I think the old saying "No use crying over spilt milk" applies here.

These are tactics that have been used since the beginning of commercial software. SM isn't the first and certainly won't be the last ;o).

I'm with aeilkema on this one, but for a different reason: I tend not to be an early adopter because I want the bugs to be worked out before I buy the software, even if I means that everyone else gets to play first. I made that mistake with Vue 4 and won't make it again ;o).

As for the marketing tactics that SM uses, if they capitulated to every gripe that everyone had about when they bought, what they paid, who got what when, then they'd  have to give away half the store. Consider this: your reward is that you got to play with it as soon as it came out (and with the problems with the release, that was NOT meant as an invitation to begin bashing the product). Buying anything is a gamble if you consider when and where you buy. You buy a fridge and sure enough, the next month another store in your area is gonna have it for half of what you paid for it (and it might even be the very same store). That mean you'll go back to the store you bought the fridge from and demand they give you half your money back? I assure you, they'd laugh you right out of the store ;o).

Laurie