09-17-2014, 02:52 AM
I am hearing two messages in this thread: (1) Mike should receive some sort of remuneration for his efforts on v5, since it's a significant upgrade, and (2) users should have the ability to keep running v4 while they check out the new features in v5, in the event that there are problems with the new release. Making v5 a separate paid update would address both of these issues, but #2 is mainly an issue because of the way Android handles updates: there is no user-friendly way to 'roll back' to a previous version once an update is released, as Graeme has mentioned.
However, I believe that Mike has previously stated that he intends to run a "closed" beta with a separate installer, to protect users' v4 environments and allow bugs to be ironed out before the software is released to a wider audience. I have been involved in several other software beta projects and I fully understand the dangers involved, and I would be very hesitant to rely on a beta build in a live performance environment.
It's probably best if we let Mike answer the question though
However, I believe that Mike has previously stated that he intends to run a "closed" beta with a separate installer, to protect users' v4 environments and allow bugs to be ironed out before the software is released to a wider audience. I have been involved in several other software beta projects and I fully understand the dangers involved, and I would be very hesitant to rely on a beta build in a live performance environment.
It's probably best if we let Mike answer the question though