When it comes to using software in a legal manner, is it better to buy a
one-time lifetime license or to use the product as a web-based cloud service
and pay a periodical subscription? The answer is not as straightforward as one
may first believe, though the obvious trend, the first thing that would come to
mind, is to go for the cloud solution without thinking twice.
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The question was raised recently by reports that a
significant number of users of the Microsoft Office suite were again weighing
whether to opt for the web-based Microsoft 365 service or to buy the company’s
Office 2021, the latest version that was introduced six months ago. This,
despite the fact that the “365” (as it is simply referred to) has become very
popular and has crossed the 50 million subscribers mark last year.
For the past five to ten years, consumers have
learnt to trust the cloud and how to make the best out of it. The year 2021,
because of the global sanitary situation and the working constraints it
imposed, has boosted the momentum even more. Now that working patterns and
habits are back to virtually normal, many are trying to find a balance between
web-based methods and local ones. There is a legitimate will to optimize the
approach to software products and applications, to make work as efficient as it
can be, while reducing the total cost of ownership of the product.
Although having to pay a periodical subscription may
not be pleasant financially, it does come with several significant advantages,
and may prove to be money well spent in the end, better than paying for a
lifetime purchase. The term “lifetime” is deceptive here. It is true that you
pay it once and for good, but you are stuck with the very version you paid for,
which, practically, is good to use during an average time span of four to five
years – not really “forever”! Then you have to buy the new version or be stuck
with the old one.
On the other hand, subscriptions to a service give
you automatic and unlimited updates and upgrades for newer versions, all the
time. Plus free cloud storage, of course, often in the range of 1TB (terabyte),
and sometimes functionalities that only the service offers. For example, the
possibility to have MS-Word read aloud the text you typed comes with the “365”
service.
Dataprot.net reports that software piracy has significantly dropped over the last few years, and that the bulk of illegal usage on the web is now about unpaid for, unauthorized music and video streaming, not about software applications.
If software makers like Microsoft still give you the
choice between a subscribed service and a one-time license, others, like Adobe
for example, have stopped selling permanent licenses and propose subscriptions
only. This definitely solves the dilemma – there is only one way to do it with
them. If you are a Photoshop or Illustrator user, for instance, the only way
today is to subscribe to one or more of Adobe’s cloud services. Unless, of
course, you do not mind buying licenses of older versions, which in most cases
is not a smart solution and could limit your communication with those users who
are running the newest versions of the applications.
The overall trend is clear: information technology
(IT) is totally an intelligent combination of cloud and subscribed services.
This is true not just for software products, but also for equipment like
computer servers, for instance.
Amazon Web Services is the largest provider of
such services; it lets you rent virtual servers, instead of buying your own
hardware and running it on your premises, wherever that may be. In Jordan, Specialized Technical Services, one of the largest IT companies in the
country, also provides cloud-based services of all kinds.
It is expected that even operating systems like
Microsoft Windows will soon become subscribed services. If users’ convenience
is the reason for this global approach, it is also a good way for software
developers to deter software piracy.
Dataprot.net reports that software piracy has
significantly dropped over the last few years, and that the bulk of illegal
usage on the web is now about unpaid for, unauthorized music and video
streaming, not about software applications.
The writer is a computer engineer and a classically
trained pianist and guitarist. He has been regularly writing IT articles,
reviewing music albums, and covering concerts for more than 30 years.
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