To explain the subscription model is actually a safety net, depending on how aggressive it is. If you're "renting" the software for less than the purchase price for 3-5 years, about the life of your speedy hardware, it may be a worthwhile cost if you take into consideration that purchasing software outright usually entails paying for the incremental upgrades over time. The difference is only that the initial purchase/rental price is lower, while the upgrades are the same cost vs. purchasing the software up front at a large cost and playing less for the upgrades.
Subscription models do work for some companies, because it keeps the income steady for that company, and they end up laying off fewer talents over time. The product can remain on the edge v.s. having to slow down advancements or bring in new, younger talent to replace old masters--or charge more for the software. There's a balanced way of looking at that. There's also the precedence that once everyone owns your software, how do you maintain income? You have to keep evolving the software, and either charge more for new features, or just keep working on the subscription money. Magazines have done this for a century, right? We accepted that.
Business who use Adobe products tend to like the subscription model, because their employee count may change drastically, or upgrade costs are expensive to get everyone on the next version. It's also easier on the finance books each year/month.
If Waves instituted a Subscription platform, and would allow you to drop bundles or plug-ins that you once paid for (but didn't use), that would be pretty awesome. I could save some money, and Waves will see which plug-ins are used by the masses. If Sonar offered a subscription model, where you purchased X3 Producer, but later realized
Studio does everything you need at the time, you aren't out as much of the money you paid for
Producer. Cakewalk could see how many stick with Producer, and there'd be more incentive to create features that people are more likely to need/want. The feedback is in the pudding.
Want to use Cubase Version 8 vs. Sonar X3 for a year? Go for it! You can always come right back at a much lower cost to you in the end (assuming Steinberg and Cakewalk both went to a subscription model)
With all that said, I don't particularly "like" the subscription model, but then, I don't "like" that technology just HAS to keep evolving because there's consumers out there that will buy anything new with an Apple logo on it. I'd be perfectly fine if advancements stopped, and we just floated for a while.
