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> Software developers aren't immune to piracy's effects, either. Whether we like it or not, we're quickly shifting into a world where art is only viable as a la
by w4 11y ago
> Software developers aren't immune to piracy's effects, either. Whether we like it or not, we're quickly shifting into a world where art is only viable as a labor of love. Everything being digital means copying is free.
Isn't this one of the big reasons for the rise of SaaS apps, though? Developers, unlike musicians, have found a way to combat piracy in a way that both consumers seem to prefer (lower upfront costs and usage based pricing) and developers benefit from (more revenue over time in exchange for delivering real value).
Besides, being forced to provide 3 months of free usage without any say in the matter is hardly defensible due to piracy. It's even less defensible when the party enforcing the free usage is the party that stands to benefit most from it.
- rayiner 11y agoDo consumers prefer SaaS? The reaction to Windows and Office becoming subscription software seems pretty uniformly negative.
- w4 11y agoEven if users grouse about it, they seem to prefer it versus a big one time upfront purchase based on their usage/purchase patterns. Of course, what they'd probably really prefer is a low one time upfront purchase, but that's typically not tenable for the software business.
- teacup50 11y agoUsers rarely get a choice when vendors decide to switch to rent-seeking licensing models, so where is it that they seem to prefer it?
- bphogan 11y agoI know lots of people who are happy to pay $49 a month instead of the $2000 that Adobe Master Collection was.
- georgemcbay 11y agoFor me it depends on the software and how much value new features bring to that software. For two examples: I've actually been pretty pleased with Lightroom/Photoshop as SaaS because these apps still often have new innovations that actually make my life easier as a hobbyist photographer. Thus I don't mind paying per month because I'd probably already be upgrading to the new version every year anyway and this is just spreading a similar cost out over time. OTOH, Office's switch to SaaS is what finally pushed me over the edge to using free ("as in beer") alternatives... they can keep rejiggering the UI this way and that way but I can't imagine what they would add to Word or Excel that would make them seriously more useful to me, it was never a must-upgrade for me (YMMV if you work in an enterprise office setting or whatever) and thus the SaaS move is not good for my usage.
- scholia 11y agoThe free alternatives are just 1990s-style office suites. Compared with Office 365, you don't get the free 1TB of cloud storage, the 50GB mailbox, the full online versions of Office, the ability to stream Office programs without installing them (so you can use them on, say, a cybercafe PC), the add-ons and extensions, the cross-platform tablet and smartphone apps, the free upgrade to the next version of Office, and so on. Office 365 is a huge ecosystem play, whereas OO/LO have no ecosystems. Otherwise, UI changes are annoying, but the basic Office UI hasn't really changed since 2007. It changes less often than, say, Gmail.
- dzhiurgis 11y agoPersonally I do not perceive software as SaaS if it is not browser based. That's where the synergy comes from - easier to debug, maintain, etc.