Quote Originally Posted by mwenz View Post
Which type of license do you really see as being attractive Mrs. Smith?
I don't know about Mrs Smith or Mrs Jones, but I suspect that Ms Smith is more interesting in pursuing options that get the job done and is afordable to her and her clients. She is savvy enough to understand that nobody actually buys software, only the permission to install and use it. She also realises that software is continually upgraded so her costs are not a one-off purchase, but over the lifetime of the products she licenses she will need to finance upgrades if she wishes to remain with current software and have support, so effectively it makes little differrence to her whether she pays up front as a single purchase or over time. She approaches her web design work professionally not as a hobby so she factors these ideas in as the cost of doing business and understands that in the subscription model particularly her ongoing success is dependent on finding clients that are not operating on bargain basement margins but recognise the value a more sophisticated setup can bring. Similarly, Adobe recognises there's little point trying to get everyone to buy or subscribe to product by driving down prices, when there are clients who will accept a slightly higher cost for a more sophisticated product and in return will drive Adobes bottom line by providing recurring income rather than one-off revenue. Adobe also recognises the value of direct sales without the need for boxed product and distribution chains, so again margins are better if middle-men are removed.

Adobe likes Ms Smith, but Mrs Smith can go with Xara if she wishes.. ;-)

Seriously, there are good things about the subscription model for many people, but like everything, it's not for everybody. Adobe already does subscription pricing for most of it's software, but it seems to be rather more costly than buying the licence outright and then upgrading, but would be ideal for a short project or as a means of avoiding large up-front costs. Subscriptions gives companies a regular income rather than the do or die seasonal product release cycle frenzy.