Hi Cakewalk !
Congrats for the new version!
I think it takes balls to offer a subscription model for software, and congrats for your courage on going all-in on this.
However, there are some obvious flaws
- If I buy 12 months subscription to Sonar, and you put a feature in month 11 that breaks my version, and the bugfix comes out at month 13, I won't be allowed to get it, I would need to roll back to a previous version from the one I paid for. (and possibly missing features and other bugfixes I paid for)
That does not seem fair to the user. Will there be general updates that would fix problems regardless of the subscription. No DAW is bug free, and don't take it too hard, but CW has released half-working releases in the past, (just like any other DAW,that's why you released periodic updates for over a year BTW)
The previous model, with free updates at least made every release "mature", and stable (i.e. X3e is more mature than X3a)
if my subscription version is stable at some point, I have to keep paying 12 months after it to be able to keep it,
but then meanwhile other features might be added in those 12 months, so it never stops ... no Sonar version will ever be "mature" again.
- What if I subscribe for 12 months up-front. then in the middle of year 2, I decide not to renew, so I need to revert back to month 12 right? Will my project still be 100% compatible with a previous feature-and bugfix version? Maybe not....
Another scenario:
- After I paid out 12 months, I get to keep that version, that's ok but if ever I decide to halt my subscription afterwards, then after you put a feature that I would like to have (a few months later), then I have to renew my sub for another 12 months in order to keep a new feature?... does that even make sense to anyone?
it's a nice scheme to get people to stay subscribed, nice one Cakewalk.
You'll get a more regular money income, that's great!
but do people realize that they might never have deals on "upgrades", and there are no "version upgrades" anymore? CW used to send me deals on upgrades very often, and it's mostly on these circumstances, that I did upgrade. I'm sure I'm not the only one doing this,
I take out my wallet when I see value in something, right now I see little value in this new subscription model. I see a trap that I don't want to get into.
Sorry Cakewalk, I used to be loyal to you guys,
Good luck!
V