Chip,
I think it is important for people to be objective in their evaluations.

It is really easy to want someone to blame, and if you are having any problems with your software it becomes an easy target.

By the same token we as end users expect things to work as advertised and paid for.

Business models can change. A company needs to do what they need to do to stay in business. Most of us understand that. Prices go up. Mine have. It is just a fact of life.

I expect to pay a fair price for high end software. I also expect it to work. That doesnt make me a software "hater", just one with certain expectations.

Our clients expect a certain level of quality from us. If we don't deliver, they will go else where.
We as consumers have to do the same things. Unfortunatley we sometimes need to use our pocketbooks to communicate our displeasure when all else fails.

If any of us took our car to be repaired and it was not done correctly what would we do?
Would we accept it as the way it is or would we complain about it? Most reasonable people would complain and expect the situation to be rectified.

E-on does seem to have a different way of dealing with customers from what I have observed.
It can be a cultural thing as well.  I am not advocating vilifying anyone or a particular company.

Open and fair dialog is important.

I for one, speak directly regarding my observations. We were testing Ozone 4.0 Beta and the software crashed Max 24 times in one day. What should we say?  What opinions should we form from that? Isn't it fair to let others in the forums know the issues we have encountered?
We commented that the software was cool, but was a crash-fest. It was an honest evaluation.
It doesn't mean I am an E-on "hater"..

Best regards,
David