lwerthe1mer Loc: Birmingham, Alabama

There has been lots of discussion on UHH about getting away from Lightroom/Photoship's monthly charges. I moved to ON1 Photo Camera Raw several months ago and have been extremely pleased with the program. ON1 announced a 2020 version of the software recently, and all existing users will be required to pay $79 for the new program.

I can afford the price and will purchase the upgrade, but it seems like ongoing charges exist in a variety of forms.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

It's the way that virtually all software will be sold in the future, like it or not. Virtually 100% of my company's business software is now on a subscription model with monthly or annual subscription fees. Other than freeware and shareware developers (God bless 'em!) it's going to be very hard to find capable software on a one and done purchase model that includes any tech support at all.

There are several primary reasons why software developers are moving this way:

1) Predictable revenue streams make stockholders and analysts happy. Waiting to see whether the "next big release" spurs sales or not does not make them happy.

2) Tech support gets more complex every year, and the "tail" of helping users of all ability levels sort out problems with OS conflicts, interactions with other software, and even the dumb "cupholder" type questions gets longer and more difficult.

3) Holding back upgrades for new version release is a poor strategy in general - problems with incremental upgrades can be resolved one stage at a time instead of waiting until all the new features are released at one time, along with all the new bugs requiring fixes. Need I say that buggy software makes the user base, the stockholders, and the analysists extremely unhappy?

We can regret the change all we want, but in a few years, it's going to be the only model in many areas.

Andy

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

You are correct. On-going charges do exist in a variety of forms.
Or as the phrase goes, “pay me now or pay me later”.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

At least if you don't upgrade you still get to use your software without paying rent. That's a slight advantage. You can always upgrade later if you choose.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

"I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords"



We can hate on it all we want, but IMHO the economics are inevitable. I personally don't mind it much at all, unless the ongoing charges are absurd, in which case competition will arise. In addition to software my business pays for, I subscribe to Adobe, MS Office, and antivirus/tuneup software. I like that it's always up to date and I feel more righteous when I call tech support with what turns out to be a stupid question after all. Bugs get fixed at least once a month, and new viruses are added just about weekly.

Sure, it was better in some ways when it was "free", but now that the companies are making money on it, they seem to pay more attention to keeping things up to date.

Andy

Bill_de Loc: US

The word required is overstating the situation. All existing users can choose whether or not to get the new program. If the new features aren't needed just keep working with what you have. It will likely go on sale.

I still do some things an Photoshop CS5, and it still does those things as always. Kudos to Adobe for keeping the free DNG converter up to date, and free.

I recently purchased a year of On1 Plus for $49, with no auto renewals. I was curious and pleasantly surprised. There are a ton of downloadable (or watch online) classes/tutorials by a number of photographers. The ones I've looked at so far are pretty comprehensive.


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al13

I read where ON1 and Capture One do much better at processing Fuji files than what I get with Adobe. I am looking at switching to ON1 or Capture One when my Adobe subscription runs out. Your thought are appreciated.

sbohne

You also won't have On1 telling you that you are using the software illegally if you don't upgrade. Adobe has been threatening action against users of pre CC versions of Photoshop.

AndyGarcia

I use both. I find ON1 very good but right now I prefer C1. There is a free, scaled-down version of C1 available for free. It does everything I need but it does not have a spot removal tool (that I can find) which is a bit of a pain. The JPegs produced are pretty amazing. I would strongly suggest that you get the free version. I am most probably going to upgrade to the full Fuji version very soon. C1 will offer you a styles pack at a discount. I bought it but I'm not very impressed.

ON1 is pretty amazing too. I will continue to use it. Sometimes I think that it a bit full-on in the finished Jpeg, lacking finesse, but that's probably down to me.

I am in the process of carefully checking in detail the images to see which produces the best final image with the least artefacts.

If you want to stay with lightroom/Adobe you could get Iridient Developer as a plugin for LR process your Fuji RAW files in that and export them to LR in DNG format. Iridient produces amazing detail from Fuji RAW files, particularly in foliage, but I find it a bit slow on my ageing Mac. Worth a look.

I hope this helps you.

al13

Thanks, your input helps.

Ted d Loc: Green Valley, AZ.

When On1 comes out with a completely new program there is a charge. However all the upgrades are free as well as all the tuterals, free presets and LUTS that come down through out the year.

Bill_de Loc: US

I'm not sure that Adobe is the one threatening action. As I read it Adobe is warning you about possible action by third parties. It seems pretty clear in the copies of the letter I saw online.

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sbohne

Why would a third party give a flying fork? I think it was PC magazine that ran the story that Adobe was warning users that they no longer had a license to use the program when a new version was released.

Bill_de Loc: US

Because their technology was being used beyond the agreement they had with Adobe, and by extension beyond the users licence to use it? Or maybe Adobe never had the rights to use certain code.

Did you read the letter Adobe sent out? If not, you can Google it.

Ever read the EULA?

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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I've been making this point for years ever since the industry started moving away from perpetual licenses and charging for upgrades and ongoing maintenance.

From a business point of view, the subscription works for all stakeholders - the company can focus its efforts on software development and away from manufacturing, shipping, returns, maintaining inventory and all the costs associated with a physical product. The cost of ongoing support is bundled into the monthly price, as are the upgrades - so customers see a consistent monthly expense instead of getting surprises. Also, customers are all on the same version, more or less, and publishers don't have to support versions of software that are 5 versions old on outdated hardware and operating systems. After using Adobe software since 1993, I can say without hesitation that the subscription has been the best thing I've seen from that company in a really long time - along with all the benefits. It certainly beats the $1000 charge per version, and the $300 cost of upgrading from a previous version.