This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Hellgate London Lifetime sub owner here. Also lifetime plex pass.
Can pretty much guarantee they will make sure not to honor this. Lifetime subs for things are always a cash grab, if it goes too much in favor of the purchaser they will find ways to make the deal better for them.
Hell yeah, diablo with guns.
Yep, two years before Borderlands delivered a much superior experience.
At the time I had spent six years playing EverQuest, Ultima Online, Anarchy Online and World of Warcraft in various capacities, and this was looking like an MMO borderlands like thing. Few MMOs had gone under so soon after release.
Apparently the same devs are making a sequel, and I think i'll make sure to pirate it unless they give it away to lifetime Hellgate London subscribers.
Nowadays I know better than to trust any kind of weird offer like this announced before launch. They'd only do it if they knew they were going to win... or were so worried they were going to go under.
Yeah it was a different time. The gameplay was solid though imo.
Why would anyone be stupid enough to not honor them? Now, even if they backtrack, their name is mud. It's so stupid.
Damn straight. I never heard of this company before but you can bet your life I will never do business with them.
It’s BS they didn’t know about it. They got the financials before the deal. Even if it wasn’t directly listed as a line item it would have been a part of the expenses.
They still thought the deal was worth doing as it was based on incoming revenue and outgoing expenses.
This is going to be Plex Pass in a few years if Plex sells out even more
I’ve had a lifetime Plex pass for many years. I have converted completely over to Jellyfin after trying it.
It’s more involved to set up for secure remote access, but once in place it is so much smoother to use.
This is why the first question is, is it open source?
Is this even legal? I mean people paid for the lifetime version.
If the new owners purchased the assets, name, and technology and not the company itself, then it's beholden on the remains of the old company to honour the deal... Good luck with that.
How many people start companies, rack up a bunch of debt, then create another company that buys everything except the debt?
NOW you're getting it.
They should be refunded tbh.
There's probably some fine print in the ToS that says they can do this. It may or may not be legal but that makes it a lengthier court battle to try to prove.
There are so many ways they can put the squeeze on. Session time limit, throttle fraffic, restrict usage times etc.
Then you can sell a monthly VPN+ subscription and offer revisiting lifetime users 2 years free if they move to the new “better” service.
I’m not saying I agree with any of this, but it’s certainly not a new strategy. They’ve nothing to lose. Those who are pissed off will leave, you already have their money and those who want to stay will pay up.
The VPN company can have their cake and eat it
This is also why if you hit the lottery, you should take the discounted upfront cash payout, and not get it paid in an annual annuity for 20 years. You never know if the government is suddenly going become moral about gambling, and cancel all lottery payments.
Take the money and run.
To be fair, it's best to not participate in the lottery.
True but that is a situation that doesn't really apply very often in the "if you hit the lottery" situation mentioned in the post you replied to.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't delude yourself into thinking you're being smart about the lottery by thinking about which is the smarter course of action in case of a win. The only way to be smart about the lottery is to not play.
The only way to be smart about the lottery is to not play.
I don't disagree, but I also thing playing the lottery once in a while is fine if you're just doing it as a daydream or something. Back when I worked in an office, if the jackpot got high enough we'd do an office pool and everyone that wanted to would throw in 10 bucks or something. And I've also done the same myself for the above reason but I play at most once or so a year.
Also because that lump sum is all there is. If you take the annuity they put the lump sum into an investment account and then pay you out of the proceeds (from which they take a cut, of course), and you can get the same returns they get, without losing their cut, doing it yourself.
Absolutely. However, if you are not the best with money, or on the irresponsible side; it might be best to take the annuity. Mathematically it makes no sense to do so, but if it stops you from blowing it all on hookers and coke in two years then its for the best. In other words, if you having it all is riskier than the state keeping track of it.
Even if you're bad with money, take the lump sum and go get a fiduciary advisor to handle it and give you a regular payout. Being a fiduciary advisor is important since it means they are legally obligated to work to the benefit of your money, not lining their pockets. Using something like a trust is another good way to protect you from yourself.
What’s wrong with hookers and coke?
Nothing... the real issue is all the other money you wasted.
I learned my lesson about “lifetime” thanks to SiriusXM.
When Howard Stern got lured to SiriusXM they offered a deal where you buy the receiver and pay $500 for a lifetime subscription with unlimited transfers to different receivers. Fat forward to 2017ish when I bought my last car that had the receiver built into the radio and tried to transfer to the new one. I was told that was the last time I would be able to do that and in the future I’d be paying a $75 transfer fee and be forced into a monthly subscription.
Lifetime is a hoax.
This may be your lucky day then! You can likely use that lifetime sub now!
I did the Sirius lifetime deal a few years offered before the one you did (in 2003 I think?). At the time they called it the "Friends and Family" promotion. It was only $300 at the time for lifetime sub, and they gave you the hardware for free. I'm still using that same lifetime sub today.
I was told that was the last time I would be able to do that and in the future I’d be paying a $75 transfer fee and be forced into a monthly subscription.
This was absolutely true this was the rules at one point. However there was a rule change (via lawsuit maybe?) that allows UNLIMITED TRANSFERS and the fee is only $35/transfer. Its even on the SiriusXM website FAQ:
"Please note: You may transfer an active Lifetime Subscription to another radio an unlimited number of times. For each permitted transfer of a Lifetime Subscription, you will be charged a $35 transfer fee, and the transfer must be effectuated through your Online Account." source
Your account is likely still alive with your name on it! Contact them and get back into it!
Further, back when you and I bought our lifetime subs the SiriusXM streaming service didn't exist. It is actually pretty robust now. With your lifetime sub (even without it being on a vehicle), you have full access to unlimited commercial free streaming in their best quality bitrate (there was a time that they offered reduced bitrates for lifetime users but that's gone now too).
For me, because of a further discount I only paid $230 for my lifetime sub because I got a credit for my previous monthly service and I've now had it for over 22 years. So if you do the math, I'm paying 87 cents per month for full in-car and streaming SiriusXM. Lifetime deal was SO worth it!
Lifetime is a hoax.
No, it's fraud.
The difference is that one is a funny joke and the other is a criminal act that ought to land corporate executives in prison, if the US weren't an oligarchy too corrupt to prosecute.
This is also why I stopped prepaying for things. Sure I’m spending $50 more a year but at least I have flexibility.
Agency... people need to be more mindful when they are giving it up. It leads to bad places unless you know what you are doing.
