When telerik first introduced the r.a.d.controls for WinForms last year, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that my existing r.a.d.controls for ASP.NET Developer Licenses included the WinForms controls for "free". Overnight my component toolbox doubled in size and I suddenly had some amazing "Office 12 esque" controls to spruce up my WinForms applications. But how could telerik afford to give me so many controls for less than a $1000 when other vendors are selling ASP.NET and WinForms component libraries for over $1200 each?!
The honeymoon for the WinForms controls ends in March. At that time the WinForms and ASP.NET controls will be separately licensed and priced as separate packages. It is unlikely that this change will have a negative affect on too many developers since we usually tend to specialize in Windows or Web development (if you haven't gathered from the blog by now, I lean towards the Web). Controls for the environment we don't live in are probably collecting dust in our toolboxes anyway.
If you are an ambidextrous programmer and you do use both r.a.d.controls for ASP.NET and WinForms, make sure you prepare for a little price increase in March if you want to get the 2007 r.a.d.control updates. And trust me, you want the 2007 updates...
2 comments:
Telerik has committed to making these controls available to current subscribers as stated on their forum. "... all holders of an active telerik r.a.d.controls subscription will get the new Windows Forms and Reporting products at no cost as part of their subscriptions."
Great blog!
Robert,
Thanks for pointing out that thread. It may be true that current subscription holders will be "grandfathered" into the new licensing scheme, but I'll need to double check with Ivo.
I know for sure that the WinForms and Reporting products will be separately licensed from the ASP.NET controls (WinForms in March, Reporting when it is released later this year) and will have their own pricing. I do not think the ASP.NET subscription license will include all three products (even for existing subscribers) by the end of the year.
I'll confirm these details and get back to you shortly.
Thanks~
Post a Comment