really? You want me to buy Luminar 4
I am very disappointed at the change in your policy. I bought Luminar knowing that it is an interesting program with some problems. In fact, it's still a beta version compared to Adobe programs. But I recommended it to my friends saying (as it turned out incorrectly) that they will have updates and patches for a long time. And it turned out that I lied to them. I was surprised myself, buying the program after 8 months I will be forced to buy a newer version to get updates. 8 months! Not two years, not a year !! I have not encountered such a situation in a long time that the termination of support was communicated so quickly.
The program still has some disadvantages that prevent you from working in the long run. It is very slow and unstable (Windows). To get rid of these flaws, you want me to buy another version, probably still the beta version of the real program.
I was very disappointed after just 8 months. Maybe I will continue to use Luminar 3, but I will definitely not buy version 4, just looking for an alternative. Once again, I will not buy the beta version after a half year of use. I am convinced that it's not just me.
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Hi Lukasz,
Let me try to clarify the situation:
The announcement of Luminar 4 doesn’t mean that we are going to abandon Luminar 3.
We will still keep Luminar 3 updated.
Please make sure to check the roadmap:
https://skylum.com/luminar/roadmap
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Hi Anna,
Do you want me to believe that you will correct all the mistakes? Suddenly it will be stable and fast software? Always the largest resources go to creating new software as it has already been released. I will have to use other alternatives, there are a lot of them. Today you surprise me after eight months (and probably others after an even shorter time), a year after three months or even less. It's enough for me, I prefer a stable environment, stable and predictable company policy. I said goodbye to Adobe because of that. I regret but you give me no choice.
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Yeah, I have to admit this does leave a very sour taste in my mouth. I just bought Luminar 3 about 2 and a half months ago, and it's already been phased out by the soon to be released Luminar 4. While I do believe you will continue to support Luminar 3, you will unlikely be planning any further features or stability past what is on the roadmap, which is quite limited as is. I used to pay for the subscription from Adobe around 120€ annually. If I were to buy Luminar 4, I would have spent MORE than 120€ in less than 6 months for software that would later still need more upgrades. As is, Luminar 3 crashes constantly, lacks a lot of basic features and takes a long time to export images, but I bought into it because it looked promising. Seeing that it will cost me more than my Adobe subscription annually I am unlikely to continue using it, count is as a loss, and go back to Adobe. The most sour feeling in my mouth is that ... it's been a few months and I'm already being asked to pay more.
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Yep, Luminar 3 will never be properly developed even to be on par with Lightroom 6. Given the cost of L4 and without any real chance of it being almost as good as Lightroom 6 I've cut my losses and I'm staying with Lightroom. It works out being very little more expensive and you get a working program - not to mention Photoshop thrown in. And I will get a program that is light years ahead of Luminar. If you want cheap and very cheerful try Affinity, they actually update it with useful improvements. An idea beyond the reach of Skylum.
Just another ex customer. P'sst, anybody want to buy a Luminar license real cheap?
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I share the concerns that customers are upset and they feel like they are being lied to. I purchased Luminar 2018 and it said that I would get updates for life. Considering how much work goes into software development, I thought it was a lie and I was right. The major issue with the marketing strategy of lying to your customers is that luminar/Skylum is targeting the prosumer market. That target group doesn't like being lied to, and doesn't have the technical knowledge to appreciate how much work goes into software development. When you say free updates for free they think great I'll get the next version for free. They don't have the technical understanding to know the difference between software branches and tree branches, and it's native to think they do. They think it should be free like every other app on their phone. The marketing material should be clear, say that you'll get you'll get the next major release included. I'm a prosumer and I like Luminar, but I think your making critical mistakes that is costing your damage to your business. I was at the camera store and saw customer looking at the advertising for Luminar 3 in a magazine while waiting for the clerk. When someone asked if Lumiar was any good, other customer's reaction was extremely negative because they didn't get the update from 3 to 4 included in their purchase. So they moved onto a different editor.
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I have an Engineering degree so I think I have the "technical knowledge to appreciate" the effort that goes into software development. To suggest that customers are so simple that they think "free for life" means free upgrades for life is insulting. In fact many of your comments above are patronizing. You must be a Skylum employee or a SO of one.
I don't expect desktop software to update they way phone apps do. It's a different paradigm. I've been involved in computing, including programming, since 1973. I do not expect a free Luminar 4 because I bought Luminar 3. Actually, I didn't. I received Luminar 3 free because even Skylum at the time was ashamed of how far they fell short on promises made for the 2018 version that were never delivered or that did not work if they were. They seemed to have fixed that by lowering their ethics instead of improving their technical ability to deliver what they promise.
I do expect software to have the features promised for that particular version and for those to work properly. I also expect a company that unequivocally states "no more paid upgrades for the rest of 2019" to not pull a bait-and-switch by renaming said upgrade in August to "Luminar 4" and using that to justify breaking their word.
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Using Luminar as a simple novice photographer hoping to create some fine art B&W prints. And as a career Software and Quality Assurance Engineer fully understand that software evolution is complicated but as a Customer also counting on the "Free Updates for Life" promise from Skylum. So far, I've been reasonably satisfied with Luminar but have yet to use the DAM feature or the program to it's fullest.
So IMHO the question becomes - What does "Free Updates for Life" really mean if development of new features are directed to Luminar v4?
Software development and related ongoing support issues can sometimes be painful for both sides of the equation but the loss of Customer confidence in the company through unmet or misleading promises is much more damaging...
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There will be free updates for the life of L3. But rather than make L3 a competitor for Lightroom 6, never mind Classic, Skylum gets around the problem by introducing L4. There will be free updates for this until L5 arrives.
I tell you, they are doing their best to drive us back to Lightroom. Another company not to be trusted overly much. But it is easy to move from Luminar for it only cost $80 or so. Bottom line, Lightroom Classic + Photoshop looks increasingly interesting. And Lightroom 6 users don't have to learn a new program
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IMHO, it would be smart for Skylum to grandfather Luminar v3 Users with free upgrade to Luminar v4.
And then perhaps implement some sort of formal beta release/test process to this group where less than "perfect" software is acknowledged and accepted by the Customer and in return provide Skylum with curated benefit from extra testing/debug...
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OK Skylum need money to stay in business.
Given the state of the software and if the new AI works what is a reasonable update charge?
£10 off the new full price is an treating users as idiots.
£20/25 for an upgrade maybe fair although a free upgrade to 4 would help Skylum's reputation in the long run.
I will not be upgrading to 4 but will watch progress and maybe 10 will be worth an upgrade?
If lots of users take this route they will loose more that a reasonable annual upgrade charge.
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I may or may not buy Luminar 4, but I won't pre-order and I'll never buy another Skylum product based on what's coming. If and when Luminar has a proper library and DAM as was promised with 2018, I will likely buy it. And by proper, I mean basic functionality like was found in Bridge 1.0. How can a DAM not have metadata or keywords?
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Notice no Skylum employee is to be found here. They know that they are getting hammered and it's not just by people that bought the programs. Even one of their "ambassadors" has got L4 listed as a "do not purchase" in their blog. A companies reputation is only as good as the users say it is. It's blatantly obvious that Skylum is now in this for the quick buck and Windows users can go pound sand.
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Yep. This year it was the abandonment of promises made for L2018 and L3 because "management" figured the quick money is on AL gimmicks instead of making feature-rich reliable software. For all we know, L4 might be abandoned next year if they think they can do better with software for managing stamp collections.
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