Just since brconflict brought it up, I think the much despised Adobe deal actually lets you run something like 99 days without verification online.

Actually, doing some math, Lightroom goes for like 100 bucks on a good day, Photoshop used to go between 550 and 600, so let's be cautious and say 650 for them together. At the non-discounted price of 12.50 a month, the photography deal works out as 150 a year. That means you could use it for over four years before equalling the original purchase. During which time about two upgrade cycles would occur, adding another 400 bucks for Photoshop alone. Which means you could go another three years almost to equal it with subscription costs, adding another update to the cycle, etc.

I'm just taking it as an example because it is a common one. But I really don't think subscriptions are always a bad thing.

This debate can go on endlessly, but the bottom line for most users is 1) the people who generate revenue via a program (i.e. "Enterprise editions") and 2) people who are hobbyists. Businesses can easily pay subscription fees, but even then, some will not upgrade (there are a lot of LARGE profitable companies than ran XP until April of this year and only the lack of support forced the upgrade).
 
Subscriptions will affect hobbyists the most, and demographics really come into play on that. Downside is that people who do not make enough revenue from an application to pay a subscription fee will back out after a period. "Word of mouth advertising" is often underrated, and cannot be "bought"... I have introduced several people to SONAR (who subsequently bought it); but any time "Adobe" hits the conversation I recommend getting an OEM copy (I have even posted threads in this forum on that). No Adobe CS6 OEM user is going to miss much from the Adobe CC version, yet can get CS6 for only 4 months of the CC subscription.
 
I have been a long-time fan of Cakewalk (both for products and as a company), so I hope the day never comes that I say something like "Just buy X3, it is perfectly stable and you won't miss the features from the new version anyway."
 
 

Do you think there will be an upgraded version of Melodyne? At least the assistance? I am thinking of upgrading to it now. For €99. But if it comes preloaded in sonar X4 I am going to wait.

I doubt Cakewalk will ever bundle anything more than Melodyne Essential with SONAR at the SONAR upgrade price. I thought Celemony gave everyone a 10 day window to upgrade to Editor after registering Essential. The price was very attractive. There were instances where Celemony honored the price after the 10 day window when asked by email. For a while Cakewalk had a promo bundle containing Producer with Editor but it was priced the same as upgrading Producer and taking advantage of the 10 day Editor upgrade offer. IIRC, Celemony like many software vendors have end of year sales usually starting at the end of November. If you can wait a few weeks, your patience may be rewarded.

I don't think subscriptions will be harder on the hobbyist. Their paying $100.00 to $200 a year anyway. As long as the companies keep it within reason, it should not be a problem. Of course, this delves into the capitalism debate which is the reason for hackers.
 
The upside, and this is the best part, is that you will far more computing power than ever before. The X-box 1 already uses this concept and the gaming is far more powerful in a cloud based system. I don't know a lot about this aspect but it seems reasonable since they said as much on a video game documentary I saw on Netflix. Also, updates will be implemented easier for the developers and probably far more consistant. Again, I'm just guessing.

scook
My comment was directed at the observation that Gibson Brands was privately held. I don't understand the distinction between public and private companies in this case. It would appear that you don't either.

 
Post #55 referenced maximizing profits for shareholders. One of the commonly cited differences is that privately held corporations generally seek to minimize tax obligations, while publicly held corporations generally seek to increase profits for shareholders. It sounded like he was referring to that "business 101" characterization, and by grouping Gibson and Avid (which has traded publicly for over 20 years), it seemed like he thought they were both public. 
 
Of course there are other differences, like disclosure laws and the public having access to part of a company's assets by participation in an initial public offering. However, one of a private company's advantages is that management holds the stock so they don't have to answer to outside stockholders. Another advantage is that privately held companies don't have to disclose financial information because they aren't listed on a stock exchange. Therefore they can lose money in the process of investing for the future without getting static from shareholders, or tipping their hand to competitors.
 
Compare the health of privately held vs. publicly held magazines...I don't think it's just coincidence. The privately held ones seem either more willing, or more able, to re-invest their profits back into the company to spur future growth. 

Just to be clear, Adobe's programs install locally. You do not run them from the cloud. At first, I though it would work that way and you could take advantage of a zillion networked computers to render your feature film in 20 seconds...apparently that's not how it works.

Guitarpima
I don't think subscriptions will be harder on the hobbyist. Their paying $100.00 to $200 a year anyway. As long as the companies keep it within reason, it should not be a problem. Of course, this delves into the capitalism debate which is the reason for hackers.

I don't agree with this unless you can stop the subscription and continue using the product.  I'm surely not the most profitable type of customer, especially since X3 already does way more than I'll learn to use until I retire, which won't be for a while, but I want what I have to work properly and will continue to upgrade (on sale) until I'm satisfied with the bug count.  I thought I was until I read today that a sustain pedal won't work properly (I'm a piano player of sorts) and won't be fixed outside of a future version, hopefully X4.
 
As a similar example, I'm reasonably happy with Office 2010 pro, a very few bugs, and will probably use it forever.
 

Fun thread    There's a lot of interesting responses.... In reality, I think that a lot of us sorta already are supporting a "maintenance" program and pay (mostly) a yearly $$ for the new versions - usually with enough new fun stuff that it's fun for everybody (win/win).  (Note I don't mean to disparage CW as charging for fixes - that's not what I mean and why I put it in quotes).
 
The key to me is that it's all voluntary, and the software I own.  Yeah, I know - it's a license, bla bla - but I don't expect someone to show up at my door to revoke it.
 
Again, the issue I have (and I know it's not in CW and may never be even considering) - whatever you want to call it - is any software that has to be paid up every month/week/whatever to run.   I don't own Audition or anything like it and never will (pun intended).   Stuff is so good now that I wouldn't have to - I would just miss out on the fun new stuff but so be it.  But maybe I'd get more done and figure out the 50% of stuff I have not even played with.  There's always options.  I still use and enjoy a copy of Adobe Framemaker 7.1 (2003) and will never upgrade due to obscene cost.  My version of VC++ is 2008.  My AutoSketch is 2004 - I use these on a semi daily basis and have not reason to upgrade.
 
I'm sure CW has the best interests of the users and will not do anything to jeopardize that.  And I didn't take the survey to mean they were planning (what I call) a subscription - pay by month.   CW's use of individualized serial numbers for easy install and authorization are rare (I hate challenge response and iLok) and are part of what I respect them for - and happily pay for my version updates to support. 
 

Guitarpima
I don't think subscriptions will be harder on the hobbyist. Their paying $100.00 to $200 a year anyway. As long as the companies keep it within reason, it should not be a problem. Of course, this delves into the capitalism debate which is the reason for hackers.
 
The upside, and this is the best part, is that you will far more computing power than ever before. The X-box 1 already uses this concept and the gaming is far more powerful in a cloud based system. I don't know a lot about this aspect but it seems reasonable since they said as much on a video game documentary I saw on Netflix. Also, updates will be implemented easier for the developers and probably far more consistant. Again, I'm just guessing.

 Adobe, Avid and Magix have subscriptions as options.  
 Just because the people at Cakewalk put the subscription option on a survey, everyone is going all "ebola" over it. I can understand the paranoia because of Sonar now being a Gibson product and people don't trust them based on history.  (BTW those auto tuners on the new Gibsons are not well received by their fans)
  I've had subscription software before and eventually cancelled it because it seems the value eventually ends or I feel the developer isn't living up to their end.   
 
  If anyone thinks a subscription service will not be hard on hobbyists then you and Steve Ballmer should start a think tank and the competition will love you for your bad ideas.  Using the X-box as an example, puleeze.
  The competition is not dying in the DAW market.  We've had Bitwig come out, Studio One and now MOTU's performer is also for PC.  I'm pretty sure Image Line will never make FL Studio a subscription even though your updates are for life.  I can't see it happening to Reaper either.  If Ableton decided to do it, Bitwig won't.  There's a lot of players on the field.