3 ms·

> They want to fund a bunch of developers to maintain the features customers enjoy or catch up with breaking Windows changes they should be paid to fix anyway

> They want to fund a bunch of developers to maintain the features customers enjoy or catch up with breaking Windows changes they should be paid to fix anyway That's what $$$ upgrades are for. No need for a subscription if I'm happy without the new features and happy using it on an old OS. I'm happy to pay for new features I might actually use. I'm happy to pay for upgrades for a new OS. As an example though, I used to get by upgrading Adobe Photoshop at most about once every 4 years at a cost of about $200 or $50 a year. Now they extract out of me $480 ($120 a year) for features I don't actually use. In fact I'm pretty sure I use zero features past CS2 (2003) and like I said was fine paying them $200 every 4 years for the OS upgrades but now I just feel taken advantage off. Unfortunately yes, I've tried the alternatives and PS is still the best by many measures so I'm stuck paying for nothing but permission to use the software.

nomercy400 6y ago
Why not keep using CS2 (or up to CS5), if you are not using newer features?
- clusterfish 6y ago
  Not the op but whenever I have similar gripes it's because the old version is no longer maintained and eventually breaks after an OS upgrade.
- omnimus 6y ago
  Because it doesnt work on current os (on mac atleast). Also adobe started to expect that you always have most current software so opening any file without current verion so working with others is no no.
- detritus 6y ago
  Because I can't open files from clients who use a newer version than I do - with the 2020 illy update particularly schisming matters.
pjmlp 6y ago
The problem, from shareholders point of view, is that upgrades don't allow for continuous growth and with time, as the potential user base is already covered, it makes very hard to keep that revenue coming in. So unless you want to see your beloved products die at version X, or them ramping down the teams for maintenance mode, subscriptions are the only way to get them going.
monoideism 6y ago
You’ve tried Affinity Photo?
summitsummit 6y ago
> That's what $$$ upgrades are for. No need for a subscription if I'm happy without the new features and happy using it on an old OS. Obviously that would be a better deal for you, that's why it's not an option.
- magicalhippo 6y ago
  Indeed. One of our main competitors when I started 6 years ago is no longer one, mainly because they kept doing the traditional "buy the new version" routine, while my boss had transitioned to subscription-based contracts. They spent a large amount of effort rewriting their main product, but struggled to sell it afterwards. Why would you buy the new version with inevitably more bugs for lots of $$$, when the old version works just fine? Hit them really hard. I think it benefits our customers though, as we don't have as much pressure to focus on flash and bling and can spend time doing things right and fixing old cruft, making our product more solid. Finance departments also seem to love the lower, fixed recurring cost rather than a huge bill every other year or so. Another thing that's been good is that our price has a fixed component and a component that scales with use. Since our customers can charge their customers for the work done with our program, that means our price can be competitive both for companies with low activity and high activity.
blackoil 6y ago
$$$ versions have few cons: 1. It is a decision point so requires reselling at every new version. 2. Old Versions must now be maintained for n years. 3. Features and sometimes bugfixes) are now kept on hold to bundle to make a big bang version release. 4. Multiple devices now add additional decision point, should you buy and iPad pro version of the app and a mobile one. Value of these would vary for users. With a subscription model: companies can reduce the maintenance window, have a 3 months release cycle, support multiple devices and have only one decision point for the user am I making enough to justify $ / month.

nomercy400 6y ago

Why not keep using CS2 (or up to CS5), if you are not using newer features?

clusterfish 6y ago
Not the op but whenever I have similar gripes it's because the old version is no longer maintained and eventually breaks after an OS upgrade.
omnimus 6y ago
Because it doesnt work on current os (on mac atleast). Also adobe started to expect that you always have most current software so opening any file without current verion so working with others is no no.
detritus 6y ago
Because I can't open files from clients who use a newer version than I do - with the 2020 illy update particularly schisming matters.

pjmlp 6y ago

The problem, from shareholders point of view, is that upgrades don't allow for continuous growth and with time, as the potential user base is already covered, it makes very hard to keep that revenue coming in. So unless you want to see your beloved products die at version X, or them ramping down the teams for maintenance mode, subscriptions are the only way to get them going.

monoideism 6y ago

You’ve tried Affinity Photo?

summitsummit 6y ago

> That's what $$$ upgrades are for. No need for a subscription if I'm happy without the new features and happy using it on an old OS. Obviously that would be a better deal for you, that's why it's not an option.

magicalhippo 6y ago
Indeed. One of our main competitors when I started 6 years ago is no longer one, mainly because they kept doing the traditional "buy the new version" routine, while my boss had transitioned to subscription-based contracts. They spent a large amount of effort rewriting their main product, but struggled to sell it afterwards. Why would you buy the new version with inevitably more bugs for lots of $$$, when the old version works just fine? Hit them really hard. I think it benefits our customers though, as we don't have as much pressure to focus on flash and bling and can spend time doing things right and fixing old cruft, making our product more solid. Finance departments also seem to love the lower, fixed recurring cost rather than a huge bill every other year or so. Another thing that's been good is that our price has a fixed component and a component that scales with use. Since our customers can charge their customers for the work done with our program, that means our price can be competitive both for companies with low activity and high activity.

blackoil 6y ago

$$$ versions have few cons: 1. It is a decision point so requires reselling at every new version. 2. Old Versions must now be maintained for n years. 3. Features and sometimes bugfixes) are now kept on hold to bundle to make a big bang version release. 4. Multiple devices now add additional decision point, should you buy and iPad pro version of the app and a mobile one. Value of these would vary for users. With a subscription model: companies can reduce the maintenance window, have a 3 months release cycle, support multiple devices and have only one decision point for the user am I making enough to justify $ / month.