Lord Ernie
First Post
Mate, I have no idea what you're talking about here, but the CB was updated once per month. That may have glitched once or twice (and the new webtools provide an explanation, valid or not, as to why), but by and large, the updates came on a montly basis. Stating that they didn't update their software enough is the reason for people pirating it is not only disingenuous, but makes me believe you don't know much about software piracy. In general, people pirate things because it makes them able to get things that cost money for free, but also simply because they can - providing them with incentive not to helps, but it does not in any way stop piracy.
As to those that used to update once or twice per year for $10: I wouldn't call you pirates, cheaters, without honor, or similar insults - you were just being smart with your money. It's what the old system allowed for, and frankly, it was WotC's own fault that's how their update system worked.
However, I believe it's also the major reason for this change. Whatever the old system allowed for, it's hard to believe it was their original intent to give people access to the content of several books and their in-house developed tool, all of which costs them development time - and thus money - for $10 every few months. As a business model, the old system was more or less retarded - you could legally get your hands on a lot of content for a fraction of the actual cost. Worse, just by violating the Terms of Use (which is a hard to check offense by any measure), you could spread this very cheap content around to 5 other people. Again: retarded.
Given that they couldn't just stop the service without pissing off and losing a whole lot more customers, switching to a subscription-based system really seems like the best move they had. Yeah, it pisses off some people, but it brings in more (those using Macs), fixes the problem with the business model I mentioned above, and gives them opportunities for further tools and faster updates as an extra bonus.
Their reasons for Siverlight are valid, and their lead dev has been posting on the WotC forums with explanations as to why. It may not be great for Linux and iPod/iPad users such as myself, but given the timeframe in which they were asked to come up with a new solution (6 months), developing the whole thing from scratch in another environment simply doesn't look feasible to me. Take it from someone who makes their living doing software development: writing complex programs takes time.
