Photo Mechanic > General Discussion

Subscription Model

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Stuwhitt:
I don't have a problem with PM moving to a subscription model, I get Camera Bits need the revenue to continue development. I would like more details about pricing and whether current licence holders will receive a discount though.

That said, May 2024 is far too soon to sunset support for PM6, especially with the black Friday promotion. I wouldn't be dropping a significant sum of money on a product that won't be receiving any updates. Post-May 2024, at the very least, PM6 should receive bug fixes, security updates and OS support for at least 12-18 months.

bradg:
It will be interesting to see what the subscription rate is and how it compares to the stand alone cost spread across the 3-5 years the current versions have been available (I think PM6 was early 2019 and PM6P was fall 2020). A new license for PM6 now is $170. Spreading that out over the 5 years since it was released means we paid about $35 a year. I'm guessing the new subscription rate will be higher than that, which is fine as long as we're getting feature updates (beyond bug fixes) throughout the year. The blog says "new features in a timely manner" … hopefully their sense of timely matches the expectations of the users based on the subscription price.

Joel Goodman:
Oh god, not another one :(

treyneal:
Generally speaking I suppose I understand why the subscription model is the way software companies are moving - relatively predictable cash flow that theoretically allows for more frequent updates and newer features more quickly. That said, part of what has kept me a user of PM+ is that it was a perpetual license and that really kept me “sticky” on the platform. Sure I looked around for different software from time to time and tried a few but nothing motivated me to shift workflow from PM to an alternative. With the introduction of a subscription model and the elimination of perpetual for long time users I will be taking a different approach to alternative software solutions since I will be renting in perpetuity going forward. One of the competitive advantages that PM+ had for me was the perpetual license. My degree of “stickiness” will be driven partly by rental cost now where it never entered the equation before.

bwana:

--- Quote ---As operating systems, macOS and Windows, have accelerated their releases
--- End quote ---

They have? Apple has released major upgrades to MacOS annually, in June, for over 20 years and Microsoft even less frequently. I haven't seen any indication of Apple changing their release cycle. I'm understanding now why PM still relies on Rosetta and why there have been few other advancements.

I've moved away from every bit of software that switched to subscriptions.

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