docs: purge the dead $29/$49 + Polar model from every tracked file, add the Y1 forecast
The pricing ruling landed twice (2026-09-21 one-time, then 2026-09-27 Store IAP $10/mo + $400 lifetime) and the map never caught up. Six tracked files still told a future session that billing was Polar and the price was $29/$49. A stale memory map is worse than a stale comment: it is the file every session trusts, and this one was actively steering work toward a deleted provider. MONETIZATION.md (gitignored, so not in this commit) was rebuilt first: - "Revenue projections" now carries a modelled Year 1 forecast — pessimistic $4.0K / base $15.4K / optimistic $53.3K net, ~$22K weighted. Funnel is installs -> 35-45% activate -> 1.5-3% of active users pay. - Three findings recorded: Year 1 is ~97% lifetime transactions (subs net $392 of $15.4K, so MRR is not a Year-1 planning input); conversion dominates price (~1pp of conversion = ~$7K net, and ADA 6(h) locks $10 anyway); subscriber churn moves Year 1 by under $200 and is a Year-2 problem. - Break-even restated for $400: $25K net = 74 lifetime buyers, not 862. The price cut the volume requirement ~10x and raised the skill requirement to match. - Market sizing willingness-to-pay row rewritten. The 100K-400K TAM was price-bound to $29-49 and is wrong at $400; revised ~20K-60K, flagged as an estimate rather than a sourced number. - Flagged a real contradiction: $500K ARR needs ~4,900 concurrent subscribers, so the Exit section's ARR multiples do not describe what Years 1-3 produce. The defensible asset there is lifetime cash flow, not ARR. Tracked files corrected to match: - ai.md: paid-delta, pricing and billing bullets rewritten; Polar product id, org id, LCYT- key prefix and LLAMAFOUNDER/LLAMA50 marked as deleted; 15% share + net-after-tax recorded with the ADA 6(b)(i) citation. - TASKS.md: catalog row retitled as a teardown; the "still to verify — the price is not decided" note closed (it contradicted the ruling 20 lines below it); the OverlayHost "Polar unlocks alerts" open question marked resolved; Polar file-hosting deliverable removed from the release build. - task-10: reframed as a teardown. Steps 4-5 marked as surviving, 1-2-3-6-7 as deleting, 8 as a compliance action (Velopack downloads AND executes, which Store policy 10.2.2 does not permit). - task-36 item 5 (license-expiry reminders) struck — no key, no expiry, no lapse under Store IAP, so there is nothing to remind anyone about. - Distribution.md 4.2 / 4.4 / 4.5 marked obsolete; 4.5's "already implemented" corrected, since PolarLicenseService is being deleted rather than shipped. - README: "one-time license" -> "paid tier". Historical Polar sections are retained deliberately — the reasoning is reusable (merchant-of-record, fee comparison), only the conclusions are dead. Each is now labelled so it cannot be mistaken for the plan. No code touched.
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@@ -318,9 +318,17 @@ Single-file means everything is inside the `.exe`. No DLLs, no runtime dependenc
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**Caveat:** Self-contained single-file means ~80-120MB due to bundled .NET runtime. For smaller size, use framework-dependent publishing (requires .NET 8 runtime on user machines) — drops to ~5-10MB.
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### 4.2 Distribution via Polar
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### 4.2 Distribution via Polar — ⛔ OBSOLETE (2026-09-27)
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**Product setup on Polar:**
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> **Superseded by Microsoft Store MSIX + Store IAP** (ruling in
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> `TASKS/task-48-distribution-msix.md` item 0). The Store re-signs, hosts, updates, and takes
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> payment — so file hosting, license keys, checkout, the customer portal, device deactivation and
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> key rotation are **all** handled by Microsoft and none of it needs building. Retained below as a
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> record of the model that was designed and abandoned. ⚠️ **The `$29`/`$49` one-time prices in this
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> section are dead** — the settled pricing is **`$10/mo` or `$400` lifetime**, net of a verified
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> 15% Store share.
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**Product setup on Polar (as designed, never shipped):**
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1. Create a product: "LlamaCasty" — **one-time purchase** (perpetual license; $29 founder / $49 list).
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2. Add two benefits:
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@@ -345,6 +353,11 @@ Single-file means everything is inside the `.exe`. No DLLs, no runtime dependenc
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- If a key is compromised, customer or merchant can rotate it via Polar.
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- Previous key stops validating immediately. Status, usage, limits, expiry preserved.
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**What the Store does instead:** the customer installs from the Store listing, pays through Store
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checkout, and the app reads the entitlement the OS already holds. There is no key to enter, no
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activation call, no portal to visit, and no offline-grace period to maintain — which also retires
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the whole "network flaky → app thinks I'm expired" bug class in §4.5.
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### 4.3 Code Signing
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> ⚠️ **The cert choice below is a live decision, and the old plan's EV recommendation is
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@@ -393,7 +406,13 @@ Set-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath "LlamaCasty.exe" `
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**Storage:** Certificate `.pfx` file stored in GitHub Secrets (or Azure DevOps secure files). Never committed to the repo.
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### 4.4 Update Mechanism
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### 4.4 Update Mechanism — ⛔ OBSOLETE (2026-09-27)
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> **Superseded by Store updates.** Microsoft delivers and updates the app from the listing, so
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> there is nothing to check and no manifest to host. The Velopack updater currently in
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> `App.xaml.cs` **downloads *and executes***, which Store policy **10.2.2** does not permit — its
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> removal is a **compliance action**, not optional cleanup (TASK 48 item 3). The Polar-native design
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> below is retained as a record of the approach that was rejected; it is not an option.
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**Polar-native approach (no custom infrastructure):**
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@@ -428,10 +447,18 @@ public class UpdateCheckService
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- Download link points to Polar's customer portal (not direct download).
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- This adds one external dependency (GitHub) but keeps Polar as the source of truth.
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### 4.5 Licensing Logic (already implemented)
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### 4.5 Licensing Logic — ⛔ BEING DELETED (2026-09-27)
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> ⚠️ **"Already implemented" was true as of 2026-09-21 and is no longer.** `PolarLicenseService`
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> and `Helpers/PolarLicense.cs` are being **removed** as part of the TASK 10 teardown (TASK 48 item 0).
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> Store IAP replaces the whole validation hop: `IsPremium` is derived from the **OS-supplied Store
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> entitlement**, so there is no network call, no key, and — importantly — **no 14-day offline-grace
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> machine to protect**, which retires the entire "network flaky → app thinks I'm expired" bug class.
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> What survives is only `IsPremium` → `BrandFlashEnabled = !value`. Retained below as the record of
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> what shipped and why it no longer applies.
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```csharp
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// Services/PolarLicenseService.cs — already ships
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// Services/PolarLicenseService.cs — shipped under Polar; being deleted
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// Calls Polar's customer-portal validation endpoint (no auth required)
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// Survives obfuscation — property names excluded via [Obfuscation(Exclude = true)]
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[Obfuscation(Exclude = true)]
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@@ -444,11 +471,11 @@ public class LicenseValidationResult
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}
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```
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**What's already done:**
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- `PolarLicenseService` validates keys against Polar API.
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- `OrganizationId` is hardcoded (safe — it's public knowledge, tied to our Polar account).
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- License state persists in `LayoutStore.Settings` (SQLite) with offline grace period.
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- `PremiumUrl` points to Polar checkout.
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**What shipped under Polar (now being deleted):**
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- `PolarLicenseService` validated keys against the Polar API.
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- `OrganizationId` was hardcoded.
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- License state persisted in `LayoutStore.Settings` (SQLite) with an offline grace period.
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- `PremiumUrl` pointed to Polar checkout.
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**What survives obfuscation:** The validation logic in `Services.dll` is obfuscated. An attacker who decompiles the exe sees only the UI calling an interface — the actual Polar API call is in the obfuscated DLL.
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