Yeah, you just wouldn’t get the extra plus stuff, but the app and projects would open etc fine.
The only issue you could potentially have is exporting a Wordpress them from your laptop, which may not be an issue for you.
Post-pandemic, everyone I know (including my entire staff) works on 2 Macs - one at home, one at work. Not being able to license on 2 Macs is really annoying.
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Ok, you may or may not like the 1 license thing, but @Norm will surely find a way to simplify the process of logging in and out. @AdieJAM has already made a good suggestion.
For me, this was no reason not to upgrade, because I’ve gotten to know and love the software over the past few years. So MANY advantages outweigh this one disadvantage. I couldn’t/wouldn’t want to imagine web design without Blocs. The ease of use, the great time savings (because of the ease of use), the constant further development of the software (look how far the software has come compared to version 1), the fair price and last but not least a fair and helpful developer and community.
Was that a bit heavy on the drama, maybe, but I like working with Blocs, and I’m already looking forward to the new features and improvements that the next versions of Blocs will bring in the future. 
Thanks, and congrats for this new version of Blocs.
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Guys and gals, stop complaining and buy this thing. Apart from the fact that Blocs is a great software, we support a small company that works idealistically and diligently. Sure, in these times you have to watch your spending and not everyone here resells the websites they create, but please, how much money do you often spend on useless things… It’s important to me that Blocs doesn’t become a subscription model. And I want to support the project. Just my 2 cents.
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It’s not about money per se. I personally don’t have to watch my spending. I could buy 100s of licenses if I wanted to. But I find it annoying that they removed a very useful feature—that’s more or less standard with software—that they could make available at no cost.
Does the Blocs team really guesstimate that everyone who would profit from dual licenses will step up and buy Blocs two times over?
I would say that we’re in single digit territory %-wise if we compare ‘users who buy multiple licenses’ compared to 'users who would benefit from being able to use Blocs on Desktop+Laptop. By my estimation (which could be off, admittedly) you have a small extra income compared to a large number of disappointed/frustrated/annoyed users. Some of them longtime users. I personally don’t see the win for Blocs in this calculation. Especially if they’d use it to push more users to the Plus plan, which I suggested above. That would cover quite a bit of the dual Blocs 5 vs single Blocs 5 Plus gap anyway.
Were you a Blocs 4 user? And you bought Blocs 5? Are you not planning on buying Blocs 6?
Trust me, if you enjoy Blocs, in all relevant metrics you are already subscribing.
Me too. That’s why I insta-bought Blocs 5 Plus (an upgrade from my previous Blocs 4, no Plus) before I had to back paddle and do a re-take to thing about how I feel about this.
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I decided to buy a second license for my additional computer. It got to a point where the additional cost was worth less to me than the headache of license juggling. I’m still upset, but I’ll get over it. I rely on Blocs for all of my personal business websites, and the new features are worth more than the additional $88 Norm deserves from me. I’m still planning to support Blocs, especially when offering recommendations to friends and colleagues. The app is still incredible.
Hopefully this whole thing can still be ironed out for future upgrades / updates, because I’m still firm in my belief that I as a human purchased a license (not the computer the app is on) and that license should easily travel with me. I remember on Blocs 1 (or 2), Norm had a system where we were able to digitally activate and deactivate licenses on Cazoobi’s web store. That was great for quite some time, especially when I completed a computer format without deactivating. Would still love to see a system where Blocs can determine if a license is being used in multiple locations, but that’s an opportunity for the short term.
Just a few quick notes:
It was kind of a pain to go back to Blocs 4 to make another upgrade license - only because both my computers had Blocs 5 overwrite the original app. Blocs 4 isn’t available on an easy to spot page your website anymore, so please consider maybe adding a small bloc at the bottom of the Download page with information to find the latest Blocs 4 download. (Thankfully found the download in my Paddle account.)
I did also notice that you can buy a larger quantity on the Paddle site, as Norm mentioned. It’s a very tiny dropdown in the top left. If Cazoobi eventually decides to keep the current license structure, please consider adding a Paddle “upsell” feature where you can mention the license is only for 1 activation and offer a second at a discount, etc. Link: Does Paddle support upselling / cross-selling? - Help Center - Paddle
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There’s an interesting psychological effect when existing options which people like are removed/taken away. It generally invites a negative reaction. In various forms of counselling/coaching one mantra some use is “Always add choice”. That doesn’t mean too many choices (research in supermarkets has shown that once too many choices are available – e.g. more than 7 varieties of a jam – people just get confused). What it does mean is to offer something that is better or at least as good as something you want them to move away from. An ideal solution in this case would have been to include a second computer in the Plus option or to offer the second Mac at 50% (not just for Black Friday) if you’ve bought, say, the Plus option.
I’ve bought the Plus option. Don’t have the funds at the moment for the second licence (and I’m only using the app for my own website – i.e. not earning money from it), so I’ll persist with the deactivate/activate option. As mentioned before the exchange rate for the Australian dollar against $US or £UK is rubbish - so it ends up comparatively expensive in Australia.
As others have said, this is a great product and needs to be supported.
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A very thoughtful and useful post.
I used to have two machines, but when MBPs got faster I went down to one. I always used to get frustrated with one seat software and I still do. I also hate subscription.
I think a solution would have been 2nd seat 50% off. Although these are difficult times for software authors we are talking about loyal users. The bulk of income comes from them and they are also huge ambassadors for pulling in new customers.
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I have been a BLOCS user for years. But since there was no CMS, I went and purchased PulseCMS for almost $300 (and that is old now). Blocs5 still supports it I guess. Or I can spend another $100 for the VoltCMS. Either way, the $$$ keeps adding up for us small users. Times are hard, money is tight, maybe for Blocs but certainly for me. The 1 license for almost $100 does not work. I went home last night, left my laptop at the office, installed 5 at home and to my surprise no license without spending another $100?
There are other design tools out there that contain a CMS, allow 3 installs for the same money. Blocs is great software. Mercedes are great cars, and it appears now I can’t afford either.
But good luck to you guys.
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It appears Blocs 5 has dropped support for Pulse CMS. I tried it once and frankly it wasn’t for me. Volt on the other hand is a good solution for many purposes.
If you see the latest beta of Blocs 5 the licence now automatically switches when you start Blocs on another machine, which I assume requires an internet connection. It looks like this essentially means you can install Blocs on various machines, but only work on one at a time with a licence, which I imagine would be OK for most of us. Currently I only have it installed on one Mac, so cannot verify this.
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For those with two computers (like me) can I suggest buying Jump Desktop and deactivate the license remotely if you’re mobile? It’s $35 and I’m sure a remote option is useful for much more than activating/deactivating a license.
Question / sort of a poll:
What would you prefer?
- Same price - 1 Seat
- Increased Price - 2 Seats
0 voters
Which tool are you referring to?
Same price- one machine. By the way, there is a poll function in the editor.
Thanks, fixed that.
I take option C.
The preference is the way it was: same price, single user license good for desktop+laptop.
Not meant to be shared, as in two laptop users making a group buy and using a single license to half cost. Doesn’t matter if you sharing an office and working under the same roof, or if you are in different parts of the world: one license per user.
But how it “should work” is one thing, the other is the trade off you might have to make when reality hits you in the face. The current compromise introduced with the beta is OK, if it it turns out to be pain free.
I do wish Norm (and team?) would have communicated this before the Black Friday sale was over. I specifically asked for a clarification a couple of times, after I had asked for a refund, to know what a solution might look like.
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Obviously pricing is an issue for the Developers. Instead of raising the price they took 1 seat away. A fair compromise. I don’t buy the reason for 1 computer only so it’s not shared. Who does that? Who agrees to split the purchase for a software that cost less than $100? It will take longer to find one person that wants to group buy than to get the other half of the money. Will this new policy bring extra revenue for the developers? I highly doubt it, at least not significantly. I think it would have been easier to just raise the price and be done with it, if revenue is the issue. We all get it, inflation is real.
Some of us routinely use two Macs - for me it’s a desktop iMac when I’m in the office and a Macbook Pro when I’m not. Honestly, it’s very inconvenient to have to install/uninstall on a regular basis. I wish @Norm would reconsider this issue and go back to the 2-device license. OR, offer a 2-device license at a modest additional cost. Many of us Blocheads would benefit from and appreciate it.
There is no need to install / uninstall you simply activate / deactivate when needed, as already referenced from the docs in your two other threads from the last two days.
As @Norm stated above in this thread that process takes about a minute.