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10 Things Steve Martin wants in FCP X
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[Andrew Kimery] “I think adding back a perpetual license in the form of a buyout option would give people an off ramp and not suck any resources from Adobe. For example, after 4 years of uninterrupted subscription to Adobe CC users will get a perpetual license to the most current version of all the Adobe CC apps at that time.”
I think it’s more complicated than that.
If you add a buyout option, then it must either be supported with bug fixes (detracting resources from subscription users) or it must be unsupported with bug fixes (putting Adobe in a very awkward position with paid customers).
If you add a buyout option, you alter your development priorities and get back to the new user/existing user conundrum. How would the quick cash flood of selling buyouts versus the steady cash drip of subscriptions alter your development priorities as a product manager? You might even end up with a perverse incentive for PMs to essentially kick people off subscription then get them back on by manipulating the pace of development.
Again, I totally understand why people want perpetual licenses, and I hope that a good solution can be found, but I really meant that “ball of yarn” analogy. Pulling on it in sales affects development and support.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
[Walter Soyka] “If you add a buyout option, then it must either be supported with bug fixes (detracting resources from subscription users) or it must be unsupported with bug fixes (putting Adobe in a very awkward position with paid customers).
If you add a buyout option, you alter your development priorities and get back to the new user/existing user conundrum. How would the quick cash flood of selling buyouts versus the steady cash drip of subscriptions alter your development priorities as a product manager? You might even end up with a perverse incentive for PMs to essentially kick people off subscription then get them back on by manipulating the pace of development.”
Buyout might be the wrong term. Basically, after four years of uninterrupted subscription to Adobe CC the user gets a perpetual license for whatever the most recent version of Adobe CC is at that time, and there’s no guarantee of bug fixes/continued support for that version once the next version of CC roles out. Sure, some people will hop off the subscription train for a bit, but if it takes 4 years of subscription to get a perpetual license there is still a lot of incentive to stay on the subscription train.
This is similar to Avid’s new perpetual license model in which you can pay $299/yr for a ‘maintenance contract’ which gets you access to feature updates, bug fixes and new versions. If you do not renew for $299 then your copy of Avid MC is ‘frozen in time’ the moment your maintenance contract expires.
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[Walter Soyka] “[Mitch Ives] “With all due respect Walter (and I mean that sincerely), I think that’s a bit of a stretch…”
May I ask why?
Here’s my logic:
Adding tracks to FCPX would require adding patching and would blunt the advantages of the magnetic timeline. It would also divide the attention of the development team as they develop new timeline-oriented features.
Adding perpetual licenses to CC would require taking development and testing effort away from bug fixes plus new features for subscription holders to put into back-porting bug fixes only for perpetual license holders, or would require leaving perpetual license holders utterly unsupported via bug fixes.
Adding perpetual licenses to CC would also muddy development priorities, creating tension between the marketing-oriented features and the actual user-oriented features I noted above.
In both cases, adding back something traditional to the new model for prospects has a cost that’s contrary to the interests of current customers who are benefiting from the new model.”
You do have a valid point here but must respectfully object to the current subscription model. One size does not fit all.
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Bill, curious to hear your thoughts on the recent acquisition of Fusion by Blackmagic Design. This is of great interest to me.
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[Bret Williams] “My point is that had they not started there, and instead just said lets start a new Pro editing app, ignoring iMovie”
I wouldn’t have ignored iMovie at all. I would want as many of those folks as I could to step up to X after they get tired iMovie and I would get their money with pros.
If you make them too different form each other you defeat the goal of having them step up.
X had plenty of top end tools right out of the box. I won’t list them all. They didn’t have everything everybody but they keep adding. Remember when people complained they didn’t have multi-cam?
Bill is right when it comes to that big corporate attitude. It’s all about expanding the base and the money to those folks.
Apple, to me, sits in the best seat to expand.
They made this product powerful enough to do top work yet user friendly enough to expand and combine that with how affordable it is and no subscription………
As the Late great Jack Buck said “That’s a Winner”
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I mapped mine to the bell on my chair so everyone knows when I’m inspecting something…
It was at a Vegas premiere that I resolved to become an avid FCPX user.
Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Downtown Long Beach, California
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680680/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 -
[Andrew Kimery] “Buyout might be the wrong term. Basically, after four years of uninterrupted subscription to Adobe CC the user gets a perpetual license for whatever the most recent version of Adobe CC is at that time, and there’s no guarantee of bug fixes/continued support for that version once the next version of CC roles out.”
I like this idea, but I also fear that SOX makes the accounting for this unfavorable. Your subscription is now no longer really a subscription, but rather the sale of a product spread out over 4 years with a big chunk of value realization at the end.
[Andrew Kimery] “This is similar to Avid’s new perpetual license model in which you can pay $299/yr for a ‘maintenance contract’ which gets you access to feature updates, bug fixes and new versions. If you do not renew for $299 then your copy of Avid MC is ‘frozen in time’ the moment your maintenance contract expires.”
Note this critical difference: Avid is either sold perpetually (plus maintenance which is optional after the first year) or offered via subscription. There is no way to go from subscription to PL except by buying PL just like a new user.
Please don’t misunderstand. I think that PL plus maintenance is a good thing for users and developers.
But it’s not the same as CC, and I don’t think it dodges the duality of designing for and marketing to new users versus existing users as I’ve outline above.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
[Charlie Austin] “It’d be nice if Compressor had a Broadcast Safe filter available. Does it?
“Sadly, it does not.
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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[David Mathis] “You do have a valid point here but must respectfully object to the current subscription model. One size does not fit all.”
I agree wholeheartedly.
I bought Smoke 2013 a couple years back. Used it, loved it, paid my maintenance fees. Now it’s going subscription only, and I’m not sure it’s a good fit for my business anymore. It’s all case-by-case.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
There are blatantly obvious ways to offer these things. If a solution arises that will increase revenue or Adobe’s bottom line, then that is what they’ll do. It has nothing to do with if it’s a better solution for Walter or a worse solution for me. They’re a publicly held company and this is increasing revenue. Offering any sort of buyout or perpetual has likely shown in their models that it will hurt revenue. That’s it.
I think many are in Walter’s boat and have done their own studies and it’s actually better for their bottom line. They can even write off every dime of subscription every year while software, had to be depreciated over many years. For other’s it’s simply an increase in cost and a loss in power. IE they can’t just keep using it forever if they need to.
No amount of discussion will change the two outlooks I believe.
Something else that isn’t mentioned much here is the loss of eBay sales. Adobe wasn’t getting a dime of the secondary market. They’re killing 2 birds with one stone. Can’t sell subscription software!
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