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Autodesk going rental only in 1 year


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A little more than a year after first revealing its desktop subscription plans, Autodesk says it's preparing to stop selling perpetual licenses of its software entirely. The switch won't be flipped overnight, but will be implemented a little bit at a time over the next one to two years, the company said.

 

Push Will Start with AutoCAD LT, Then Move Across All Products

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Good to know.  I try and avoid discussing my personal opinions online, but the cloud is evil.  :p:   I keep waiting for Adobe to repent or another company to step up.  Just like a drug pusher, they lure in the low-end customers with free/cheap first one then they have full control.  Subscription licenses are about bleeding people dry in the long run and controlling their use of the software.  Just watch and see if Adobe ever starts charging by filter usage or number of layers in a Photoshop document.  The in-app purchases is where this business model is heading.

 

The problem is you get rabid customers who maintain the $29/mo fee is way cheaper than the $500 so they insist it is better.  This feeds the corporate idea that subscription models are more lucrative.  With a subscription model, there is no incentive of a business to actually implement better features next version requiring an upgrade price.  You are a captive audience and they become a utility service like your power company.  When has your power company ever bettered your electricity service?? The only thing they do is raise prices for the exact same service year after year.

 

But a capital one-off expenditure of a Perpetual is something you can plan for in a business - it's hard enough planning everything else in a business, I don't have time to plan how many filters I'm going to use or how many polygons and bones I can have in a scene.  But that's where this is heading - to the in-app purchase hell that is currently smartphone app development...

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I don't mind Adobe's CC model at all. It's put software at my fingertips that I simply could not afford...ie, Audition and Dreamweaver. I don't use them frequently enough to warrant a purchase. It's a good deal for me. But the Autodesk subscription is still much too pricey. You get the entire Adobe Master Collection for $50/mo. Just 3ds Max alone is $180/mo., and they are similar in overall cost, otherwise. AD is just too greedy. If they don't bring that Sub price down + remove all options but subs, then it's looking like Blender or Modo for me, eventually.

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It might be that they see a time where more bells and whistles lose their allure. I stopped at C4D 12 (now 16) because 12 did everything I wanted  and a GPU renderer was available. Same with PS 5. I have more than I need so why upgrade? I can see where commercial studios might benefit but not me or others like me which made the old upgrade path unenticing.

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I don't mind Adobe's CC model at all. It's put software at my fingertips that I simply could not afford...ie, Audition and Dreamweaver. I don't use them frequently enough to warrant a purchase. It's a good deal for me. But the Autodesk subscription is still much too pricey. You get the entire Adobe Master Collection for $50/mo. Just 3ds Max alone is $180/mo., and they are similar in overall cost, otherwise. AD is just too greedy. If they don't bring that Sub price down + remove all options but subs, then it's looking like Blender or Modo for me, eventually.

 

When Autodesk first tried the rental option, you could purchase a 3 month license of maya for 199 dollars. I know that lots of people don't like subscription models, but going from @$70 per month to $185 is a big jump in itself. Since there are other options on the market, there is no reason to use Autodesk products, unless your pipeline relies on them. 

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I don't mind Adobe's CC model at all. It's put software at my fingertips that I simply could not afford...ie, Audition and Dreamweaver. I don't use them frequently enough to warrant a purchase. It's a good deal for me. But the Autodesk subscription is still much too pricey. You get the entire Adobe Master Collection for $50/mo. Just 3ds Max alone is $180/mo., and they are similar in overall cost, otherwise. AD is just too greedy. If they don't bring that Sub price down + remove all options but subs, then it's looking like Blender or Modo for me, eventually.

 

I'm not saying it's not a good proposition for those that can't justify the cost (or make it back in project work), but they did NOT have to remove the option for perpetual licenses for those that do not want it.  That part about it is control.  And you haven't referenced the bigger question regardless of control, but that without upgrade fees, they have no incentive to improve the product, because what they are spending their time on developing is not new Photoshop features from research like SIGGRAPH, they are busy building cloud tech into the apps to allow for micro-transactions and the eventual nickle-and-diming to death of their customers.  All that infrastructure on the back end and inside the app to measure and connect up on a feature basis takes away their dev time from features customers really need.  They are building cash grab functionality now, not media content making functionality.  I'm convinced any new exciting features will be drip fed from now on with that kind of a business model...

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I might be misunderstanding your humor, but yes, I think there has been a somewhat slow progression of exciting features in media apps the past few years.

Really only boring, nothing features appearing, not the revolutionary kind of things you see at SIGGRAPH or research based. Photogrammetry and point cloud cleanup/manipulation, depth camera output all need vast improvements. Everything still seems so archaic in the tools these days. that's one of the reasons I like 3DC, great almost revolutionary features are added far more often than with the big boys. and stuff that opens up your creativity and frees you to create content, not struggle with workflow or techniques only necessary because of lame interfaces and algorithms. 3D scanning and printing is still way too "fiddly" and time consuming - bordering on bleary-eyed tedium. When is the 3D renaissance coming?? This planet needs more geniuses ;)

Edited by popwfx
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Think the name of the topic should just be:

Autodesk going MENTAL only in 2 years

I hate subscription based fees... Technically speaking Adobe's is not terrible and the value is pretty good, if you need the software to be continually updated. But if you don't need any updates, then the value is actually pretty poor. So for print shops and businesses or professionals that need to be up to date because of working with clients it's great, but I feel for people who use their programs long term, poor value. I am on CS 4. At the subsricption based price of $600 a year CS 4 would pay for itself in 2.5 years then I would save $600 a year thereafter. Bought it 6 years ago so I have "saved" over $2000 in subscription fees after it payed for itself. Concerning features, other than updated codecs in Premiere or html 5 script support in Dreamweaver, no new features make using the programs "so much better" from a value stand point IMO. On the flip side I like the fact as another stated it may encourage real growth in competing programs, hopefully to Photoshop which is the one I use the most, for 16 years now...

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  • 3 months later...

Autodesk Details Subscription Transition for New Software License

 

Today Autodesk announced that new commercial seats of most standalone desktop software products will be available only by Desktop Subscription beginning February 1, 2016.

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Our customers have long asked for greater flexibility and more value from their software investments. The shift to subscription allows Autodesk to deliver both, as well as an improved user experience and easier access to a broader portfolio of technology.

 

 

i think literally zero people have ever asked for a subscription model...

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i think literally zero people have ever asked for a subscription model...

It wouldn't be that bad if AD made the subscription rate more affordable. You access to the whole Adobe suite for $50/mo. AD, for one single 3D app costs nearly 4 times that per month. If they are going to follow Adobe's lead in a sub model, they should likewise follow their model in terms of pricing.

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i think literally zero people have ever asked for a subscription model...

 

Its usually some of the studios that request it. Often they will work on a time limited project and licenses go to waste after they are done. Since the licensing isnt fluid or can be resold, subscriptions make more sense.The problem is thats just a tiny fraction of the total market, so pushing it on everyone to achieve a consistent revenue source with little to no forced development is a pretty low blow.

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D%^**N, I just heard that McDonalds is now going to rent burgers by the month... Yeah if you eat a lot of burgers it's great but if you only eat a burger or two a month when you get that special munchie feeling, then it sucks... :crazy:

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Its usually some of the studios that request it. Often they will work on a time limited project and licenses go to waste after they are done. Since the licensing isnt fluid or can be resold, subscriptions make more sense.The problem is thats just a tiny fraction of the total market, so pushing it on everyone to achieve a consistent revenue source with little to no forced development is a pretty low blow.

Yep. They are certainly making a stronger and stronger case to switch to Blender, Ligthwave or Modo. I would say C4D, but they have always kept their pricing stride for stride with Autodesk. Wouldn't expect Maxon to hold out long before they follow suit, and for roughly the same amount

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Yep. They are certainly making a stronger and stronger case to switch to Blender, Ligthwave or Modo. I would say C4D, but they have always kept their pricing stride for stride with Autodesk. Wouldn't expect Maxon to hold out long before they follow suit, and for roughly the same amount

 

I have no regrets switching to Modo actually. It's just that great! Blender makes a great fallback as well... still needs a lot of work though. Hopefully the new keymap update will make it a bit more user friendly.

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I see MODO in my future.  I think what Autodesk and Adobe will find happening more and more is that many users are moving away from their products.  I'm sure a lot of people don't like paying for something that they can't ever own. 

 

My biggest fear is the next thing they will try to do is license you an operating system every month. 

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It would be hilarious if everyone abandoned Maya for other software.

That's really hard to do and AD knows it. So many people....myself included among them...have a LOT invested in a Maya, XSI or 3ds Max pipeline. I have loads of plugins for Max that I simply don't want to give up yet....especially in terms of GPU renders. Blender keeps calling my name, though. Maybe I will give in to her...eventually. :D

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Nowaday it's so easy to pickup another software and get used to it (they all have the same concepts, ok the UI change but that's a very small obstacle to transition) that I don't think Autodesk took the measure of their action.

Refusing the entrance to newcomers (students and hobbyist) with very high price will only result in them taking their business to less pricey solutions (blender, modo etc)...

 

Studios will probably continue to have their licenses, but Autodesk is alienating the future flow of "could have been autodesk" users.

They're trying to copy Adobe unfortunately for them Adobe was smart enough to have reasonable prices even for hobbyists... not them.

 

Software as a Service is only gonna work if the price of the admission ticket  is reasonable, autodesk is going to learn the hard way.

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Nowaday it's so easy to pickup another software and get used to it (they all have the same concepts, ok the UI change but that's a very small obstacle to transition) that I don't think Autodesk took the measure of their action.

Refusing the entrance to newcomers (students and hobbyist) with very high price will only result in them taking their business to less pricey solutions (blender, modo etc)...

 

Studios will probably continue to have their licenses, but Autodesk is alienating the future flow of "could have been autodesk" users.

They're trying to copy Adobe unfortunately for them Adobe was smart enough to have reasonable prices even for hobbyists... not them.

 

Software as a Service is only gonna work if the price of the admission ticket  is reasonable, autodesk is going to learn the hard way.

+1. The monthly price is way too high, still. Nearly $200/mo. when it should be where Adobe is, if they are going to try and copy them. Maybe $75/mo max.

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Nowaday it's so easy to pickup another software and get used to it (they all have the same concepts, ok the UI change but that's a very small obstacle to transition) that I don't think Autodesk took the measure of their action.

Refusing the entrance to newcomers (students and hobbyist) with very high price will only result in them taking their business to less pricey solutions (blender, modo etc)...

 

Studios will probably continue to have their licenses, but Autodesk is alienating the future flow of "could have been autodesk" users.

They're trying to copy Adobe unfortunately for them Adobe was smart enough to have reasonable prices even for hobbyists... not them.

 

Software as a Service is only gonna work if the price of the admission ticket  is reasonable, autodesk is going to learn the hard way.

 

 

yeah thats what i was thinking. Especially now with digital tutors and the plethora of other online training providers. if you take a solid month, you can learn the technical part of any software in a month or two, which was never possible before. Great times ahead :D

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