Skip to main content

⚠️ Please note that this topic or post has been archived. The information contained here may no longer be accurate or up-to-date. ⚠️

Use free upgrade to go from LE 3.7 Win to 4.0 Mac?

Derekasaurus Rex
I'm trying to redeem my free upgrade from LE 3.x (Win) to 4.0 (Mac) but Phase One is telling me I must pay to switch platforms. This doesn't make sense to me, so can anyone check my understanding of the license?

I initially purchased Capture One LE 3.6 for Windows and since then I have upgraded to 3.7.x. None of these minor updates counted as a paid upgrade, so I still have the original free upgrade that came with my LE 3.6 license. (Phase One's site confirms that I'm still entitled to one free upgrade.)

I've been told by Phase One support and it's been said in these forums that 4.0 is a cross-platform license, and the CO 4.0 site even says Capture One 4.0 is a cross-platform application allowing you to install it on both Mac and Windows.

However, when I tried to activate 4.0 on my Mac with my LE 3.x license it said invalid license code. I entered a support case to redeem my free upgrade to get a code that works with 4.0, but I was told that I would have to pay US$/EUR 59 to change platforms. They said I can't run 4.0 on my Mac without paying.

This makes no sense to me; 4.0 is clearly advertised as cross-platform, and I don't see any fine print saying that 4.0 is cross platform unless you are upgrading from LE, in which case you are locked to the platform of your original license. But that's what this rep is telling me; that 4.0 is only cross-platform if you "upgrade" from 3.x PRO (a cross-platform license) or you buy a brand new 4.0 license.

I'm trying to fight this, but can someone here comment if I'm in the right? Should my free upgrade from LE 3.x (Win) entitle me to a 4.0 license that works on both Windows and Mac, or just Windows, the original platform for which I purchased 3.6?
0

Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • Anonymous
    Derekasaurus Rex,

    Past LE Licenses are platform specific.
    If you own one of these LE licenses and want to change platforms, the cost is $59.00 USD.

    SanDisk LE License Keys and Leica License Keys are cross platform.
    NEW purchase of Capture One 4 License is cross platform.

    The 1 Free UpGrade is to move from 3.7x to 4 and does not allow a platform change.

    Regards,
    K C
    Capture One Software Sales Manager - US
    0
  • Derekasaurus Rex
    Then as a 3.x LE (Win) license owner how do I obtain a true cross-platform (Mac+Win) license? Do I have to pay full price and simply purchase 4.0 outright? I don't just want to switch platforms -- I want a license that works on both platforms, just like any new customer would get with 4.0.

    Are you saying my free upgrade that came with 3.x LE (Win) is useless toward obtaining such a license?

    If so, this seems very dishonest. Nowhere in the 4.0 documentation or on the site does it say that 4.0 is cross-platform unless you are upgrading from some LE licenses.

    It seems to me that the so-called free upgrade from 3.x should upgrade existing users to exactly the same license that new customers get, not a restricted version.

    Furthermore, there doesn't even seem to be a paid upgrade path from 3.x to cross-platform 4.0, so existing LE users don't get any credit at all, even if they have a so-called free upgrade. Must we buy CO again at full price to get the cross-platform license?

    I am very surprised that Phase One would treat existing LE customers like this. As someone who invested time with 4.0 Beta1 and Beta2 and submitted bug reports to improve the product, I feel very short-changed now that I'm being told to buy the product for full price in order to get the same licensing as a new customer.
    0
  • Paul82
    [quote="Derekasaurus Rex" wrote:
    I am very surprised that Phase One would treat existing LE customers like this. As someone who invested time with 4.0 Beta1 and Beta2 and submitted bug reports to improve the product, I feel very short-changed now that I'm being told to buy the product for full price in order to get the same licensing as a new customer.

    I think that's appalling. Consider that:
    1) It's Incredibly late
    2) It's very slow on PPC Macs, after Phase One comments that it was going to be optimised for PPC before release; it hasn't been - it still takes 5 seconds for the 100% view to 'focus' on a dual G5 with 2Mb RAM
    3) Scroll through the thumbnails and they turn into a mush of a kaleidoscope pattern; a beta effect that seems to have been retained in the release version.
    4) So many times I've seen Phase One say 'That's going to be a Pro feature' about something that was always in version 3.7, making this version 4 rather lacking in comparison
    5) Version 4 seems to be missing the incredibly important (I'm sure this isn't just me) keyboard shortcuts for exposure, brightness, contrast etc. No doubt that will be a Pro feature too, when we always had it in 3.7

    In the face of all that, why on earth would it matter to Phase One what platform you ran it on? Who cares? I'd have thought that was the least of their worries.

    I actually really love the quality of output from C1 LE version 4. I think they have a really good coder in there somewhere, but considering the time it's taken, it doesn't feel like more than just the one, and he or she seems to be suffering at the hands of the (non-existent?) PR department. It makes me wonder how a firm that makes some of the best medium-format hardware in the world can be so unaware of their audience. I've just heard, on this list, that V4 LE will not do 'soft proofing' and that's going to be a Pro feature. The beauty of LE was that it used the same engine as the Pro version and just lacked a few features such as sessions, things that didn't matter to me much. It seems very different now, a whole different philosophy.
    0
  • Derekasaurus Rex
    FYI, after entering two support cases I finally got some clarification from Phase One regarding their licensing policy, which is basically as Keith described. Basically the free upgrades issued with software purchases (like the free upgrade I got when I bought my Windows copy of CO LE 3.x) are good for up upgrading the software, but not the license.

    So even though Phase One updated the CO LE 4.0 license to multi-platform (Win+Mac) and that's what all new 4.0 buyers get, 3.x upgraders are bound to their original license. Thus since back in the day 3.x did not come with a multi-platform license, my 4.0 license will be Windows-only, which is what I purchased back then. (Assuming I decide to purchase 4.0 at all.) This is an unfortunately penalty on Mac switchers, IMHO.

    I believe, quite simply, that an upgrade should cover the software and the license, and it should grant me the same terms of use as a new 4.x customer. Phase One disagrees.

    If I choose to upgrade to 4.0 (Mac) at the end of my 30-day evaluation, I will have to pay USD 59 for a "cross-grade", which is really a Mac-only license. Then I will have my old key for 2 Windows activations, and my newly purchased "cross-grade" key for 2 Mac activations.

    I'm not happy about this because I resent that my "free" upgrade will cost $59 to get the same license as a new 4.0 customer, but it is what it is, so there isn't much sense griping about it, especially since I have made my views clear in a support case. But this has made me take a closer look at CS3/ACR, DxO Optics, Aperture, Lightroom, and other alternatives, as I'm not eager to give my money, even a modest sum, to a company with who's upgrade and licensing practices I disagree with. Nor am I as likely to recommend CO to others.
    0
  • Paul Steunebrink
    Hi Derekasaurus,
    It's a free world, do what you like. You could also buy yourself a Sandisk card and get a Win/Mac LE for free. Just an option. I sincere hope that whatever you do, you will be happy with it and not regret your decision later.
    0

Post is closed for comments.