They does, and that’s the point. A subscription model would be the expensive solution I’ve referred at in my previous post, and I am not saying it would be the best solution. Many SW developers have implemented a subscription service which didn’t work either. The problem is how fast we would like to see the fixes. Since the fixes came for free (“work as advertised”), I honestly believe Steinberg does well enough, but anybody could disagree. If the manufacturer wants me to pay for the service, I don’t think any payable fee will be fast enough for us. In fact, how can any developer guarantee any given fix time to fix some bug they don’t know it exists in the first place? And if I have to pay for it, I will definitely ask for some response time guarantee.
We can discuss if every new version should be tested better before delivery, and I can agree in some extent. It also costs A LOT (if you have a friend who works as a SW Tester, ask her/him), and it obviously will be added to the final price.
At the end, it is all about balance between a well tested product, a better version every year, and a support team that delivers. I my honest opinion, I think Steinberg does well regarding that balance. I got an state-of-the-art product, which my business could depend on, at a fair price, and with an acceptable (for me, at least) response time from Customer Support. None of the bugs that came from all my previous versions of Cubase was fatal. Even so, I always keep the previous version at my desktop, just in case, and never had to use it since C5. Trust me, I use Cubase for living.
Regards,
Martin