Software by subscription…

I will start this by saying I will try to not mention products by name as I don’t want to single out any particular company as they are not the only ones doing this.

I recently had to decide wither or not to license some software I use for my photo editing by subscription license or try to get the standalone application license. I had been given access to the subscription license for one year but that year is about up. Now it is time to pay the full price of the subscription or get the standalone application or I lose my ability to use the software.

So I started to compare pricing. At first glance the subscription service didn’t look that bad. But then I started to think about things a bit. Ok so for the monthly subscription I can get the software I’m using plus several other features/software included in the “packaged” deal. Sounds pretty good right. Then I looked at the “packaged” deal and realized I’ll never use any of the other apps/services except the one program. So started looking to buy a license for just that application. The fun began as for this vendor it is not so easy to find the pricing for the standalone application. The site keep on redirecting me to the subscription service page anytime I clicked on links for pricing information. I eventually found the application pricing only to find out the discount that I qualified for in the past years is no longer an option and can now only get it at full retail pricing. I think this is the result of their push for the subscription model pricing. I fell they are trying to make the standalone app look less appealing and they were intentionally trying to steer me towards the subscription licensing versus getting the standalone app.

OK monthly fee versus one time purchase, which do I choose.  Next I though how long do I think I’m going to use this app. Well I’ve used it for a year now and have become dependent upon it so switching to something else would be a pain, so I will stick with this application and thus will be using it for sometime. Since I’m one of those folks that doesn’t always upgrade to the latest version of software as I don’t think I need the new features or it doesn’t work on my computer given that I have an older model computer, I am happy to just stick with and older version most of the time.

So decision time. With the monthly plan I would pay just as much as the standalone app price after about 14 months, then after that it would be costing me more. Given that I don’t know if a new version of this app will come out within the next year and that I may not upgrade to anyway, I didn’t see any benefit of the subscription service. I determined it would cost me more over time and that if I cancelled the subscription service I would not longer have access to the application.  That is one of the Big drawbacks to subscription based software I think. One reason I like the standalone application purchase better. For my example if I cancelled after 14 months, even though I would have paid the same as the standalone purchase, I would no longer be able to use the application if I had not purchased the standalone version

If it was just one application vendor I used software for that did this subscription service model I might be ok with it, but it seems more and more software vendors are going to this model.  Individually the prices are low, but when you have to buy a subscription each for application you use, that low monthly fee becomes a large monthly for all the applications.

I”m just hoping that these companies will not go to solely subscription based licensing as I think it will make the software be out of a lot of folks price range if they think about the total cost over time or it is going go get folks into more debt as it is so easy to just put that on a credit card and forget about it. I have a feeling that this particular vendor will be going that way as with every new upgrade of their suite of applications more and more of their applications have become available by subscription license only.

For business I think the subscription licensing makes sense as most will have up to date computers and would need to stay up to date on the applications. The subscription method would keep them up to date and would save them money over time versus the individual upgrades each time. But for the people who occasionally purchases a product it will end up costing them a lot over time. So I’m just not a fan of subscription based licensing.

Union Station Ceiling of Gold

The view straight up of the ceiling in Union Station in Washington DC. I ended up putting my camera on a planter edge and thus the plant in the picture as tripods are not allowed in Union Station and there was not enough light to get a good picture if I hand-held my camera.

So consider that my tip of the day. Don’t be afraid to creative to get the picture. This planter was in the right spot for me to lay my camera down on to get the shot. Since my camera doesn’t have a flip screen nor built-in wifi it was sheer guesswork on getting things lined up so it took a few shots until I got it right. With newer cameras especially the one’s with wifi that will let you see the image on your phone this would have been much easier.

#Software #Subsciption #WashingtonDC #UnionStation #Train #Station #Amtrak