5 ms·

Way too expensive. Why does everything have to be a subscription?

Wistar 4y ago
You'll likely need to subscribe to an industry newsletter to find out why.
nomel 4y ago
Because, nearly 100% of the time, a subscription is cheaper for the average end user, especially one who doesn't want to be stuck using some old version that they paid for a decade ago but have used relatively sparingly/non-professionally.
- laserdancepony 4y ago
  No, they just do it to mask the TCO of their product. Dumb people pay more. End of story.
  - nomel 4y ago
    I think the answer is somewhere in between. Looking at their growth shortly before implementing this, the conclusion of y ourreductionist statement would appear to be that smart people cause companies to eventually go bankrupt. Obviously, it's not as simple as cheap = good.
  - HNHatesUsers 4y ago
- nomel 4y ago
  Doing the math, this doesn't seem to be the case for CAD. In 2016 (last year before subscription), Autocad was $1495/head ($1795 corrected). In 2022, the 3 year subscription is $4410, or $1470/year. So, assuming you upgrade every 3 years, it's 3x more expensive now. Looking at Autodesk profits [1], there was no real growth until 2014, then a steady drop towards 2016, which probably raised the alarms and required them to change something. After the subscription, there has been steady growth, with a little more than 2x from 2016 to 2022. But, in the grand scheme of things, $122/month is really nothing for a professional user, which AutoCAD is targeted at. 1. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADSK/autodesk/revenue https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADSK/autodesk/reve...
  - HNHatesUsers 4y ago
- majormunky 4y ago
  These companies aren't moving to a subscription model because its cheaper for the users
fsloth 4y ago
Companies are in general happy with paying subscriptions since it's from their operational expense (OPEX). Why companies prefer it that way is another question. But they do.
Blackthorn 4y ago
Soooo much of the CAD industry is going this way. It sucks. Luckily there's still very good products you can buy permanent licenses for (bricscad, ironcad, zw3d, more), but way more of the big names are just trying to squeeze their customers.
keyle 4y ago
It sucks. But it's predictable pricing for companies buying it and it's predictable revenue streams for the makers of the software (that's if no one jumps boat en-masse).

You'll likely need to subscribe to an industry newsletter to find out why.

Because, nearly 100% of the time, a subscription is cheaper for the average end user, especially one who doesn't want to be stuck using some old version that they paid for a decade ago but have used relatively sparingly/non-professionally.

laserdancepony 4y ago
No, they just do it to mask the TCO of their product. Dumb people pay more. End of story.
- nomel 4y ago
  I think the answer is somewhere in between. Looking at their growth shortly before implementing this, the conclusion of y ourreductionist statement would appear to be that smart people cause companies to eventually go bankrupt. Obviously, it's not as simple as cheap = good.
- HNHatesUsers 4y ago
nomel 4y ago
Doing the math, this doesn't seem to be the case for CAD. In 2016 (last year before subscription), Autocad was $1495/head ($1795 corrected). In 2022, the 3 year subscription is $4410, or $1470/year. So, assuming you upgrade every 3 years, it's 3x more expensive now. Looking at Autodesk profits [1], there was no real growth until 2014, then a steady drop towards 2016, which probably raised the alarms and required them to change something. After the subscription, there has been steady growth, with a little more than 2x from 2016 to 2022. But, in the grand scheme of things, $122/month is really nothing for a professional user, which AutoCAD is targeted at. 1. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADSK/autodesk/revenue https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/ADSK/autodesk/reve...
- HNHatesUsers 4y ago
majormunky 4y ago
These companies aren't moving to a subscription model because its cheaper for the users

fsloth 4y ago

Companies are in general happy with paying subscriptions since it's from their operational expense (OPEX). Why companies prefer it that way is another question. But they do.

Blackthorn 4y ago

Soooo much of the CAD industry is going this way. It sucks. Luckily there's still very good products you can buy permanent licenses for (bricscad, ironcad, zw3d, more), but way more of the big names are just trying to squeeze their customers.

keyle 4y ago

It sucks. But it's predictable pricing for companies buying it and it's predictable revenue streams for the makers of the software (that's if no one jumps boat en-masse).