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Survey Results

How do you rate the ways you can purchase software?

Survey period: 5 Sep 2022 to 12 Sep 2022

Rate these 7 options, with 1 = "No way, ever", to 5 = "Absolutely support this model". Answer generally, if you can, and add you specific "it depends" caveats in the discussion forum

OptionVotes12345 
Outright purchase of software: Use anywhere, anyhow, anytime, forever3103%1%4%7%86%
Purchase a perpetual license per user3108%8%23%28%32%
Purchase a perpetual license per device31028%23%28%17%4%
Annual or Monthly Subscription31042%23%19%12%5%
No cost software, but with ads31032%26%23%15%4%
No cost Software that is a functionally limited version of larger version31011%15%36%26%12%
No cost Software that isn't supported31019%15%29%18%19%



 
GeneralWill I use it? Pin
Sander Rossel7-Sep-22 20:05
professionalSander Rossel7-Sep-22 20:05 
GeneralRe: Will I use it? Pin
kalberts8-Sep-22 14:24
kalberts8-Sep-22 14:24 
Generalsome of the "oldies" are still gold Pin
BillWoodruff6-Sep-22 22:42
professionalBillWoodruff6-Sep-22 22:42 
GeneralRe: some of the "oldies" are still gold Pin
Bassam Abdul-Baki7-Sep-22 5:17
professionalBassam Abdul-Baki7-Sep-22 5:17 
GeneralRe: some of the "oldies" are still gold Pin
Bassam Abdul-Baki7-Sep-22 5:19
professionalBassam Abdul-Baki7-Sep-22 5:19 
GeneralRe: some of the "oldies" are still gold Pin
BillWoodruff7-Sep-22 5:36
professionalBillWoodruff7-Sep-22 5:36 
GeneralWinZip ... Pin
Bassam Abdul-Baki6-Sep-22 9:09
professionalBassam Abdul-Baki6-Sep-22 9:09 
GeneralRe: WinZip ... Pin
Nelek6-Sep-22 14:46
protectorNelek6-Sep-22 14:46 
GeneralRe: WinZip ... Pin
Bassam Abdul-Baki7-Sep-22 5:13
professionalBassam Abdul-Baki7-Sep-22 5:13 
GeneralRe: WinZip ... Pin
kalberts6-Sep-22 16:41
kalberts6-Sep-22 16:41 
GeneralFunctionally limited Pin
kalberts6-Sep-22 0:28
kalberts6-Sep-22 0:28 
GeneralRe: Functionally limited Pin
PIEBALDconsult6-Sep-22 5:11
mvePIEBALDconsult6-Sep-22 5:11 
GeneralTicket card Pin
kalberts6-Sep-22 0:14
kalberts6-Sep-22 0:14 
I never saw this offered:

Some software I use at a very varying frequency - sometimes, many months can pass without me using it. Then I might be using it several times a day for a few days. Then comes another silent period. My total use over time may be low to moderate, so buying the software for perpetual use may turn out to be expensive. With a regular subscription, I'd be paying for many months of no use.

If the vendor would provide a ticket service, sort of like the Kerberos ticket granting service (it could very well be an adaptation of that code; it wouldn't even need much adaptation!) so that the days I need the software, I could check out the 8-hour-ticket requested by the software. (Or 24 hours; Kerberos default is 8 hours.) Whenever I check out a ticket, my account is charged.

I would accept a rather high ticket price for single days of use. E.g. reducing the ticket price for consecutive days or setting a limit for the number of days you pay within a 30-day period would be trivial to implement. Making one ticket valid for an entire suite of software, e.g. for all software from a given vendor, is trivial.

This would also be a good base for a trial service: You could pay for a single day (or as many days as you need) to try out the software. If your verdict is negative, the software is not for you, the amount you paid is tiny compare to the full price or regular subscription. Of course you would need to have an account, but if the authentication service is shared among several vedondors (as would normally be the case in a Kerberos based system), they could also share the account system so that you could try out, and regularly use, software from all those vendors through a single account.

If this was based on the (open source, freely available) Kerberos software, everything you need is ready to use, with the exception that the application/software must be extended to check that the user posesses a valid ticket. The user will have to authenticate himself to the ticket granter at the start of the working day, but only once for all the software vendors using the same ticket granting structure (they may have different ticket granters, but relying on the same authentication service). Retrieving a ticket for the software to be used is automatic and usually invisible to the user.

I never saw any software licensing system along these lines, and I do not understand why. If it was an option (in real life, and in the poll), I would give a five.
GeneralRe: Ticket card Pin
Moshe Katz6-Sep-22 3:40
Moshe Katz6-Sep-22 3:40 
GeneralRe: Ticket card Pin
kalberts6-Sep-22 16:16
kalberts6-Sep-22 16:16 
Generalit all depends - plus one time purchase with X year of updates, update fee after Pin
maze35-Sep-22 23:04
professionalmaze35-Sep-22 23:04 
GeneralYou should add... Pin
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter5-Sep-22 20:08
professionalKornfeld Eliyahu Peter5-Sep-22 20:08 

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