One time I stuck my hand up and asked about something I did not understand: 'Are we in the business of selling a product or are we in the business of providing a service?'. This was the first time I had ever worked on commercial software package, being an embedded systems kind of guy, so I was new to the business aspect. A big topic of discussion was 'What features can we add to Cadstar to get more sales, and specifically get existing customers to buy upgrades?' The 'real' stuff, called Visula, ran on Unix workstations and was even more expensive.Ī couple of times the management held big meeting with all the software engineers, project leaders, sales guys, etc. This was the 'baby'of their products than ran on PCs. Twenty five years or so ago I worked for a couple of years with Racal-Redac on their Cadstar Schematic and PCB design package.

This whole drive towards subscription based software makes me chuckle. It's easy for example to have KiCAD installs on a desktop and tablet/notebook for portable use. Notice they are very careful to avoid saying what happens if you do lapse your subscription, in terms of continued operation, or if their license manager needs internet connection to operate.Īlso vague is how the license works over multiple PCs. Plus the NET means companies have a serious NAG pathway, if your subscription lapsesīottom line is, more dollars flowing to AutoDesk. Subscription is less explaining, less justification meetings, and it is how Netflix and Spotify etc work. Users tend to let 'Software maintenance & support' lapse, and the up-front costs mean CapEx hoops for many to jump through. Part of the driver of this, is the cash-flow side. The old 'Software maintenance & support' was essentially subscription. I'm sure there's more, but these are the ones I know and use. I dislike that many companies are moving in this direction.

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