Indigo platform continues to evolve to support new smart home technologies and features, we continue to evaluate how best to sell and support Indigo upgrades while increasing responsiveness to the demands of this rapidly evolving market.
Our model had been to release a major upgrade (Indigo 6 -> 7) approximately every 18-24 months, and offer paid upgrades with different discounts based on which version a customer last purchased. In between major upgrades we would offer free upgrades to all interim versions, both minor (6.0 -> 6.1) and bug fixes (aka builds, 6.0.0->6.0.1). These updates always include new functionality as well as addressing any bugs that might have been identified.
This old pay-to-upgrade model does not allow us to respond to the new, rapidly evolving smart home market with the more frequent releases we all desire. We found ourselves in a position where we have had to delay, or "batch up”, new functionality into major paid upgrade releases, sometimes pushing important new features to later releases. This isn't a good situation for the Indigo platform strategically or for the customers that want the new functionality. We would prefer to be able to release new functionality more often, and a subscription based upgrade model will allow us to do that.
The subscription model idea is one used by many software companies. We're calling our plan Indigo Up-to-Date. When you purchase Indigo 7 (at full price or with the classical upgrade discount), it will also include a one year Indigo Up-to-Date subscription. Indigo Up-to-Date gives you access to all major and minor releases (bug fix builds are always free) during a one year period. Major releases will be used to deliver new significant functionality (new technology support, significant architectural changes such as the plugin SDK, etc.). We will begin shipping more frequent "feature" releases (7.0 -> 7.1) that will include many of the features historically added to major releases (new plugins, major new device types, new technology specific device types, etc.) and many additional features such as UI enhancements, new plugin APIs, new device types, etc. The new model will allow us to get more features out to you faster than in the past. Bug fix builds, identified by the third number (aka 7.0.1, 7.0.2), which have classically been our primary update vehicle, will continue be free (even if a subscription lapses) but will only include bug fixes and perhaps some minor updates (for instance, adding some simple new device hardware definitions).
At the end of the free one year Up-to-Date subscription that’s included with your purchase, you can renew your Indigo Up-to-Date subscription so you will continue to have access to all major and minor updates. We will likely also offer an auto-renew subscription will keep your Indigo purchase Up-to-Date as long as the subscription is active. More details on that will be forthcoming.