Today i got this email: "In the month ending Aug 11, 2019, your Panorama X account was used for 6.50 hours on 1 computer. Based on this usage, your account has been debited by 1 month, leaving a balance of 27 active user months. "
So can someone explain how 6.5 hours of use translates to a full month’s usage?
Panorama X usage is billed in monthly increments. It’s not billed by the minute like electricity. Whether you use for an hour or 700 hours in a month, the charge is the same (a few dollars). There is a bit of grace for extremely light usage (you won’t be debited if you just open it and do a search one or two times in a month), but once you get past that, the charge is fixed. So if you use it a little bit in a month, you might as well use it a lot in a month. There is no clock ticking accumulating extra charges as you use it more.
I opened one of my computers with panoramax just to see what is was like. It says I used it 15 minutes. Then did the same on my other computer and it says 1.5 hours but actually it was just opened, I didn’t use it at all. Never was able to transfer any of my files from 6.0 over. I would say that would be extremely light usage, but I too was charged for a full month. I have used Panorama since Overvue. Purchased the upgrades to 6.0 and am very satisfied with the program. I would like the option of continuing to use Panorama 6.0. I would be willing to pay an additional one time fee even though I purchased it at the listed price when it was purchased.
I am 77 years old and can use panorama 6.0 for what I need. We have owned a Mom and Pop restaurant for 23 years now. I really do not want to put in the learning time and effort to re-learn a new program at this point. Quite satisfied with 6.0.
Maybe think about a fee for assistance for us old codgers if its ever needed. So far I haven’t had to call for many years now. Thanks for considering this.
You were only charged for use on one computer, not two.
It shows that you opened it three times and used it for 20-30 minutes each time.
The Panorama X pricing system was not designed with the intention that someone could use it “lightly” for free. If you use it, even lightly, you will be charged a few dollars for a month. So if you use it lightly, you might as well use it a lot, the charge is the same. (If you literally just open it once or twice in a month and use it for a minute then there is a grace period, but beyond absolutely minimal use, there is a charge. This is a business, and it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop Panorama X.)
If you keep using old versions of OS X, you can continue to use Panorama 6.0. Otherwise, you need to take this up with Apple. They decided to discontinue support for 32 bit software – that wasn’t ProVUE’s call.
I too am confused about the hourly/monthly thing. I just got my statement that says I used PanX 5 hours so I was debited for a whole month. Huh? Are you saying if one uses PanX for 1 hr or 100 hrs a month that’s a month’s usage? If it’s open but in the background does it accumulate hours?
So why not just charge a monthly fee (payable monthly or annually or whatever) and not bother with these confusing to some of us time reports? That’s what Adobe CC does.
That change is being considered.
What Panorama does is quite different than what Adobe CC does, however. Adobe charges you monthly, even if you don’t use the software at all. You aren’t charged for Panorama if you don’t use it in a month.
On the other hand, if you use Panorama on multiple computers simultaneously, it will automatically bill for the number of computers used. You don’t have to worry about deactivating/activating to switch computers, or purchasing additional copies. It’s very convenient for organization that want to use Panorama across their team, they can deploy as needed with any hassle.
The usage information is always available in the Site License window. So we may change the monthly emails to remove that information, which seems to confuse quite a few people.
Still confused Jim, sorry. Most of us, I assume, use on only one computer. Anyway… it seems odd that 5 hours = 1 month! I believe that if you billed monthly if PanX is used, and don’t bother reporting an hour = a month it may make it all a bit more palatable maybe? In other words, if someone does not use PanX at all in a month it doesn’t debit, if they do then one month is debited. It’s semantics I know but it seems less intimidating.
Panorama is primarily a tool designed for business, so though a lot of individuals do use it, it is used by a lot of organizations as well.
You’ve exactly got it, except that there is a little bit of “grace”. If you just open it once or twice, and do a search or two, it doesn’t debit.
By the way, simply having Panorama open, whether in background or foreground, doesn’t count as use. It only counts use if there are actual keyboard or mouse events.