it's not as if the licensing policy wasn't all over the Aquasuite webpage and FAQ on the website.. Aquasuite also tells you the expiry date for the update service you got for each device you have plugged in.
And if the version you have has crippling bugs you get offered the next version automatically even if the update service expired

Quoted from "pgrossouw"

Bought an Aquero. And unlike any other hardware vendor out there, aparently you have to Pay for software updates.

I have an old Nvidia 970, which I still get driver & Software updates for.
Seems like the AquaComputer guys, are just on a money grab.

You buy our hardware, you give us money
You want any updates to the software, you give us money.
You not happy with it, you install the old version of our software that is full of shitty bugs and issues.

Fuck this company, and it's monopoly on its software.
You just lost a customer.

wow, that's a wording and is showing what's going on in his mind.
best would be: to delete it...

Well the license for AS is pretty unique, since no other cooling manufacturer does it but when i bought my devices i looked up what i was getting into.
EVERY controller page on the shop has a note about the aquasuite update time you get and details on how it works, with a link to the licensing FAQ.
It's surprising someone gets surprised.. i mean .. RTFM? it's not even in small print hidden in a dusty corner of the website, it's in plain sight all over the shop, just read the thing. If you don't like it? don't buy it ..
Ah well, it's easier to blame those greedy german bastards

Also the Aquasuite is pretty much without competition.

None of the other companies offer anything close to that. And you cannot compare a software that's constantly getting new features with the usual non-existent maintenance of the software other hardware vendors are offering (graphic cards being the only and very special. exception).

I have pity for the person, obviously s/he is one of these modern snowflakes who feel all should be free to them.
Unfortunately s/he will have a difficult time going forward in life, and even worse for us adults, s/he may be of voting age.

As to the licensing, s/he must be using Linux with very little other software, as most software I am familiar with has a licensing scheme.

And absolutely no manners, or sense of decorum.
Hoping against hope aquacomputer survives the loss of revenue from that account.

Less than 1 euro a month.... indeed a fortune

Quoted from "pgrossouw"

Bought an Aquero. And unlike any other hardware vendor out there, aparently you have to Pay for software updates.

I have an old Nvidia 970, which I still get driver & Software updates for.
Seems like the AquaComputer guys, are just on a money grab.

You buy our hardware, you give us money
You want any updates to the software, you give us money.
You not happy with it, you install the old version of our software that is full of shitty bugs and issues.

Fuck this company, and it's monopoly on its software.
You just lost a customer.

One alternative for you would be to change over to a Corsair Commander Pro and their iCue software to control it. All of the software updates with that will be free, but none of the updates will make Corsair's product any better than total garbage.

Sometimes, you get what you pay for. Free software is often worth its price.

Quoted from "cptninc"

Quoted from "pgrossouw"

Bought an Aquero. And unlike any other hardware vendor out there, aparently you have to Pay for software updates.

I have an old Nvidia 970, which I still get driver & Software updates for.
Seems like the AquaComputer guys, are just on a money grab.

You buy our hardware, you give us money
You want any updates to the software, you give us money.
You not happy with it, you install the old version of our software that is full of shitty bugs and issues.

Fuck this company, and it's monopoly on its software.
You just lost a customer.

One alternative for you would be to change over to a Corsair Commander Pro and their iCue software to control it. All of the software updates with that will be free, but none of the updates will make Corsair's product any better than total garbage.

Sometimes, you get what you pay for. Free software is often worth its price.

THIS ↑↑↑

I dealt with Corsair's bug ridden, bloated software and flakey hardware for years. When I started shopping for my Ryzen build, I made 4 rules - NO iCue, NO Aura, No Armoury Crate, and NO Thermaltake TT RGB. ALL of these programs are well known for being resource hogging, buggy messes and I refuse to install any of them. Since I made that decision, Corsair has released iCue 4.xx and dropped support for MANY of their own products!! Go read the threads on the Corsair forum. There are a lot of VERY unhappy Corsair customers. I decided to step up to AquaComputer. I don't have a custom loop (yet) so now I just have an Octo and 2 Farbwerk360s. The AC hardware is superior to Corsair's products and Aquasuite is far, far better than iCue. Is it perfect? No. Are there bugs? Yes. I found a minor bug in a specific RGBpx preset and reported it. It was investigated and fixed in the very next release. The Corsair forum is full of bug reports that in many cases date back YEARS. And now there are people with multiple Corsair devices that are less than a year old that are now not supported by iCue at all!

I have not had to pay yet to keep AquaSuite current yet, but when the time comes I will gladly pay to do so. When I build my loop, it will be Aquacomputer based, starting with a Leak Shield. Next to the cost of building a custom loop, the couple of buck spent on AquaSuite is in the noise, and what you get for that nominal fee is absolutely worth it to me. If you don't agree, then don't buy the updates, or go back to the nightmares of Corsair iCue and Asus Aura and Armoury Crate.