[emory]

It wasn't and isn't ad hominem to point out the stupidity of other people in general. It would be ad hominem if I said "So-and-so is an idiot".[1]

To return to the discussion however: the people that paid anything more than nothing for a "shopping list app" aren't the customer base I think OmniGroup is marketing to, and if they're unhappy because their Grocery List App gets an update a week after they bought it, I don't think they'd care. And if they do care, they are paid off in the form of a full refund by OmniGroup (I've seen at least two instances where an idi^H^H^H mentally challenged? person bought OmniFocus and then threw a tantrum because it didn't do whatever feature that a cheaper or free application does and OmniGroup dutifully intervenes and says "here's your money back go away".

If they're buying OmniFocus to manage a shopping list, they're not cost-driven customers. If they'll pay USD$20 for a Shopping List, they'd probably pay $30, and they may never even interact with OmniGroup or their users in any way.

As for upgrade prices on OmniProducts, I've purchased OmniFocus on iPad, iPhone and OS X, OmniGraffle Pro and I didn't even know that there was an upgrade price available on OmniGraffle Pro. In the case of OmniGraffle Pro, I would consider an upgrade price to be a way to convert a purchaser that wouldn't buy the product at all because the current version suits their needs. It's a marketing move more than a customer/brand retention one.

I can't be the only one that finds it difficult to have a conversation about cost/ROI when we're a user base that purchases a premium brand of computer or mobile device and specialized software on top of that. A refined and polished experience is what everyone here expects, and we haven't exactly been paying market rate for our user experience, hardware and software since 1984, have we?