[Closed] Software subscriptions

[i]Of course thia is not always the case[/i]

very rarely - why would a software vendor not provide an easy upgrade path (even if it's a fairly crude file conversion process)? It just encourages people to look at alternative products.

It seems that the subscription model would work best with major companies with very large market share.

I think subscription for companies is not a. Issue but for personal use age especially house holds where program are infrequently used it is an issue. You may use a program twice a year And be happy with old software but do not want to pay xxx a month for a twice a year use.

Even for one man bands it can. Be a issue.£40 a month is nothing if you use it every day but if it is used once a month and you have 12 or so program like that it does become an issue.

molgrips - Member 
Other thing to consider - when I bought Office 2007 for personal use it only had Word, Excel, One Note and PowerPoint I think. The Office 365 sub includes Publisher, which my wife loves and finds really useful. Also Access, which she doesn't know what's for and probably nor does anyone else these days...

And Outlook. Still better than any equivalent "free" mail solution, and essential if you work with Exchange.

wwaswas - Member 
The biggest catch that each of the licences is a single install only.
HD goes and you reinstall? One licence gone.
Change PC? One licence gone
etc etc
And it's not per year, it's for the life of the subscription.

Hard disc change shouldn't trigger a new activation. Change other major hardware or use a new PC and yes you lose a licence and cannot be reused.

Life of the subscription is a year, in my case, as I buy an annual sub. I've got explicit instructions that if I don't renew I have to cease using all the products, including the operating systems.

Also another catch is you only get the latest, so you technically can't install an older version once they've been superseded. That said they've kept Windows 8 hanging around a bit as download and keys for them since Win 10 was introduced.

Still though, for a one man freelance software development business it's a good deal for me. Normal businesses would have to shelve out thousands for the same software.

but for personal use age especially house holds where program are infrequently used it is an issue.

It would be an issue if subscription was the only option, but currently you can still buy office outright.

[i]Hard disc change shouldn't trigger a new activation[/i]

If you reinstall the same software on the same pc it uses another licence.

I got caught out, changed to an SDD, backup up data, reinstalled windows and office, restored data. that's 1 windows and 1 office licence gone forever.

wwaswas - Member 
I got caught out, changed to an SDD, backup up data, reinstalled windows and office, restored data. that's 1 windows and 1 office licence gone forever.

I did an in place upgrade. Backup documents, photos etc that wouldn't fit on SSD as it was smaller, then clone HDD to SSD, and boot. Restore documents etc to HDD set as second hard disc. All good and no reinstall, same licence.

Reinstall with no hardware change and it will still use the same licence.

This is my last post on the subject as i am only trying to put across a possible counter arguement, not actually trying to convince you to subscribe to some software...

Some of the very large vendors were coming under pressure from FOSS packages catching them up. By moving to a subscription package they have another way to compete against they free/libré alternatives but in doing so they gain more control over your data in the ways I mentioned (unable to access your files without a current valid subscription, filetypes changed more easily to prevent external compatibility etc).

Another issue is functionality - a great many of these packages have been effectively feature complete for years, the core features of them can be carried out by a version that is already several years old, or that is replicated effectively by a FOSS alternative - so, why would you continue to pay for it? Easly answered by filetype revisions within copyrighted formats - all your datas are belong to us ;P

Other issues - cost of training for high end packages and/or certification requirements means companies are reluctant to change the package in use. Also, with subs often for bundles of programs, are you not paying for something you dont need?

Currently most(?) cloud solutions keep your files available in read-only mode if you cancel subscribtion and you are free to copy the files from there. I don't recall how long e.g MS keeps the files available but it should be reasonable time.

GFS - I am not trying to be antagonistic so please accept my apologies. I'm just discussing the implications as I think it's an interesting shift in the industry.

Re your post - I don't see MS manipulating users like this. And there's two things going on in your post. Knobbling interoperability is not 'all your data belong to us'. However having you store it on cloud, that is. At least for personal users.

A cynical observer might also conclude that making £850 laptops with only 128Gb storage (MS Surface) is a play to get people to put their stuff on cloud where they can index it...

Naaah its cool. I did a presentation on it a while back, so I just felt like going over the arguments. Sometimes i feel like this place is kinda hard to drop the mic in, so i was explaining that i wasn't going to carry on the discussion, save ya typing me something too long 😉

Anyways, my copy of Office was rescued from a skip (really, with a valid licence and everything) and my copy of CS5 came from a shop in Bali, so..... 😛 I've never made any money from it, but i have required a couple of companies to buy CC subs because that's the SW I knew, so it's all gravy

No, use Apple free products. Excel is still the best full function soreadsheet but I don't need that at home.

Subscription model is ised to tie you in amd spend big £££ over time. I bought Office Home a decade plus ago and used the same version for years until I moved off Windows. Have a few other bits if software costing £10-25 outright

Also Access, which she doesn't know what's for and probably nor does anyone else these days...

On the Office subs vs free software, the free software is great and does more than enough but the reason to use Office is just to get rid of one more problem to deal with. The free software is something else to learn and when you have to deal with club documents or school powerpoints or even work spreadsheets in a 'compatible' piece of software that moves things around slightly it just gets old in the end. It's worth paying for it just to get that particular stupid problem out of the way for a few quid a month

Libre Office is good, and brilliant when you consider its cost, but it's just nowhere near as good. I reckon Office is outstanding software.
Also, inter-operability with Office isn't perfect and can bite you on the arse.