OT: Subscription software is bad for biz (RANT)

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farss wrote on 7/8/2014, 6:36 PM
[I]"By innovating! By creating new features that customer actually want. How about that for a way to stay in business; actually offering something that some wants to buy! What a novel idea!!! ;-) This is not a charity... it's business. If you want to stay in business you need to bring your customer business value that they are willing to pay for without you holding their tools for ransom."[/I]

I think that's rather obvious however it's based on the assumption that there's an endless supply of innovative features that your customers want. Windows XP or to be more specific XPe remains one of the most used operating systems because it's in most POS (cash register) systems. MS are not going to get users to pay for new features but they're now offering users paid for ongoing support for security and bug fixes.

Certainly holding users to ransom is unconscionable however there's still the issue of how does a software vendor keep the lights on once they've satisfied all reasonable demands for new features. Adding unwanted new features just leads to bloat and more support issues. The NLE vendors do have paid work to do thanks to the seemingly never ending array of new codecs being invented but even that must come to an end one day.

Bob.
larry-peter wrote on 7/9/2014, 9:57 AM
I don’t want to go on record as saying I wish my tools cost more, but the business model of “professional video for everyone” has had a lot of detrimental impacts on the industry – one of those is that software vendors now have to find creative solutions to “keep the lights on.”

When there was a definite line between consumer tools and “pro” tools, the line was drawn mainly by pricing. Now that most people can afford decent quality 4K video, NLE’s and excellent grading tools, the fact that you “can” do it is seen by many as more important than “can you do it well.” With more untrained people able to work with video and willing to do it for ridiculously low prices, client expectations have been lowered, as have profits for most “old-school” professionals.

This has become an industry with one of the cheapest buy-ins of any I can think of. With the tools now available little investment is required of money, time or education. Is that really a good thing for any industry in the long run? I have mixed feelings.
TeetimeNC wrote on 7/9/2014, 10:41 AM
>Windows XP or to be more specific XPe remains one of the most used operating systems because it's in most POS (cash register) systems.

And, 95% of the worlds ATMs run Windows XP.

CORRECTION: It is 95% of American ATMs, not World.

/jerry
riredale wrote on 7/9/2014, 11:47 AM
Truth be told, for the world it's probably 99% and likely to stay that way for a long time.
Chienworks wrote on 7/9/2014, 1:50 PM
I've been wondering for a while now at what point does the computer industry plateau and from there on out computers and software are simply commodity appliances that may get a new external style makeover once in a while. Toasters, blenders, and frying pans all hit this stage long before we were born and there simply isn't anything new that can be added to fundamentally change what they do for us. The only reason to get a new toaster now is if your old one dies, or if you've moved out of your parents' house.

When software reaches this level it will have the additional handicap of not dying. Software vendors won't even be able to count on replacement sales. They will be reduced to a few new users now and then. Really all that's left after that is tech support, training, and service. However, after the plateau stage is reached the need for these also falls into rapid decline.

I suspect the plateau isn't really that far away.
PeterDuke wrote on 7/9/2014, 7:58 PM
Ah, but there will be bugs, or less than perfect performance in the case of say OCR or restoration software, or reputed speed improvements, and there will be some frustrated users who will upgrade in the hope that life will be sweeter. Been there, done that.

However, dumb upgraders will eventually realise that they are being stung. Even I stopped upgrading Omnipage after about the third time. I have yet to learn with Vegas, even though I normally use version 9c.
Former user wrote on 7/9/2014, 8:27 PM
Chienworks, if you use Quicken software, I think it proves your point. What more can it do. It balances the checkbook, downloads bank statements. It pretty much is maxed out. I am on version 2007 and have no need to upgrade. The only reason I am on that version is because of a good price and the Y2k thing.
Steve Mann wrote on 7/9/2014, 11:09 PM
"...how does a software vendor keep the lights on once they've satisfied all reasonable demands for new features."

Why should they?

Corel Draw was a $400 program when it first hit the market, and they did pretty well. But, it's a mature product and there is very little R&D being done on Corel Draw. No R&D means lower costs, which translates to the $30 package you can buy today.

Corel Draw can save as a pdf file with layers and it works just fine in Sony DVDA for menus.

Why *should* a software company who runs out of new ideas survive the market? Visicalc was the first business program and sold quite well for a few years, but they were out-featured by Lotus in Lotus 1-2-3. (Actually, Lotus bought Visicalc then killed it). MS Excel out-featured Lotus, and where are they today?

In the case of Adobe, lower R&D costs will translate to higher profits. Within a year, I expect to see the size of their R&D investment shrink.
Ryadia wrote on 7/11/2014, 1:40 AM
Absolutely true! I 'rented' the complete Adobe suite for a year. When I phoned to cancel it at month 11 they offered to continue the pricing they'd given early takers.

All along I've used Vegas. It cost me the price of buying it and unless version 13 has some serious benefits, I'll stay with 12. My choice, not some developer who has run out of ideas changing their logo to make me think it's all new.

Anyway... Isn't this a Sony Vegas forum?
Byron K wrote on 7/11/2014, 2:17 AM
Posted by: TeeTime, Date: 7/9/2014 5:41:07 AM
CORRECTION: It is 95% of American ATMs, not World.
Sorry to respond off topic but to clarify, I was the ATM network engineer of a regional bank. The ATMs at my bank are very secure, all firewalled, on a private network closed off to the outside including the corporate intranet. It was corporate and federal audit policy that NOTHING was to be connected to the ATM network except the mainframe. All ATM connections were private point to point ckts dual homed DS3 trunks to two data centers. All data is encrypted.

I'm not sure if ALL banks take the security of their ATMs as seriously as we did but I sure hope so. (:
TeetimeNC wrote on 7/30/2014, 4:12 PM
JR, at this point I'm not really paying Adobe any more for the monthly rentals than I was for the upgrades I was doing. Typically I would update Lightroom every year, and Photoshop/After Effects/Illustrator every three years on average. I am comfortable with the value proposition and with the improvements they continue to make with the products.

Well, I just got my notice from Adobe that my CC suite monthly rental will increase from the promotional $29.99 I have been paying to $49.99 - a 67% increase. I was expecting it to go to $39.99. I think they have reached my pain point ;-(.

What to do.

/jerry
Cliff Etzel wrote on 7/30/2014, 5:49 PM
I've been slowly easing my way back into Vegas but I'm noticing some glaring issues that maybe someone can help me with.

I've made the adjustments to Vegas to try and improve timeline performance and it did help SOME, but I"m thinking that the bottle next is my nVidia GTX-550ti card (I know I know - but it's worked pretty well with PPro CS6 I haven't felt the need to swap it out)

The other issue I"m noticing is compared to PPro CS6, my preview window looks horrid - even at full res capability. Shadows are all crunched and highlights seem blown out - yet the very same clips in PPro CS6 are exactly the way I shot them in camera (I shoot with a custom flat profile and do my adjustments in post) - doesnt' matter if it's the native DSLR footage or Cineform transcoded clips.

What's the deal with Vegas Pro mangling my clips on the timeline?
Spectralis wrote on 8/3/2014, 4:39 PM
I am assuming that many of the subscriptions are not individual users but companies running a number of subscriptions. As a model for business perhaps subscription makes sense although if it's unreliable then they are much more likely to find this untenable in the long run. I don't think it's great for individual users because of the lack of control it introduces such as authentication problems and inability to edit old projects should the subscription end.
Marc S wrote on 8/4/2014, 2:41 PM
"I don't think it's great for individual users because of the lack of control it introduces such as authentication problems and inability to edit old projects should the subscription end."

I agree. If they just gave people ownership up to the point that a specified subscription term was fulfilled they would probably still have me as a customer. They recently released Creative Cloud 2014 so they obviously are still following a sort of point upgrade system. Their new business model is a slap in the face to long time Adobe supporters and strikes me as greed on their part. I will do everything I can to avoid getting involved in the Creative Cloud nonsense since I have lost all trust in Adobe.

And then there are the cloud issues. Here's an interesting article about an English newspaper that was shut down for a day and a half due to cloud issues.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/19/adobe_creative_cloud_2014_comment/
ushere wrote on 8/4/2014, 6:42 PM
just reading adobe's boards regarding 'problems' with cc2014 and more i'd be very loathed to trust commercial projects to THEIR cloud at the moment.
Andy_L wrote on 8/4/2014, 7:03 PM
"What's the deal with Vegas Pro mangling my clips on the timeline?"

Cliff see Vegas levels discussions on these boards, ad infinitum...