Why not let customer commitment drive repeat sales?
I've been think a lot about this statement from ReadyNAS:
"The new ReadyNAS OS 6 features are significantly more advanced than the competitive products available. Hopefully that will help retain existing ReadyNAS users when they purchase their next NAS."
It seems like you've got a lot of wishful thinking going on behind the choice not to offer upgrades to your existing users who have hardware that can support ReadyNAS OS 6. You are right, the features are compelling, but why would a home user, much less any business commit to the ReadyNAS platform when you don't seem committed to your customers?
I, for one, am excited about your new offerings but I cannot in good faith offer your products as a solution to my business clients. How can I? For my clients who already have ReadyNAS Pro's deployed, if we were to add a new ReadyNAS with OS 6 they will now have to manage to wholly different systems with different interfaces, different feature sets and different capabilities. New business users would be in better shape, but they'd always have to wonder when/if they'll be cut off from OS upgrades because of marketing and not technical reasons.
Why not have your solid commitment to your customers be the reason why you retain existing ReadyNAS users? In the long run you'll have a more committed customer base. And resellers/VARs who will have solid footing to promote and even evangelize for your ReadyNAS line.
