Software as a subscription

[VanQ]

So I've been thinking about this new business model that a lot of Software companies like Microsoft and Adobe have been adopting recently and it's been weighing on me. We've seen a shift from purchased licences to subscription software for applications like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop.

I have personally been having a hard time justifying purchasing software from these companies not so much because of the model itself, but more of how little flexibility these companies are offering with these new subscription models. For example, I recently built a new PC and was having a hard time finding my install files for my old Photoshop CS3, which was purchased a few years ago when it was still relevant. And since I was having a hard time, I was considering updating to the newest version which is apparently included within the Adobe Creative Cloud. Now, the only options were to either sub to the CC service for $60AUD per month, or sub to each individual app in the CC family for $20AUD per month.

So you might say to me, "But VanQ, if you only want Photoshop you can sub to that and be good." But actually, I make regular use of Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and After Effects. So if I wanted to sub to just the apps I actually use, I'd be up for $80AUD per month, basically forcing me to sub to the $60AUD per month plan or bust. That puts me up for a $720AUD per year sub. Which is absolutely ridiculous.

It's not that I can't see the pros and cons of services like these. I can,

Pros:
-Always have the latest version of the software for as long as I remain subbed
-I get access to all of the apps in the service
-The products are in my opinion the best in the business
-I can download and run the programs anywhere and on any PC as long as I have internet and email access

Cons:
-Instantly lose access to all apps if I ever unsub
-Very little flexibility as far as plans go
-Extremely expensive and forcing you to pay what you would have paid to own the product and then some to merely rent it

This worries me especially because I know that a lot of game developers would love to get in on a piece of this pie and are already sort of using this system through DLC to lock content behind pay walls, forcing you to pay more for content after the initial purchase.

What do you guys think of this trend that's been hitting the software industry lately? Are you fully behind it? Totally against it? Do you not give a shit? I'm not really looking to be convinced one way or the other, I'm mostly just curious what others think of it.

 

[Elfgore]

Very much against it, I actually don't care for any subscription base service to begin with. I'm a very impulsive person. One second, I want to do nothing more than write a story on Word, or play some WoW. Then within a day or two, I'm done and may not use it again for another month. Since you have to purchase these things in at least month increments, it really feels like I'm getting the shaft.

Now, this will benefit people who make frequent use of these products. They can get the most updated version and have access everywhere. But for me? I just don't care for them.

 

[Smooth Operator]

This system has been in the corporate world for decades, and it works very well in a profit generating system. Their tools generate profit for you and you can in turn give a small part for the tools.

In a private use system however that is just an infinite money hole, if I'm not making profit from your tools then they are simply more and more expensive with every passing month. That is why I avoid this shit at all costs.
Obviously it's a great system for the companies because they get all the control and money.

 

[VanQ]

Can you not use CS2? Pretty sure those are all free.

I believe you can get Photoshop and Illustrator CS2 for free from the Adobe website, yes. Unfortunately, I also require Premiere Pro and After Effects, which I don't think are available for free. At least, not that I've been able to find.

Also, I've been trying out the Creative Cloud 30 day trials for the past weekend and they're a gigantic leap up from CS2 as far as ease to use and they're very powerful applications. Some jobs that would have taken me up to 30mins in CS3 are taking me about 5 mins to do in CC. So I'm not disputing the quality of the products, just the payment model.

A part of me does want to pay for these products, but the other part of me can't decide if that ridiculous per year price point is worth it in the long run.

 

[DoPo]

Very much against it, I actually don't care for any subscription base service to begin with. I'm a very impulsive person. One second, I want to do nothing more than write a story on Word, or play some WoW. Then within a day or two, I'm done and may not use it again for another month. Since you have to purchase these things in at least month increments, it really feels like I'm getting the shaft.

You could, of course, use Open/Libre Office which costs nothing and should have all the functionality of MS Word you need. I don't even know what the differences are, as it allows me to do anything I need...which mostly means opening .doc/.docx documents, and occasionally typing stuff in them, sometimes in different fonts/colours/highlights with the occasional picture embedded. And spellchecked, of course, as I'm lazy like that.

LibreOffice is all I ever install nowadays, as I cannot ever see a need for me using MS Office specifically. I actually would have probably switched to Google Docs by now, as I use those a lot[footnote]especially when it comes to spreadsheets - probabl 90% of the time I do something with one, it'd be in Docs.[/footnote], as well, but the problem is, if I have a .doc/.docx file, it takes few more seconds to open it in there than just double-clicking.

 

[Rosiv]

Very much against it, I actually don't care for any subscription base service to begin with. I'm a very impulsive person. One second, I want to do nothing more than write a story on Word, or play some WoW. Then within a day or two, I'm done and may not use it again for another month. Since you have to purchase these things in at least month increments, it really feels like I'm getting the shaft.

You could, of course, use Open/Libre Office which costs nothing and should have all the functionality of MS Word you need. I don't even know what the differences are, as it allows me to do anything I need...which mostly means opening .doc/.docx documents, and occasionally typing stuff in them, sometimes in different fonts/colours/highlights with the occasional picture embedded. And spellchecked, of course, as I'm lazy like that.

LibreOffice is all I ever install nowadays, as I cannot ever see a need for me using MS Office specifically. I actually would have probably switched to Google Docs by now, as I use those a lot[footnote]especially when it comes to spreadsheets - probabl 90% of the time I do something with one, it'd be in Docs.[/footnote], as well, but the problem is, if I have a .doc/.docx file, it takes few more seconds to open it in there than just double-clicking.

The only issue i have with open office is that i cant save them as .doc /.docx files, which sucks for teachers who dont like using open office. But yea, i like open office too, i feel its spreadsheet program is better than excel for some reason. The UI feels more comfortable to me.

 

[Grumman]

The only issue i have with open office is that i cant save them as .doc /.docx files, which sucks for teachers who dont like using open office.

Actually you can - just go into File -> Save As and click on the "Save as type" dropdown menu. At worst you may have some slight formatting errors, but you can also export to PDF if that's a serious problem.

To answer the OP's question, I have never paid a subscription for software and never plan to - for much the same reason as Elfgore. If I pay for anything I don't consider a consumable, I'd like to be able to use it on a whim. I can't do that if a program is costing me hundreds of dollars to keep it on standby.

 

[DoPo]

The only issue i have with open office is that i cant save them as .doc /.docx files

Yes, you can

Admittedly, that's LibreOffice, but I can't imagine OpenOffice not being able to do it. Especially considering OpenOffice was, technically, the first to implement it.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

The problem with the original method is that the prices were made on the concept that professionals used these programs. Since the users were assumed professionals that made a $75000+ USD salary, and the products were little known outside those circles, they could afford paying $1000 or more for a suite of programs.

That pricing concept goes back to the late 1980s. And if you think that was something, you should have seen some of the prices paid for corporate-level anti-virus programs around the same time.

Except we now live in an age where digital distribution exists, awareness of programs can boom overnight, and professional quality could actually be coming from a hobbyist that makes less than $35000 a year, or even be unemployed or a student. And that Supreme Court ruling where Microsoft has to sell Office separate from Windows on grounds of anti-monopoly laws doesn't help either.

I for one don't like subs. It puts an obligation that you need to at least get that amount of money's worth out of a program, or suite of programs, for that month. It's forced project-making basically, and eventually you'll get burnt out if you're rushed too much. Not to mention how hectic it must feel when you don't end up using it for a month - That's a bit of money that just threw away for nothing. The cheaper monthly pricing I don't consider worth the hassle and stress it puts upon you.

And at the same time, the other method that has shown up is multiple licenses at different prices. I am not comfortable with this either, as it comes off somewhat classist. Even then, how does buying the non-commercial license (which is often the cheapest) really limit me from making commercial products? It's not the program they're buying, it's product I made with the program; at what point does their TOS violate my own rights? And if I save it in a non-specific format, how can it be proved that I used that program to make it? What if I plan to use that money I make from created products to buy a commercial license, or to buy additional programs that will help me with my work? That kind of licensing paints both the company and amateurs into a corner - Amateurs that can only afford the non-commercial license are denied a fully legal and honest way to progress with their skills, thus companies cannot make more money from the amateurs turned hobbyists or professionals thanks to the terms.

So yeah... There's a lot of companies that need to rethink their suggested price or method. It's not the pricing options that need to change, a single price is fine. It's the inputs that go into deciding that price that needs to change, including the mentality regarding what are professionals, amateurs, hobbyists, and what is and isn't considered affordable.

 

[Rosiv]

The only issue i have with open office is that i cant save them as .doc /.docx files

Yes, you can

Admittedly, that's LibreOffice, but I can't imagine OpenOffice not being able to do it. Especially considering OpenOffice was, technically, the first to implement it.

My teacher told me the same thing, but when i tried and i just double checked, it only gave me the .doc option, and not .docx.

If LibreOffice can do that though, i should invest in it.

Here is a img of me with the same select file type menu i uploaded(spoilered below):

Spoiler

 

[DoPo]

Here is a img of me with the same select file type menu i uploaded(spoilered below):

Spoiler

That's weird, I'm fairly sure the .docx option was there in OpenOffice before. Before Oracle, that is.

If LibreOffice can do that though, i should invest in it.

I can tell you the exact time it would take you to convert from one to the other:

Time_to_uninstall_OpenOffice + Time_to_download_LibreOffice + Time_to_install_Libre_Office

So, depending on your internet speed and how fast your machine is, I'd estimate something like 5-10 minutes. And yes, you can slightly improve this if you download while you uninstall, but, again, it depends on what your speed is, at it may not matter as much.

 

[BeerTent]

Very much against it, I actually don't care for any subscription base service to begin with. I'm a very impulsive person. One second, I want to do nothing more than write a story on Word, or play some WoW. Then within a day or two, I'm done and may not use it again for another month. Since you have to purchase these things in at least month increments, it really feels like I'm getting the shaft.

You could, of course, use Open/Libre Office which costs nothing and should have all the functionality of MS Word you need. I don't even know what the differences are, as it allows me to do anything I need...which mostly means opening .doc/.docx documents, and occasionally typing stuff in them, sometimes in different fonts/colours/highlights with the occasional picture embedded. And spellchecked, of course, as I'm lazy like that.

LibreOffice is all I ever install nowadays, as I cannot ever see a need for me using MS Office specifically. I actually would have probably switched to Google Docs by now, as I use those a lot[footnote]especially when it comes to spreadsheets - probabl 90% of the time I do something with one, it'd be in Docs.[/footnote], as well, but the problem is, if I have a .doc/.docx file, it takes few more seconds to open it in there than just double-clicking.

I've noticed a massive difference between open office and MS office. Mostly in how it saves doc files. I've sent so many formatting disasters unknowingly that I've probably lost most of my credibility at my old place of work. It wasn't until I passed in a document at school that I noticed, "Jesus fucking Christ, my work looks like THAT?! Good god, there's a typo too! Th'fuck?! I proofread this shit!"

I've started going to Google Docs, but the newer versions of MSO are just way more powerful in what you can do with them. Especially Excel, Calc doesn't hold a fucking candle to the bonfire that is Excel's back end. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea behind open-office, but the recent versions... You need to re-open your files in another program, because the end product just looks like shit every time. (Also, for reports that must be X pages in length? A 3 page report in OO was 4 and a half in G-docs. Yeah, filler gets noticeable after a while.)

 

[VanQ]

Very much against it, I actually don't care for any subscription base service to begin with. I'm a very impulsive person. One second, I want to do nothing more than write a story on Word, or play some WoW. Then within a day or two, I'm done and may not use it again for another month. Since you have to purchase these things in at least month increments, it really feels like I'm getting the shaft.

You could, of course, use Open/Libre Office which costs nothing and should have all the functionality of MS Word you need. I don't even know what the differences are, as it allows me to do anything I need...which mostly means opening .doc/.docx documents, and occasionally typing stuff in them, sometimes in different fonts/colours/highlights with the occasional picture embedded. And spellchecked, of course, as I'm lazy like that.

LibreOffice is all I ever install nowadays, as I cannot ever see a need for me using MS Office specifically. I actually would have probably switched to Google Docs by now, as I use those a lot[footnote]especially when it comes to spreadsheets - probabl 90% of the time I do something with one, it'd be in Docs.[/footnote], as well, but the problem is, if I have a .doc/.docx file, it takes few more seconds to open it in there than just double-clicking.

I've noticed a massive difference between open office and MS office. Mostly in how it saves doc files. I've sent so many formatting disasters unknowingly that I've probably lost most of my credibility at my old place of work. It wasn't until I passed in a document at school that I noticed, "Jesus fucking Christ, my work looks like THAT?! Good god, there's a typo too! Th'fuck?! I proofread this shit!"

I've started going to Google Docs, but the newer versions of MSO are just way more powerful in what you can do with them. Especially Excel, Calc doesn't hold a fucking candle to the bonfire that is Excel's back end. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea behind open-office, but the recent versions... You need to re-open your files in another program, because the end product just looks like shit every time. (Also, for reports that must be X pages in length? A 3 page report in OO was 4 and a half in G-docs. Yeah, filler gets noticeable after a while.)

I experienced the formatting issue with Open Office as well. Luckily I have a friend that I ask to proofread important docs for me before I send them off so I picked up on that quickly. I honestly find that most people are pretty much stuck using MS Word for the simple reason that so many businesses and institutions use it.

 

[Armadox]

Can you not use CS2? Pretty sure those are all free.

I believe you can get Photoshop and Illustrator CS2 for free from the Adobe website, yes. Unfortunately, I also require Premiere Pro and After Effects, which I don't think are available for free. At least, not that I've been able to find.

Also, I've been trying out the Creative Cloud 30 day trials for the past weekend and they're a gigantic leap up from CS2 as far as ease to use and they're very powerful applications. Some jobs that would have taken me up to 30mins in CS3 are taking me about 5 mins to do in CC. So I'm not disputing the quality of the products, just the payment model.

A part of me does want to pay for these products, but the other part of me can't decide if that ridiculous per year price point is worth it in the long run.

Can you link where you can find Adobe Illustrator CS2 then? I've been using Sai Flexi Pro and would like to try the program instead for templating pages. Which works, but is a pain in the ass sometimes.

 

[Roxas1359]

Honestly the subscription-based systems for software like Photoshop can go burn in a pit. It makes perfect sense for the company which owns the product, but on the consumer level and for other businesses it's just, as another user put it, a huge money hole. What happens at the same time though is that this causes just an increase in not only piracy of that product, but also alternatives to spring up that people will use more.

For example, I'd love to have Adobe Premier as my video editing software as it is wonderful, but I'll be damned if I am paying a subscription for it. So instead I went with a competitor, Sony Movie Studio Platinum, and I'm doing just fine. Then there's Photoshop, well I'll just use Paint.Net. Sure it's not as good as Photoshop, but with plug-in support I can still do all the picture editing I need just fine, and it's free as well. For Microsoft Office, I don't know a single computer at my work that runs Office 365, or any professor that does. They've all either got Office 2010, like I do, or they've moved onto Google Docs.

 

[FalloutJack]

I don't rent. I buy. End of discussion.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Um, I can sort of understand the tempotation, especially when it makes things cheaper, but... It makes me really nervous at the same time.

So personally I avoid it. I even got a 'lifetime' subscription to an mmo just because I don't like the concept, even though that amounted to 16 months subscription, and my playtime doesn't even come close to justifying that...

Oh well... It's sucky when you look at it closely...

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

When I first read news of Adobe's new subscription model, I though it was going to be really good./sarcasm The fact that they don't even offer[footnote]Well, they still have CS6 packages available to purchase, but they require digging through the site.[/footnote] a full license alternative for either a single program or the full suite means this wasn't just to fight pirates. It was to basically force people to upgrade every year. I could see an amateur, hobbyist or even smaller professionals buying the Creative Suite only every few years. This is their solution to squeeze more money out of their customers. It might not bother larger professional and enterprise customers, who might have bought a new version every time it came out, to pay the price of a new CS every year, but the smaller users definitely feel a blow to their wallets. The only small time users that could benefit here are the mythical people who use CC for only a month or two before turning off the subscription for some time before reactivating it.

Office 365 is pretty bad, too. If you want to install office on multiple PCs, 365 or buying multiple copies of the full version are the only way. Office 365 personal costs $70 a year vs the Home and Student 2013 full version's $140 total, so if you know you only need the one PC and will use it for 2 years, at least there's that option.

Free and open source alternatives to both do work for some users, but those that need absolute certainty in compatibility or buy the licensed programs in order to learn them are stuck being bled dry by this new practice.

It's also scaring me, too, with the video game market. If MS and Adobe can get away with it, what about game publishers? PS Now already has some people psyched up about it. (At least PS Now has the excuse of needing servers running 24/7 to charge for its use.) I would hate for the next generation to be download only with some, or even all games, only available via a subscription. At least "vote with your wallet" is a viable option there, but many will go along with it anyway.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Yeah, the new subscription model for Adobe sucks. I will be surprised if we don't see a good open-source alternative because of that move. That's usually how things go in software industry. Some big company does something that instantly puts off a lot of people and an open-source alternative appears out of thin air. And I'm not talking about fuckin' GIMP.