Zend suck

I bought a copy of the Zend IDE, version 1, in 2001. It wasn't much of an editor back then, but it had potential, and a great deal. Buy now, support the company, and get a lifetime license and upgrades. Cool.

Not cool that they don't want to honour it. When version 4 came out, my key stopped working. OK, so they changed the protection system, ho hum, request a new key.

What? They have never heard of the deal I bought?

After chasing it up, with a very nice Zend tech, I was told the following in email :

Dear Mr. Berry,

Please accept my apologies, I checked with some of the veterans and you are correct.

Please see your Pickup Depot - it's waiting for you there.

Sincerely,

Idan Zuckerman

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Berry [mailto:natch]
Sent: Thu 24 February 2005 18:59
To: idan@zend.com
Subject: Perpetual Licence

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Hi, I bought a license for the Zend IDE in 2001, when it was a perpetual license for early adopters.

Is it a perpetual license that entitles us to continued upgrades, if not support?

I thought it was, and I have upgraded through 2, 3 and 3.5. But my key wont work for 4, and after talking to a Zend rep, I'm told I have to buy the upgrade.

I may have the wrong end of the stick, but I thought that in return for stumping up the cash early on and supporting Zend, I was to receive future versions of the IDE (now studio).

Cheers, Mark.

I have continued to use it, up to 5.1. Now that I want to use it for 5.2, same problem. Rep has never head of the deal, despite my attaching previous correspondence. As follows....

Subject: Re: Thank you for evaluating Zend Studio Hello Mark, Thanks for your reply and clarification of the Studio license. I have been with Zend for 4 years now and this is the first time I have ever run across this particular license condition. From what I have gathered, the original offer was for an upgrade from the Zend IDE to the Studio. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to confirm the upgrade to the 5.2 without a payment for the upgrade package, so will have to stick with my original quotation. Regards, Howard Clayman

I have had it since 2001, and not paid to upgrade, what more evidence does he need? Even if, as he suggests, I received a years free upgrade, what about the other years? Bah.

So, I'm just a little pissed at Zend now. I can not be bothered to fight over them breaking their contract with me, so I'm just going to give up.

Actually I ended up buying PHPEd, and have not looked back, its a great little editor, and suits me fine for the limited use I put it to. I'm a few years own the road from typing this up, and still using it.

Still irks me though.