Originally Posted by Gordon Scott
[quote=Notes Norton]
Same here ... with subscriptions it's far too easy to find oneself paying out more than one thinks.

I would opine that the same is true with yearly updates, but your mileage may vary. I’m thinking that if instead of selling that infamous Lifetime Sonar that was foisted on us, which turned out to be the rather short remaining life of Cakewalk, they would have been better off right then an there to create a somewhat fixed and guaranteed income each year with a subscription and may have avoided going bankrupt. They still had a loyal following at the time and by offering a choice between a subscription and an outright purchase that didn’t include upgrades without purchasing them they might have survived as an independent software company without a white knight. I believe that as time progresses it’s going to be difficult to find good software that’s not subscription.

If you look at the direction of hardware, the desktop computer is going away, and the software and storage is increasingly in the cloud. Personally, I prefer purchasing a license to software that I own and keeping it on my own computer and storing my data there as well but I suspect that as time marches on, soon those options are going to be taken away from us. For the same reason that your computer no longer has a 5.25 or 3.5 floppy drive, or a CD drive, or a DVD drive, you are going to be pushed increasingly into the cloud. We’ve always had a problem with computers: They create and consume more data than we can economically store. I mentioned in another post, that I can no longer afford the type of GPU that is capable of running the current AI video technology efficiently, and have had to resort to renting GPU time from the cloud to get projects finished. I think we are going to wake up one day soon with extremely small computers that rely on processing, software, and storage that resides in the cloud and very little local processing and storage. If you want the greatest and best performing software, and your in any kind of business that competes with other people who are also seeking the greatest and best performing software, then you do what you need to do to survive. The folks who are the last to get pulled in kicking and screaming are getting left in the dust by those who understood what is coming. I include myself in that group because I deluded myself into thinking that an investment in bleeding edge technology a few years ago would fix me up for years. I was left in the dust before I even realized what was happening.

What I missed in predicting the future of computing was AI. It’s going to affect everything we do in computing and it’s already making a profound impact on music and video software. In 5 years time, it’s going to be impossible, I think, to afford the GPU power to keep up with the state of the art AI without a subscription. Don’t think that AI won’t be necessary for your favorite software. Look at the degree that AI has given us control in creating voices in programs like Synthesizer V and Vocoflex. Dreamtonics has barely utilized the GPU power available since the processing is local. What happens when a competitor releases a product that runs on one of those super GPUs. That kind of GPU umph isn’t affordable for you or I to own any longer.

Anyway, sorry. I’m just babbling. What’s an old guy going to do, Let me go out and get those kids off my lawn. :-)

Keith
2026 Audiophile Windows 11 RYZEN THREADRIPPER 3960X 4.5GHZ 128 GB RAM 2 Nvidia RTX 3090s, Vegas,Acid,SoundForge,Izotope Production,Melodyne Studio,SONAR,3 Raven Mtis