This article describes in more details how WireframeSketcher’s maintenance works.
Is your license perpetual?
All licenses are perpetual and come with 1 year of maintenance which includes email support, all major and minor updates within this period, and access to online sharing service. You can opt for a longer maintenance period of 2 or 3 years. Once your maintenance period expires you can continue using the last version that you already own, indefinitely.
Benefits or renewing software maintenance
Renewing your software maintenance is entirely optional, but it ensures that you have access to the following benefits:
Software updates
WireframeSketcher continues to evolve and we release frequent and significant updates every 1-2 months. An active software maintenance ensures that you continue receiving updates for another 12 months. Please see our blog and the changelog for the details on what we’ve been working on.
Support
You’ll continue to receive our support for another 12 months. We take your satisfaction seriously and pride ourselves in providing fast and helpful support.
Access to online sharing
Our maintenance includes free access to online sharing service. As long as you have an active maintenance you can upload and share your wireframes online using our servers.
Access to latest stencils
We maintain a directory of wireframe and mockup stencils that can be used to extends WireframeSketcher’s functionality. Although we don’t tie stencils to a specific version of WireframeSketcher, some of them do take advantage of the latest features that are only available in newer versions.
When software maintenance starts?
For new licenses your 12 months maintenance starts on the day of payment confirmation. For renewed licenses your maintenance starts from the expiration date of the previous maintenance.
Please note that maintenance renewals commence from the date of the expiration date of the previous maintenance, regardless of when the maintenance renewal was purchased.
What happens when software maintenance ends?
At this point you can opt to renew your maintenance or continue using the last version that you already own. If you opt to continue using your current version then here’s a guideline to determine what’s your last supported version is.
Lets say you have purchased a license on the 1st of May 2013. On this date the most recent version of WireframeSketcher was 3.9.1. The 12 months maintenance period has ended on the 1st of May 2014. During this period we’ve released 12 updates and the latest version was WireframeSketcher 4.2.5 from April 8 2014. If at this point you choose not to renew then you can continue using version 4.2.5, that you already own, indefinitely. However if you wish to use WireframeSketcher 4.2.6 released on May 20 2014 then you’ll need to renew your maintenance.
We recommend renewing your license as this way you can always use the latest version with all the latest developments and which is compatible with the most recent versions of your OS, Eclipse IDE and other software. If you choose not to renew then we recommend that you keep a backup of WireframeSketcher version that you already own. We also maintain an archive with old versions that were released during the past year.
Can maintenance end dates be aligned on different licenses?
Yes multiple licenses can be merged and their maintenance end dates aligned, although the process is not automatic. Please send us an email with the details of the licenses that you wish to merge and we’ll calculate the merged cost and email you the renewal link.
As a rule, the merged maintenance will have 12 months and will start on the day of payment confirmation. The merged cost will only include the remaining maintenance period of each merged license to be aligned with the new end date.
How much maintenance renewal costs?
Maintenance can be renewed at a 30% of the initial cost (70% discount) for each additional 12 months. You’ll receive an automatic email notification with all the required details. Maintenance renewals commence from the expiration of the previous maintenance period, regardless of when the renewal is purchased. If you miss the renewal date by more than one year, you may still upgrade to the latest version at a discount by opting for 2 or 3 years maintenance.