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The great Software debate.

Pick Holder

Pick Holder

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Joined
Jul 18, 2016
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Bournville, Birmingham.
I don't know about you guys - in my past I would quite happily download cracked software and use it.

Over the last 15 years - all this has changed.

I now pay for everything I use. Which of course is the right thing to do.

I was waiting to go on stage saturday in front of 2,000 people at a festival and my MAC I use to run the band suddenly decides to 'phone home' to adobe to check that my licenses are valid for audition...... I was literally able to connect the mac via my phone and with 5 seconds of the introduction - it was able to run. Phew......

Really winds me up that I can not just BUY the software outright now for many packages I use, instead of having to 'rent it monthly'.

This has only really happened since the last but one Mac OSX update. I had fully paid up versions that no longer run on the latest OS.
 
Pick Holder said:
I don't know about you guys - in my past I would quite happily download cracked software and use it.

Over the last 15 years - all this has changed.

I now pay for everything I use. Which of course is the right thing to do.

I was waiting to go on stage saturday in front of 2,000 people at a festival and my MAC I use to run the band suddenly decides to 'phone home' to adobe to check that my licenses are valid for audition...... I was literally able to connect the mac via my phone and with 5 seconds of the introduction - it was able to run. Phew......

Really winds me up that I can not just BUY the software outright now for many packages I use, instead of having to 'rent it monthly'.

This has only really happened since the last but one Mac OSX update. I had fully paid up versions that no longer run on the latest OS.
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It's annoying, Adobe pioneered subscription software, it's the holy grail for software developers, permanent never ending revenue streams. Apple took it to another level building obsoletion into the software forcing you to buy a new phone, iMac etc. yes I get and understand the security implementations.
 
Completely agree, and the same here. Gone are the days when i used to scour the web for non-legit versions.
The only time in the last 12 months i did contempate it was for a piece of software that i could ONLY pay for using Bitcoin, and I'm not playing that game. In the end i found something else that basically did the same job, and that I could legitimately pay for.

I'm convinced that it's the only way that companies can make money now.. It's a model that I genuinely HATE with a passion for the same reasons.
 
It isn’t Apple, they are all moving to subscription based software, which I also hate. But when an OS changes, it is an easier point when they can force the changes.
I was at a show called Makers Central, everything from painting to metal working and now some CNC software are subscription based. They will all argue it keeps the revenue streams coming in but for me, I don’t like the idea of being forced to keep paying. I have too many hobbies and I can afford to pay each one monthly.
 
Every company is going this direction even the one who don’t really need to (cough stern cough)

It gives them a steady constant predictable revenue stream. If you buy a piece of software for life you might never see that customer again, but if you rent it, you will see that customer every month/year and can quite easily predict what your earning next month etc…

This ain’t going away in the software world and even hardware world where most of the revenue comes from software ad ons (just look at all modern cars with half the entertainment system behind a Paywall)
 
russdx1 said:
This ain’t going away in the software world and even hardware world where most of the revenue comes from software ad ons (just look at all modern cars with half the entertainment system behind a Paywall)
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This really boils my pi$$!

Cars are expensive enough, without having to pay rent for the seat heaters on top. If they intend to model it that way the capital cost should be lower initially, but they're not. It’s a cash grab.

As for software; I spent many years using all sorts of cracks and keys, but these days I just use either open source or source it via work. I don’t have a personal computer anymore either, just the work Mac. They have enterprise level agreements in place, for which I am simply a tiny minnow in a big stream.
 
Calimori said:
It isn’t Apple, they are all moving to subscription based software, which I also hate. But when an OS changes, it is an easier point when they can force the changes.
I was at a show called Makers Central, everything from painting to metal working and now some CNC software are subscription based. They will all argue it keeps the revenue streams coming in but for me, I don’t like the idea of being forced to keep paying. I have too many hobbies and I can afford to pay each one monthly.
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That's very true, Microsoft are getting to the point with office 365 that it will be unaffordable to larger companies, 30 percent increase last year, probably another one next year.
Part of the original problem was Adobe was heavily pirated in the media world, understandably due to the cost, so they tackled it by turning the Adobe suite subscription based, other saw the revenue stream benefit with the internet being fast compared to the early days it was viable to the have the checks to make sure the subscription was active. Yeh everyone is jumping on the software as a service route, it will back fire at some point as people won't be able to afford it, as like TV subscriptions it all adds up.
 
What I really object to is I have already paid for the software I am talking about (adobe).

I upgraded my mac os a while ago - and found that certain things on my mac no longer work and needed upgrading.

So I went to click upgrade - expecting it to downlaod an update but I had to sign up to three subscriptions

Two of which I have cancelled. One being Microsoft office (thank you open office).

I can not get over paying £240 a year for software.
 
One of my pet peeves are firms who send out forms to complete in adobe writer. There’s this idea that everyone has access to it and frankly I’m not going to pay to use something I don’t need. Exam boards and recruitment agencies are some of the worst offenders here
 
We're having to deal with something similar where I work with Team Viewer Licenses for remote support.

A lot of years ago we purchased several lifetime Licenses but at a certain point they switched to subscription based for newer versions, then a few years ago they decided they were going to stop supporting the old versions and everyone who had bought lifetime licenses kicked off and they were given free upgrades to the newer version.

They are however now retiring that version that they gave free upgrades to so our Licences stop working at the end of the year and we now have to look for a new product and start paying yearly for it.
 
I hate the subscription model myself.
I wanted photoshop but the last non sub version has an irritating printer bug. ended up buying affinity instead (which worked out well fortunately)
remember buying a core bundle from humble couple of years back only to find it was subs model too and all you got was some months of a sub 🤔
 
£79.99 a year for office365. A fair price that hasn’t increased for years. I was reluctant at first having had works access for 25 years, but now I think it’s a good deal and I happily renew each year.
 
Office you use quite often, for many it is a core product.
But Adobe Photoshop, I am a rare user. I went the affinity route and have something to edit PDF’s and it is a perpetual licence. For Now.
 
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If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing

Pretty much everything these days is just buying a licence. Most often with terms that means the licencee can revoke and change those terms on a whim.

Things like buying an ebook from Amazon, then finding out that if you change country then you can no longer download that book. Or paid for software/media being 'discontinued' with no refunds

Agree with the sentiment here that it's a PITA. I gave up all my piracy habits when it started to become more convenient to do things legally. But I feel like I may be switching back soon for a lot of things
 
Leah uses Photoshop every day for hours on end in her studio, the business has been charged £9.98 per month by Adobe for that one license since 2019 (I've just checked our accounts)
Also during COVID lockdown periods they didn't take any payments either, that's pretty decent of them tbh.
 
Wizcat said:
If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing
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☝🏻

About video games but same applies

Wizcat said:
Agree with the sentiment here that it's a PITA. I gave up all my piracy habits when it started to become more convenient to do things legally. But I feel like I may be switching back soon for a lot of things
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I used to do it a lot 'back in the day' but it's been a rare occurrence for at least 10/15 years thanks to streaming and Steam (when I was more of a gamer).
I suppose I had less money back then too.

I miss the banging music that came with keygens in the late 90s early 2000s
 
AlanJ said:
£79.99 a year for office365. A fair price that hasn’t increased for years. I was reluctant at first having had works access for 25 years, but now I think it’s a good deal and I happily renew each year.
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I use the free Web app versions at home, never needed anything more advanced and they just work.
 
Anyone requiring Photoshop like functionality have you heard of Photopea, I've not used it myself but only heard good things about it.
 
Photopea appears to be all online, I am very wary of anything that takes my content like that. There has to be some way they are balancing the huges hosting and coding costs.

Affinity Photo 2 from Serif does the job, well much better a job than I can, there is a huge community who share how to do the things I need to do.
 
AlanJ said:
£79.99 a year for office365. A fair price that hasn’t increased for years. I was reluctant at first having had works access for 25 years, but now I think it’s a good deal and I happily renew each year.
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I have a onedrive sub that gives me office. £7.99 a month for 1tb of online storage. Couldnt find anywhere cheaper than that so office was a bonus
 
Plugged in my 9-year-old Garmin SatNav and updated client software and a maps update without using my credit card. A Refreshing change!
 
I have always appreciated how long Garmin support a product, I think it comes from their history of supplying handheld and marine GPS systems which would last. The software doesn't need to change but the mapping does.
I have also had their hardware fail on me, whilst leaving Mulhouse on my way back to the UK. They were very apologetic and sent me a replacement with zero difficulty. Which is why I prefer their hardware solutions for motorbiking and long distance driving.
 
You take that dig at Apple but ask any Mac user and they usually have a 10 year old machine that is still patched for security issues and works, just not cutting edge.

Mobiles are trying to be cutting edge so will depreciate when the next tech comes out. But the iPhone 8 is still a very well supported device and is 7 years old. The batteries are easy to replace and they keep going.
 
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