What is the future for Legacy DirectAdmin License holders?

What is up with this message? It hit me by surprise, you must be joking right???
i'm a legacy user (Without knowing it) and at the login i noticed this, even before loging in as admin.

Just looking at the new plan's i'm not happy either, i run my own VPS (on 2 servers,1 is a hot spare.. yes, i know.) for personal and some friends. I want to keep al sites seperated on a different account.
On the lifetime was promised always free upgrades and stuff and now i even discover i cant update MariaDB to the newest versions because i'm a legacy user... Like what?!

I only got 11 user accounts and 31 domains, so that would mean the lite wouldn't even do it.. maybe removing one user thats just for parked domains would fix it but stil... I'm not making any money of it and already passing the money to the VPS provider. Its fine as it is for me with the lifetime money i already spend.

I doubt this is even legal as a EU user that a company is doing this, maybe i need to consult a lawyer?
 
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This must be a late April joke right? A forced message before login, also no newest MariaDB version.. This is basic functionality, upgrading your packages... Only some new features was told if i scroll back wont be available, this is no new feature.

I'm just using DA for my personal and friends site without any financial compensation and now i'm forced to a monthly payment?
 
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Mass disable this ridiculous message with SSH:

echo '{"bootstrap-options":{"fixedColorMode":"none"},"login-css":{"styles":"html.vue-app.root\\:login.mode\\:dark .LegacyLicense {\n display: none;\n}\n\nhtml.vue-app.root\\:login.mode\\:light .LegacyLicense {\n display: none;\n}","url":""}}' >> /usr/local/directadmin/data/admin/skin_global_options_evolution.json
chown -R diradmin:diradmin /usr/local/directadmin/data/admin/skin_global_options_evolution.json
systemctl restart directadmin
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They aren't that transparent, I don't think they ever were? We need to come here, or the docs, to see what is happening. Most companies run mailing lists to let their clients know things, even if they have millions of clients...... With DA, it's a surprise each update these days......
 
HaBangNet said:
I was surprise to saw that message too, but I feel there is no point to put that in the login page, can just show it on the admin level front will do
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The point is that your customers complain as to why you are using a legacy product with limited development..
This is intended to stimulate you to buy the subscription. It was not designed to inform you at all.
 
I think they are getting ready to go under. That is why there is this sudden attempt to grab money from lifetime license holders. The lifetime license holders were not costing them anything. Otherwise it makes no sense.
 
* pointing to this thread as an answer may give DA an incentive and wake them up. They went over the limit
* I agree we 'the free license users' have build DA, made them big. I am using only a fraction of my licenses, most are unused.
* I am usually on 'stable' so I am not sewing yet any of those annoying messages. I will most certainly remove it, not via CSS though but replacing the login page. Not sure how easy that is, but in the enhanced page this is very easy, and I even think that message is not shown there (not sure, and waking up DA, triggering them to make adaptations is also not helping us)
* I agree on EU laws and rules. We have customers who rely on our support, not from D.A. D.A. is not even giving US support (unless we pointed out a bug in their system). D.a. is not allowed to inform our customers how we do our business. This is leaking important information. Maybe this is considered minor, but it is not allowed! (this is verified information).
* I have been reading the last 3 pages only of this thread, but I clearly get that they are excluding us from future DB updates. Which will cripple us. I can update MySql manually for sure, but if their system then reports it cannot create database users or databases, then what?
* the comment stating D.A. may be in trouble weather (under resourced, low on budget) may have to do with their own choice to push through the Evolution scheme. How many fixes did it need? And still needs? We have that saying: "people always have the time to redo the thing they do, but never have the time to do it right at once". My 2 cents: improve development. Build less 'new features' and first add quality and stability.
* It wil not hurt D.A. if 'we' are lost to them. Only the feedback we give to others via the forum may have severe impact. I do have some problems with doing that (linking to this forum but not answering). But D.A. is not communicating with us directly, and that is what we like to change. So yes: definitely stop giving support, unless it is a free user, then PM the answer. We may need to add in our footer a way to show we use a free license (or more). But indirect. It needs to be discrete as well, maybe your customer is able to find your comments on this forum?

My conclusion after reading all of this is D.A. is going to ditch us, no matter what. But they forget many will not stay. I do not like Webmin for instance, but I manually tweaked it a lot and am offering that now on many VPS systems to my customers. @ D.A.: do not think we can not leave. And when we do, you are not making more money. So in the end you loose us, loose our support to your own users et cetera!

Something tells me D.A. is not even reading this (as a sort of company policy). Linking to this thread is thus a valid way to draw attention i.m.h.o.. Not nice, but a wake up call. And if D.A. removes this thread 'by accident', we know how come.

I think I wil add to my footer 'happ' + 'y D.' + 'A. us' + ' er sin' + 'ce 20' + '06' or something like that. I have to check when I bought most licenses, and this way I can refer to having legacy licenses. (create the string yourself, I do not want to have this indexed anywhere, I want to do this correct in one go, not having to redo it a second time).
 
sec-is said:
* I am usually on 'stable' so I am not sewing yet any of those annoying messages. I will most certainly remove it, not via CSS though but replacing the login page. Not sure how easy that is, but in the enhanced page this is very easy, and I even think that message is not shown there (not sure, and waking up DA, triggering them to make adaptations is also not helping us)
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this message is already in the latest stable version
 
fln said:
A legacy license notice on the login screen is added to inform end users why not all features might be available or functional. It was deliberately designed to be:
  • Non-intrusive and blend it with the page design to avoid distracting users or grabbing attention.
  • Cleanly separated from the main login functionality to make it very easy to customize (or hidden).
  • Have a single location for this message (not individual messages for each skin, each layout, etc.).
Having a single message in a single well-known location helps us avoid documenting and repeating the same message in every place where legacy code-base functionality is limited or differs from the modern DA.

This message can be completely removed by adding a single rule in Customize Evolution Skin -> Login Customization -> Styles tab:

Code: 
.LegacyLicense {display: none !important;}

For a smooth DA experience we want the message to be visible to all the users (same as all the other informational texts in the UI). If server administrators disagree and want to hide this message it is entirely up to them. It is not our goal to make it hard or impossible (otherwise the implementation would be completely different).

We understand that the notice regarding limitations in our legacy products has caused concern. However, it is crucial for us to maintain transparency with all users (not just admins) who interact with our software daily. By clearly indicating the limitations of legacy licenses, we ensure that everybody is aware of the differences between these products and our more modern offerings. Without this transparency, less informed users (end-users) might assume such limitations are universal to DA instead of being caused by legacy licensing.
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that's a lot of BS here, end users don't even know what functions should be there or not, server owners could also disable for example, dns administration, even subdomains or whatever function. There is no same instance of DA on any server, its everywhere difference based on the server owner that u use for webhosting. Some even have a custom template or layout.
It's also added without adding this to the changelog, your just trying to do damage control but this is really just the way you wanted it, adding more pressure. Just like limiting the upgrade possibility of MariaDB, that's main functionality that was promised to keep updated.

For the record, i got 2 lifetime licenses, i just use it for a hobby and i have no problem at all to pay a small amount of money nevertheless for updates or donation from time to time but not with A) i lose access forever to my lifetime license B) getting user accounts limits like max 10 accounts. I use it only for my private use (and 2-3 friends) but i dont want my websites all in 1 account for safety concerns.
 
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It is not about users contacting DA support. It is about users understanding why some features might be lacking. For example new automatic security.txt feature is configurable on package level and user level. The configuration options is always visible for all the license types. Enabling it for on legacy servers does nothing (but reports the feature is enabled). This allows smooth migration from legacy license to modern license. Additional informational messages would be needed in user configuration and package management pages to explain all this.

Note: moved this conversation in to the legacy licenses thread to keep release thread clean of discussions.
 
Like if you were swamped by questions of your customer’s customers asking about missing features…
It s just about making more money, i am fine with that but there are better and more efficient ways.
 
fln said:
It is not about users contacting DA support. It is about users understanding why some features might be lacking. For example new automatic security.txt feature is configurable on package level and user level. The configuration options is always visible for all the license types. Enabling it for on legacy servers does nothing (but reports the feature is enabled). This allows smooth migration from legacy license to modern license. Additional informational messages would be needed in user configuration and package management pages to explain all this.

Note: moved this conversation in to the legacy licenses thread to keep release thread clean of discussions.
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why is a non working feature visible in the first place?
 
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To maintain compatibility between legacy and modern code bases without adding extra complexity and work dedicated to just legacy code base.
 
fln said:
It is about users understanding why some features might be lacking. For example new automatic security.txt feature is configurable on package level and user level.
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That's important for admins, not for OUR end customers. And if they have questions about it, they should contact US.
DA has no right to inform our customers about that in this way.

It has totally nothing to do with smooth migration or other nonsense stated.
ONLY ADMINS need to know this, stating that it's important voor our end customers is BS. That is NOT your concern and it's not showing trustworthy business either to put this in, in such sneaky way.

It's a money decision nothing else. Otherwise it could have be done in a much better way (inform us up front) and only in admin panel, where the only person is present who needs this inofo, the admin!
Admin footer page would have been the same. This is just harassing.
 
fln said:
To maintain compatibility between legacy and modern code bases without adding extra complexity and work dedicated to just legacy code base.
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looking into the changelog, https://docs.directadmin.com/changelog/version-1.663.html#automatic-security-txt-rfc-9116-support
Its not mentioning anything about its a premium function and also it can be turned off (its already default off) in the package options and also its saying "optional feature" in the changelog.

So to summary, when its not enabled in the package option, it shouldn't be visible at all.
Your saying complexity to legacy code... Well there is already since you disable it somewhere on a later point with extra code, just move that code forward.

And why is MariaDB limited to a old version? It is promised we get lifetime updates and upgrades for current functionality. MariaDB is a current functionality.

If there will be a change to the payment plan i'm of course willing to pay but with the current options that are available its not.

EDIT; When looking into a user account this functionality is indeed INVISIBLE.
But what if, what if we just don't make a difference to legacy users (that had bring you to the next level) and new users? Just if... That would be even easier for everyone, free advertising as before and no issues with any code.
 
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