GiuseppeC59 wrote:
Well, in the past years, translators could make use of a light version of SDLX just for editing purposes for free, and so they currently can for Passolo and some other TM tool. In addition, I remember that I got the Trados freelance edition upgrade from 5.0 to 5.5 version for free, plus a new Multiterm edition as a premium.
Then, it came to pass that .... Microsoft became a Trados shareholder.... and suddenly, from then on, any minimum upgrade was to be paid at a high cost (with respect to the simple software technology of this kind of software) by any freelancer. Example: from 6.0 to 6.5 or from 7.0 to 7.5 with SDLX as a premium.
Currently, the Passolo situation is the same as it was for SDLX light version. We can edit localizations without buying the complete software suite, so that we can provide localizations to customers who need their localizations to be done with that software without purchasing the full Passolo suite.
I wonder if in a few months we will have to buy an "SDL Passolo Trados 2008 freelance edition" and pay even more for upgrading once a month.
I think that freelance localizers/translators are becoming the most important targets for such products. There is an increasing number of them out there and they have to buy such products and upgrade them at an increasing pace, sometimes just to provide discounts to their agency customers or just to be able to work for new agency customers.
Does anyone know if Microsoft is still involved in these products as a shareholder?
Unfortunately even DVX, merely by itself, does not do the whole job for all these agenciens that fell victim to the marketing power of Trados and now want to receive Trados compatible files.
So, before I learned that I can presegment with a Demo of Trados and in response to a client insisting that I would have to use the very latest version of Trados, I upgraded from Trados FL 6.5 to SDL-Trados 2007.
I bitter regret, I defenetly dont think this upgrade was worth a dime - worse: some modules do not function at all now.
The one and only thing I still do with Trados: presegmenting Word files. I would even refuse jobs, if I could not use DVX but were forced to use Trados.
Real Trados users may think Trados is fine, but mostly they just ignore DVX or MemoQ. And indeed: if you never drove a car your rusty bycicle may feel comfortable...
Login to reply/comment 
