Subscription vs. Owning your NLE Software

The folks over at ExtremeTech have published an interesting article that goes into some of the issues facing Avid & Adobe (as well as Cakewalk) users. The world is moving towards a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. While this may not work for everyone, it looks like it works very well for the software vendors. So you need to undertand just what you are buying or renting.

ExtremeTech by Jimmy Rose Software as a service (SaaS) is nothing new. But what is new is the number of major professional software vendors that are going down this path. I know there are people who like the idea of SaaS. But beware, as all paths do not lead to the same destination. Are you buying software, or merely renting it? Unfortunately, it depends. Let’s take a look at some popular pro audio and video applications, and examine their licenses to see exactly what you’re getting, and whether you or the company benefits most from the SaaS business model. It seems that many software companies are transitioning to SaaS application delivery. This is a move to maximize profits and provide a steady income stream for the software vendor. Even though, in some cases, you can still buy the product outright, you are stuck without updates unless you are paying the subscription fee or buy an upgrade plan. This is a poor trend for the customer. Unfortunately, I expect to see more software companies moving to SaaS, not only for audio and video applications, but all types of software, as Adobe have already done. read more...