A software that costs $500-15k is only feasible for a B2B type business.
i’m confused… all versions of the DAWs they mentioned in the parent comment are as near as makes no difference below £500.
> Live 12 Suite: £539
> Live 12 Standard: £259
> Live 12 Intro: £69 (nice)
https://www.ableton.com/en/shop/live/
> FL Studio Full: £469 (nice)
> FL Studio Signature: £279
> FL Studio Producer: £199
> FL Studio Fruity: £89
https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio/compare-editions/
> Bitwig Studio: £339
> Bitwig Studio Producer: £169 (nice)
> Bitwig Studio Essentials: £79
> Logic Pro: £199
—-
in case you were replying to their original top-level comment
> Photoshop £22.99 pcm (£276 pa)
> Photoshop Photography £19.99 pcm (£240 pa)
> Photoshop All Creative Cloud £59.99 pcm (£720 pa)
this last one ^ bundles all the proprietary adobe “rented” software they mentioned into one package.
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/plans.html
so even then your figures don’t seem to make sense?
And the worst thing about that 'package' is that if you need (say) just Photoshop + Illustrator - well suddenly the 'cheapest' way to do that is paying for the entire package of garbage that you don't want and will never need.
In USD currently:
FL Studio Producer Edition = $180
Logic X = $200
Bitwig Producer = $200
Ableton Standard = $450
Reaper = $60 (personal use) or $225
Pixelmator = $50
Davinci Resolve = Free or $300
I don't know many people left who pay for their OS these days.
Don't forget that VMs exists.
I don't mind paying the upgrade price when I need the newer version, but that should be an informed decision. These day, subscriptions are actual gatekeepers to features where when you cancel it, you lose access to the software "pro" features.
What’s different today?
Today everything is connected to the internet and exposed to threats, so the updates are much more frequent, and OS makers take advantage of this to push additional stuff and even more changes. The result is a treadmill.
Of course CASIO is not connected to the internet, it won't allow me to steer it with my fancy phone app. So maybe, just maybe, connecting everything to the internet is a simple mistake?
I bought my Lightroom when it was possible and am using with my camera. Once I buy a new camera, it won't be supported in lightroom. And I won't be able to upgrade it because now they moved to the subscription model. And I make photos every 5 months let's say... And lightroom them even less often
i’ve used repear for years on and off without paying anything. new updates come out all the time. fixes, new features etc. (every time i open Reaper I hang my head in shame for not having bought a license).
repear isn’t a profit optimised entity. i gather it is software created and maintained primarily for people to use. licenses cover costs.
adobe/microsoft are profit optimised entities. people using the software is secondary to them making money off it. subscriptions are there to make them profit, not to cover their costs.
It's easy to keep your machines secured even if they are using a decades old OS. Businesses are still depending on a lot of old software and hardware, because it gets the job done with great efficiency.
If I buy a physical lock that's found to be easily opened with a toothpick once it's in the mass market, I'd expect a recall and it to be fixed. With software, it's even easier to deploy a fix.
There's an expectation that purchased software is usable. A server that's connected to the internet that can be compromised easily is no longer usable. Firms selling software applications have an obligation to provide security updates for the life of the product.
My bet is that none of the commenters in this thread (full of mentions of sustainable development) actually run a full-time software business and make a living on it. I do. Which is why I understand why subscriptions make sense.
While I appreciate the sentiment, the world where you could use the same software for many years without updates is gone. These days developers have to invest significant time and effort into making sure the software just runs on the constantly updated operating systems and platforms — which costs money on an ongoing basis. Expecting your software to be updated regularly without paying regularly makes no sense.
So either you intend to run that exact binary that you downloaded (because that is the tool you bought), or the ongoing costs need to be covered somehow. Some companies do it through subscriptions and some play a game of "no, you don't have to update, but here is this new shiny (more bloated, too) version that we produce every 2 years, you can get it for $50 and OWN IT FOREVER (well, until the next shiny comes along in 2 years time". But it's a game, and the drawback is that there is incentive for bloating software instead of just maintaining it and fixing bugs.