One very important lesson I learned from the China fiasco is that massive usage (over half a million confirmed users of the free version of Nexus) does not equal revenue. After all the money and effort invested, realizing this was a huge disappointment.

Cultural and price differences aside, this is probably largely due to the fact that the free version is simply too good - so good that it eliminated most incentive to upgrade. I already explained here that at the time, when Nexus was still competing with well established docks such as RocketDock and ObjectDock, I had no choice but to add features none of them offered. That strategic choice succeeded in making Nexus the go‑to dock back then, but it's come back to haunt me now.

Stardock’s scorched‑earth decision to then slash ObjectDock to a ridiculous price - tanking the perceived value of the entire category - certainly didn’t help either.

I cannot - and even if I could, I would not - take existing features away from the free version, and I have no intention of freezing updates to it either. As much as it pains me (and it truly does), the only sustainable option now is to reserve the most valuable new features for the paid versions.

I think the new “auto‑hide only when covered by the active window” behavior is a perfect example of the kind of feature that should remain exclusive to the paid versions. It’s genuinely useful, it improves the workflow, but it doesn’t cripple the free edition if it’s not there.

And so...

While I agree that you should not be freezing updates to the free version where these are bug fixes (or fixes to enable the existing version to continue working on new OS versions), I see no issue with not including any new functional updates into the free version - unless this causes you a version control / maintenance headache!

If I don't include *some* new useful features many users might simply stop updating the free version (why bother if everything new and interesting is for the paid versions?). It would almost be like "dead software", so *somethings* must trickle down. Also, each new release is another nudge to upgrade to a paid version.

Anyway, I think the Theme Builder is unfortunately going to have to wait for yet another release... I'm pretty sure it's going to be lengthy and complicated to finish. I got distracted with all the weather and PWA stuff, plus the changes to the weather module were very extensive...

I've already spent a ton of time on this and I feel we have more than enough new stuff for a new release (plus some other quality of life improvements and stability fixes):

PWA support
Dodge Windows auto-hide mode
Extended dock background
New backup Weather feeds and improved location and TMZ handling.

I think I'm inclined to agree with Techlobo - at least, I'd keep new features for the free Nexus to just the most minor ones and as few as possible.

Shame about China. That's a real bummer Jorge. I take it that means the deal with the reseller's off, and also no need for the CDN etc.

Definitely looks like there's enough new/improved stuff for a new 26.6 release.

So?


If the free version has everything they need why would they upgrade to the paid version? Your recent experience with China has demonstrated that, and if you keep enhancing the free version that just exacerbates the issue.

Perhaps you should introduce an interim product between Nexus (Free) and Nexus Ultimate, possibly Nexus+ (or Nexus Plus), and charge a lower entry-level fee for it (say £5). Then time-limit all new enhancements (as opposed to fixes) such that the user can trial them and then upgrade if they find that they would like to keep them. If not then they revert to the product level that they are obviously happy enough with.

It would create work for you as the product would need to be clear when an enhancement is being selected, and the timeline for its reversion. Also the actual reversion process itself. However you are trying to drive up product revenue....

Anyway its your baby, so you do you!

I think virtue is, as always, in the middle. Add only minor features and focus instead on highlighting what users gain by upgrading, through the new feature exposures and promo dialogs - something the free version simply wasn’t doing until now.

And speaking of the Promo dialogs, here’s another one (there are 17 of those now) - this time for the world clock/time‑zone feature.

I’m also feeling the itch to add this feature to the desktop clock module as well… and even support multiple locations in the weather module.

Previously - and pardon me if I have been repeating myself a bit lately, just juggling the ideas around - I was “stuck” on the notion that having multiple sessions of the desktop weather module showing different locations (for example) would require separate windows for each session - which would be a bit nightmarish to implement.

But after building the desktop disk module, and seeing how Picco handled this in themes like KTEK‑4D, I realized something important: all sessions can live inside the same container window - it’s the container that changes orientation, not the sessions themselves.

Each session simply loads its own settings, and the container arranges them vertically or horizontally as chosen by the user. For all intents and purposes, it is still "one module", not multiple, which makes it a lot easier to handle internally and makes everything backwards compatible in terms of themes.

That's just you looking for excuses not to get on with the Theme Builder!

Ehehe it is indeed a big undertaking...

But I will do it. Been getting a lot of stuff done lately.

Interesting point/idea from @techlobo. I think there might be something in that, no? After all, every new feature, no matter how minor, added to free Nexus could well be regarded as another disincentive to upgrade.

Something that's been bugging me about these dialogues - why limit the upgrade path to Ultimate and not also give the option of Xtreme, Jorge? In a way, this omission strikes me as possibly working against Xtreme, in favour of Ultimate.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. The promo dialog for desktop modules specifically mentions Xtreme though.

The natural first step for most users is Ultimate. If I present both Ultimate and Xtreme at the upgrade moment, it actually hurts conversions: choice creates hesitation, and most users don’t yet understand what Xtreme adds.

It’s better to push a single, clear upgrade path than to split the message across two products and risk confusing people.

Once they land on the website, they’ll see Xtreme anyway - and the users who genuinely need the extra power will gravitate to it naturally.

Well, I have to concede Jorge, you have a point there. Especially as it's so evident from so many posts here how easily people do get confused etc. - alas!