As a new year has begun I need to begin with an airing of grievances.
- LogMeIn has decided to discontinue their Free service. I made use of this service as it was easy, convenient, and I have had a prior relationship with LogMeIn and they had established some goodwill with me. The decision to discontinue this service was practically immediate. Users were given 7 days to find a replacement. If this news was dropped a month or two prior to the cancellation and we were informed it would be closing as of XYZ date it would be a different story. Users awoke with an e-mail that said their product offering would end in 7 days.
I did not use this service for profit. I used it personally. I operated within the intention of its use.
As an incentive users were given a 50% discount for the paid subscription to the LogMeIn service. The problem is that their pricing is, in my opinion (and apparently many others'), very overpriced. A base subscription to LogMeIn Pro for 1 year is $99. This allows you to install the app on 2 workstations and fully control those 2 from any other location. The problem is that I have 3 computers I would use regularly.
This is what I would expect for a $99/year subscription.
A. A mobile and tablet friendly application. I can control my computers from any iOS device, Android device with Android 4.0 or newer, and even Windows Mobile.
B. This would not be limited to workstations. The application would allow the remote control of mobile devices too. I want to access my iPad from my computer ... I can do it. I want to locate my Android phone ... I can do it.
C. The limit would be increased from 2 workstations to 10-20 devices. My computers, tablets, phones, fridges, roombas, it doesn't matter; I can access it all through one device and vice-versa.
What goodwill LogMeIn had generated over the past couple of years was gone the instant they gave me 7 days of continued use and then pay $50 for their product. That is not how you conduct business, treat your users, and spend the goodwill you have earned. - Several years ago there was a nasty ice storm that moved through the region. My employer had not called work off so I dug myself out, slowly made my way into the office, got situated for a day of work, and was told that they called it, and were sending people home at 9 a.m.
After that incident they stated that if local schools were closed we would close too. As it so happened local schools closed. Classes were cancelled and both students and faculty were told to stay home, but staff were asked to come to work. Not exactly the position they stated they adopted previously. Add that this decision to cancel classes happened by 4:00 p.m. the previous day, but they could not decide to shutdown until 9:00 the following morning.
To add further fuel to the situation this exact same scenario was played out differently 3 weeks prior and resulted in a different resolution. It is the proverbial right-hand not knowing with the left-hand is doing conundrum.
