Embarcadero is launching the new Update Subscription program for the RAD Studio family of products, a version of the old Maintenance and Support on steroids. The new program (described in details at www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/update-subscription ) is an addition to the perpetual product license and not a license subscription, exactly as the maintenance was. In other words, you buy the license and also enter this subscription to future updates and more. Not only this is similar to the Maintenance (which it is going to replace), but it also has basically the same price. So why a new name? Because a few things are changing:

  • On-going maintenance, that is updates and hot fixes for versions before the last so you can keep working on a version and have critical bugs fixes for much longer time (up to 2 years) than today
  • Early access to hot fixes, updates, and new releases (before they are final and public)
  • Exclusive bonus features (not restricted to special offers) and technical content (in a similar way of the language class I did last December for current users only)

This will be added on top of the core features, of course, that is getting each new version released while the subscription remains active and 3 support incidents. Of course, the Update Subscription makes most sense (and saves you money) in the long run, if you keep it renewing for a few years. There are already many RAD, Delphi, and C++Builder developers on maintenance, we'd really want this new subscription to become universal.

So on one side we plan offering more to developers on the Update Subscription... and on the other side we plan offering less to those not on the program (in terms of bonus features, content, long term hot-fixes and updates, etc). I guess the message should be quite clear. The Update Subscription is a cheap way to stay current, and offers value even if you don't plan immediately embracing new versions with your main projects.

It is not a coincidence that at the same time we are pushing this new subscription, we do have a special offer running to upgrade to XE7 from older versions if you get the Update Subscription, see www.embarcadero.com/radoffer. Finally, it is also a great time to move up to Enterprise, as you can read at www.embarcadero.com/products/rad-studio/enterprise-upgrade (well, adding the Update Subscription at the Enterprise level, of course).