Please Avid We All Really Want You to Be Successful

[marianna]

Originally Posted by jonathan jetter

hi Marianna-

first of all- thanks for writing. it is appreciated.

re: HD upgrades. while that's not an entirely satisfactory solution IMO, please know that to the extent of my knowledge that's the first time anyone from Avid has said anything regarding plans for HD. and i think the lack of previous information is a lot of what causes consternation from the user base (myself included)

re: upgrades. my concern is that this pricing structure removes the incentive for Avid to release bug fixes in a timely fashion. 11 has a long list of bugs (video engine + delay compensation probably being the two most significant), just from a general moral hazard perspective....how does an up-front influx of cash incentivize prompt fixing of bugs? all other things being equal i'd suggest it'd incentivize the opposite.

Jonathan.....

As soon as the groups within Avid can provide definitive info on the HD subscriptions we will.

I thought a lot of the q/a was addressed in the Pro Tools 12 FAQ located here:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...-Licensing-FAQ

PT 11.x maintenance updates will continue through 2015 and I know that at least one is in the pipeline and I am sure more will follow. You have until 12/31/15 to decide what you wish to do so if you are leary of the fixes for PT 11.x then wait a bit and see what we deliver in that code base.

Marianna

[Bob Olhsson]

Existing 11 and 11HD HD owners do have at least ten months to decide if they want to buy or renew a support plan after everybody knows exactly what new features have accumulated in PT 12 over that period. There's no reason to expect any movement from Avid until that time. These complaints are all speculation and Avid would be stupid to change course based entirely on this sort of negative speculation.

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

... Avid would be stupid to change course based entirely on this sort of negative speculation.

Agreed, AVID is stupid to not give their customers what they want.

kasper

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by marianna

...
Gone are the days when you made one time purchases to upgrade an MC or Pro Tools license to the latest version. Customers use to have to navigate a slew of upgrade options and pricing from from what they were upgrading from and then to ( one, two three versions back etc.) I can tell you as Stef alluded, mistakes happen, and were made in droves back then and a lot of manpower had to be used to fix a lot of ordering errors. We removed those pitfalls and have a much simpler upgrade portfolio.

...

I have never had any problem upgrading PT, nor do I know anyone else who has.
Let's be honest, this is simply corporate spin.
You are trying to spin it as something "good" for us .... that is not gonna fly.

This new rental plan is not good for anyone but AVID.
Now, you have a job to do, I get that. You don't make the policy.
But please stop insulting us by trying to spin this as something good for the customer.

kasper

[froyo]

Originally Posted by marianna

I can tell you that its my understanding that if you have say a PT HD system and elect to not buy a upgrade/support plan and remain at PT 11, you can subscribe at a later date to PT 12 software and use your HD hardware - you don’t need to re-buy that.

Hello. At the risk of being obtuse and asking a question that has already been answered, I just want to make absolutely positive that I am clear.

If a user is on a perpetual license and a support plan, whether they are the HD or regular version, and then they let their support plan lapse, the only way for that user to acquire a new version thereafter is to either buy a new perpetual license at full price or get on a subscription plan. I think I am correct up to this point.

So if that lapsed user decided to subscribe for a few months and then stop and again let things lapse, what happens after that? Is he/she on a subscription forever at that point or can they jump on a new perpetual license again at full price? If they let the subscription lapse for example 3 years, can they subscribe for 1 month, pay just that month's rental price and then let it lapse for another 2 years?

[marianna]

Originally Posted by nst7

Thanks Marianna.

But this information has already been made clear from the beginning. The problem is that many of us don't think it's fair to only have those choices if we let our plan lapse. There are various reasons why we may wish to not renew or upgrade for a time. When we decide to get back in, we don't want the only choice to be subscribing. We would still like to be able to buy a perpetual license at that time. So if I get on PT11/12, and decide to stay there for a few years, and then get back in when PT17 comes out, I want to be able to buy a perpetual license for that, and not deal with subscription. There are all kinds of practical and financial reasons for this. We are asking if an accommodation could be made for something like that.

The best analogy would be what Waves offers. In that case, you don't get penalized for waiting. But if that can't be done, I'd settle for something like what you have for Media Composer. At least with that, you have the option of buying a perpetual license again instead of only subscription. By making the only option to be subscription, it is basically forcing us to always renew our upgrades, and it seems like extortion to many of us.

Hey there....

I don't know how you got that impression but if you let your PT license lapse, and you wish to re-buy at some point down the road, you will have 2 options.

Subscription license
Perpetual license

Of course the pricing will be different but we will offer both like we do in MC land.

Marianna

[marianna]

Originally Posted by jonathan jetter

hi Marianna-

first of all- thanks for writing. it is appreciated.

re: HD upgrades. while that's not an entirely satisfactory solution IMO, please know that to the extent of my knowledge that's the first time anyone from Avid has said anything regarding plans for HD. and i think the lack of previous information is a lot of what causes consternation from the user base (myself included)

re: upgrades. my concern is that this pricing structure removes the incentive for Avid to release bug fixes in a timely fashion. 11 has a long list of bugs (video engine + delay compensation probably being the two most significant), just from a general moral hazard perspective....how does an up-front influx of cash incentivize prompt fixing of bugs? all other things being equal i'd suggest it'd incentivize the opposite.

Jonathan....

Let me be clear.......

There will be a PT hd software subscription offering for customers who own HD hardware.... we will be sharing that scoop soon like I said in my previous note.

Marianna

[Righty27]

Originally Posted by froyo

Hello. At the risk of being obtuse and asking a question that has already been answered, I just want to make absolutely positive that I am clear.

If a user is on a perpetual license and a support plan, whether they are the HD or regular version, and then they let their support plan lapse, the only way for that user to acquire a new version thereafter is to either buy a new perpetual license at full price or get on a subscription plan. I think I am correct up to this point.

So if that lapsed user decided to subscribe for a few months and then stop and again let things lapse, what happens after that? Is he/she on a subscription forever at that point or can they jump on a new perpetual license again at full price?

froyo - yes; that is what was stated originally and has just been underlined by Marianna. Assumption is that one can purchase a new perpetual licence at any time (regardless of you subscription history).

However, how long these remain available is anybody's guess - the subscription has been engineered to be the most attractive (relative to other Pro Tools licensing options; not necessarily competitor DAWs) so the perpetual licence may just be a device to transition those of us who already have them into the 'new world'. By the time users have renewed a couple of times, who's to say that this option won't be dropped altogether, leaving only subscriptions?

[nhaudio]

So, will it be possible in 2016 and forward to buy an HD Software-Only Perpetual license?... without hardware?

[Kasper]

Will there be an HD subscription without HD hardware ownership proof?

What if you have multiple HD software licenses not tied to hardware?


kasper