3 ms·

I lost my games library and progress when Stadia shuttered. Likewise before that when Ouya went under. Even this month I’ve lost access to content on Audible

I lost my games library and progress when Stadia shuttered. Likewise before that when Ouya went under. Even this month I’ve lost access to content on Audible (bookmarks, marginalia, etc) that I previously paid before because that particular book was optioned. I understand the rationale for these companies to push for subscription models to pump their PE ratio and get that predictable revenue bump. Adobe famously went from a $15 billion to $400 billion market cap by switching to subscription/“own nothing be happy” services rather than selling CS licenses. But as a counter-party? No thank you. Two decades on (and particularly seeing this as a docent at the Media Archeology Lab in Boulder working with 50+ year old media) I think it’s rational to push for digital ownership enforced by a community and not a corporation because otherwise the outcome is predictable. I’m happy to see recent developments enabling ownership, despite the (surprising to me) HN criticism of those vehicles.

mschuster91 3y ago
> I understand the rationale for these companies to push for subscription models to pump their PE ratio and get that predictable revenue bump. Adobe famously went from $15 billion to $400 billion by switching to subscription services rather than selling CS licenses. For Adobe it makes sense. Like, the full CS suite is 50-60€ a month... that was probably 10k worth of purchases before. Even as a student, you can usually afford a CS subscription, whereas you all but had to pirate it under the old model. Personally I would prefer something like the IntelliJ license model - subscribe for 12 months, and you get the last version you had permanently if you cancel the subscription. For games though? For the calculation to make sense even remotely, the monthly subscription game would need to be in the cents, maybe a dollar a month. Everything else is just a ripoff.
- DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
  > For Adobe it makes sense. Like, the full CS suite is 50-60€ a month... that was probably 10k worth of purchases before Nah - the big-box Creative Suite Master Collection was $2300 in 2012 (link below) and it's a perpetual license, and (as far as I've personally tested it) Adobe's main titles (Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat) dating back to version 7.0 (circa 2001) work perfectly fine on Windows 10 (obviously things like high-DPI support is lacking). ...wherewas my Creative Cloud sub is costing me $65/mo now ($780/yr), and I've been a paying subscriber for 10 years now, so Adobe has gotten at-least $6,000 USD from me, even though I only use the base functionality we've had since the late-1990s - so I'd be $3000+ better-off right-now if I had the foresight to buy a big-box of Master Collection right-before Adobe discontinued it. https://web.archive.org/web/20120112103643/http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TH1RHA https://web.archive.org/web/20120112103643/http://www.amazon...
  - jokethrowaway 3y ago
    For the basics you can just use alternatives. Photopea.com covers most of my needs
  - fennecbutt 3y ago
    Reminds me of this good ol article: https://www.neowin.net/news/its-cheaper-to-fly-to-the-usa-than-buy-adobe-cs6-in-australia/ https://www.neowin.net/news/its-cheaper-to-fly-to-the-usa-th...
EasyMark 3y ago
I think I'm just getting older and the more they try to push stuff on me as "we own it, and you pay us to borrow it" the less I'm interested in participating. Apple store/hardware is kind of my last hold out on this front. I still use it as my daily driver but use linux more and more than just getting work done. I generally play old consoles/pc games, have an older car I can work on easily (thanks dad/mom) even though I could afford something newer, use FOSS software whenever I can practically, buy dumb appliances, etc. It's as if we quit valuing simplicity and ownership as a society or manufacturers are just slipping it in more and more like a slow boil? We seem to be adding complexity and extra steps without any pragmatic advantage other than more money for corps. I'm not sure.

mschuster91 3y ago

> I understand the rationale for these companies to push for subscription models to pump their PE ratio and get that predictable revenue bump. Adobe famously went from $15 billion to $400 billion by switching to subscription services rather than selling CS licenses. For Adobe it makes sense. Like, the full CS suite is 50-60€ a month... that was probably 10k worth of purchases before. Even as a student, you can usually afford a CS subscription, whereas you all but had to pirate it under the old model. Personally I would prefer something like the IntelliJ license model - subscribe for 12 months, and you get the last version you had permanently if you cancel the subscription. For games though? For the calculation to make sense even remotely, the monthly subscription game would need to be in the cents, maybe a dollar a month. Everything else is just a ripoff.

DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
> For Adobe it makes sense. Like, the full CS suite is 50-60€ a month... that was probably 10k worth of purchases before Nah - the big-box Creative Suite Master Collection was $2300 in 2012 (link below) and it's a perpetual license, and (as far as I've personally tested it) Adobe's main titles (Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat) dating back to version 7.0 (circa 2001) work perfectly fine on Windows 10 (obviously things like high-DPI support is lacking). ...wherewas my Creative Cloud sub is costing me $65/mo now ($780/yr), and I've been a paying subscriber for 10 years now, so Adobe has gotten at-least $6,000 USD from me, even though I only use the base functionality we've had since the late-1990s - so I'd be $3000+ better-off right-now if I had the foresight to buy a big-box of Master Collection right-before Adobe discontinued it. https://web.archive.org/web/20120112103643/http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TH1RHA https://web.archive.org/web/20120112103643/http://www.amazon...
- jokethrowaway 3y ago
  For the basics you can just use alternatives. Photopea.com covers most of my needs
- fennecbutt 3y ago
  Reminds me of this good ol article: https://www.neowin.net/news/its-cheaper-to-fly-to-the-usa-than-buy-adobe-cs6-in-australia/ https://www.neowin.net/news/its-cheaper-to-fly-to-the-usa-th...

EasyMark 3y ago

I think I'm just getting older and the more they try to push stuff on me as "we own it, and you pay us to borrow it" the less I'm interested in participating. Apple store/hardware is kind of my last hold out on this front. I still use it as my daily driver but use linux more and more than just getting work done. I generally play old consoles/pc games, have an older car I can work on easily (thanks dad/mom) even though I could afford something newer, use FOSS software whenever I can practically, buy dumb appliances, etc. It's as if we quit valuing simplicity and ownership as a society or manufacturers are just slipping it in more and more like a slow boil? We seem to be adding complexity and extra steps without any pragmatic advantage other than more money for corps. I'm not sure.