Will Avid force all HDX users onto FLEX?

[Drum]

Little bit worrying this. I currently pay £380 or so every year to upgrade my HDX system perpetual license (tbh I've never needed the support but I guess it is there). I just asked my reseller about the future of HDX updating since FLEX (the only new service that includes HDX) costs £1000 per year which is rather a hike and one I would never make. This is his response.
"AVID will eventually look to transition the Ultimate license holders to FLEX (as this is the replacement for it), but it's still up in the air as to what that will look like. Rumour has it it'll be mid next year before we see any major push"
So it looks like the price will increase by over £600 just to keep updated. Not now but sometime soon.
Any thoughts on this? What would you do when push comes to shove? Stop updating?

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Drum

Little bit worrying this. I currently pay £380 or so every year to upgrade my HDX system perpetual license (tbh I've never needed the support but I guess it is there). I just asked my reseller about the future of HDX updating since FLEX (the only new service that includes HDX) costs £1000 per year which is rather a hike and one I would never make. This is his response.
"AVID will eventually look to transition the Ultimate license holders to FLEX (as this is the replacement for it), but it's still up in the air as to what that will look like. Rumour has it it'll be mid next year before we see any major push"
So it looks like the price will increase by over £600 just to keep updated. Not now but sometime soon.
Any thoughts on this? What would you do when push comes to shove? Stop updating?

Pretty sure that $1k is the straight up "Subscription" price----

Not the annual renewal price of a current perpetual license with the Support and Update plan.. And yes the question is will a current "Ultimate license " in your account eventually simply be switched to the name "Flex" and will it continue to be the same "Renewal" price as a the renewal has been (i.e. $399 USD ?)

[Drum]

Indeed you are right, there is still the current support and update plan which I currently have and am renewing BUT my question to the reseller was what will happen in the short/medium term after the new flex subscription service has bedded in. ie will Avid start to force perpetual users (for, I'm sure, a very tempting credit initially) to a full Flex subscription if they want to keep the product upgraded?
Let's hope Avid continue the update/service plan for a while...

[JFreak]

In theory, if you bought renewal for 100 years today you would never need to worry about it in your lifetime.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Drum

Indeed you are right, there is still the current support and update plan which I currently have and am renewing BUT my question to the reseller was what will happen in the short/medium term after the new flex subscription service has bedded in. ie will Avid start to force perpetual users (for, I'm sure, a very tempting credit initially) to a full Flex subscription if they want to keep the product upgraded?
Let's hope Avid continue the update/service plan for a while...

Humm not sure what "bedded in" means BUT
The subscription only model has been going for 3 years the only thing that has changed is the name from an Ultimate subscription to a Flex subscription, and the Ultimate subscription has always been considerably more money than renewing a current Ultimate Update/Support plan ? Not sure why you think anything is different now ? ..

[Drum]

Dunno... was just a bit spooked by the reseller's reply I guess. Hopefully there is nothing to worry about. Thanks for replying.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Drum

Dunno... was just a bit spooked by the reseller's reply I guess. Hopefully there is nothing to worry about. Thanks for replying.

Don't get me wrong I suppose Avid could in the future drop the renewal option But I am guessing that might not be an optimal business move,

And the same speculation about the demise of the perpetual license renewal was offered when the subscription model went into effect in 2019 and did not materialize and I believe Avid is still selling HDX systems with Ultimate perpetual license .

[Drum]

Sadly not. From May 2022 you cannot buy any more perpetual licences for ProTools (although you can still currently bring an existing one fully up to date)... and Avid do have a history of making strange business decisions that alienate large chunks of their user base.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by Drum

Sadly not. From May 2022 you cannot buy any more perpetual licences for ProTools (although you can still currently bring an existing one fully up to date)... and Avid do have a history of making strange business decisions that alienate large chunks of their user base.

Sadly not what ? You might want to slow down and read, consider, and then reply to what I actually said ...
Yes Avid has stopped selling stand alone Ultimate perpetual software licenses (something they announced they were going to do a long time ago) But that is not what I said, what I said was Ultimate Perpetual is still being sold with Avid HDX hardware


From the Sweetwater page today

Avid Pro Tools HDX Thunderbolt 3 MTRX Studio Rackmount System
Complete Pro Tools System with Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual License, HDX Core PCIe Card, MTRX Studio Audio Interface, Thunderbolt 3 Rackmount Chassis, and Thunderbolt 3 Cable

Avid Pro Tools HDX Thunderbolt 3 MTRX Studio Desktop System
Complete Pro Tools System with Pro Tools Ultimate Perpetual License, HDX Core PCIe Card, MTRX Studio Audio Interface, Thunderbolt 3 Desktop Chassis, and Thunderbolt 3 Cable

Avid HDX Core - Includes Pro Tools Ultimate Software
Pro Tools | HDX Core PCIe Card with Pro Tools | Ultimate Software

[Bob Olhsson]

This is what a lot of people are missing. Avid still includes perpetual licenses with hardware, just no longer separate from the hardware.