New Licensing

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

I don't get the feeling there will be a ProTools 12. 11 doesn't say 11. It's going to be ProTools and versioning will be part of the new upgrade scheme.

If there will be no way for HD users to buy in after letting a plan lapse then that is the big FU.

[FilterDecay]

Originally Posted by CygnusX-1Bk2

I don't get the feeling there will be a ProTools 12. 11 doesn't say 11. It's going to be ProTools and versioning will be part of the new upgrade scheme.

If there will be no way for HD users to buy in after letting a plan lapse then that is the big FU.

U can rent

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

Originally Posted by FilterDecay

U can rent

I bought a house because I was tired of paying other people's bills.

[FilterDecay]

Originally Posted by CygnusX-1Bk2

I bought a house because I was tired of paying other people's bills.

consider avid to be a welfare queen then

[Park Seward]

Originally Posted by nst7

Just go to Guitar Center (or their website) and buy a Fast Track Solo on sale for $89. It comes with PT Express, which you can upgrade for $199 to PT11.

You could wait for a year or two and buy a new system. In this case, if you waited two years and Avid still had something on sale, your yearly cost would be $144.

[nigelpry]

So ...

Existing licences are 'perpetual'.

Therefore, any 'new' licensing option WILL NOT be perpetual, because if it was perpetual, it would be same as what people already have.

If a licence is not perpetual, then it is temporary. If it is temporary, the only feasible way to implement that is to have people paying on a regular basis to keep it working.

Whether you choose to call that subscription or rental, it is basically a scheme in which you are granted access to use the software so long as you keep handing over money.

If the 'new' licensing option is going to be 'flexible' then it seems reasonable to suggest that it needs to cater for people who might want to use it 'short term' or 'long term', and it would also make sense that there ought to be some sort of loyalty discount for people who commit to paying for a longer period of usage.

hmmm .... so, let's think .... maybe ... people could have a option to subscribe for just one month if they only need it short term, and, if people are unsure how long they will need to use the software, maybe people could just renew that subscription each month.

hmmm ... On the other hand, if you are one of those people who knows they are going to be using it on a regular basis all year around, maybe you'd be happy to commit to subscribing for a year, so long as the monthly subscription fee was reduced a little to reward that loyalty. The discount would make you feel that your loyalty is valued.

hmmm ... And perhaps, for people who know they will need it for quite a long time, there could still be an option to buy a perpetual licence. What about its price point! Well, maybe similar to a two years worth of subscriptions? After all, two years is a long time nowadays in the music industry!

Do the above sound like some 'new' 'flexible' licensing options to you? Or, do you imagine something very different to that?

Well ... I wonder ... what are the 'new' 'flexible' licensing options that Avid has already recently implemented for its other flagship software product, Media Composer?

SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS

Media Composer | Software (Perpetual) £1,126.80
Media Composer | Software Subscription (Annual) £46.80
Media Composer | Software Subscription (Monthly) £58.80

As you can see, if you commit to subscribe for a year, you get a £12 per month discount (the Annual subscription is billed monthly). And two years worth of monthly payments (on an annual subscription contract) is £1123.20. Maybe someone at Avid isn't very precise at maths.

I'm sorry to have to say this, but, in my opinion:
1) Tony's posts, coupled with the hints on the Avid webpages and the FAQ, are very suggestive of a new flexible licensing scheme very like what I describe,
2) It would make no sense whatsoever for Avid to devise a completely different approach to flexible licensing having already devised and implemented such a system for Media Composer,
3) The only aspect that I can imagine Avid is perhaps still contemplating, thus delaying its announcement of the details, is the price point,
4) Anyone who chooses to ignore this analysis, or deny its validity, is, of course quite welcome to do so. I am very curious to know what alternative scheme such people may be contemplating or hoping for.

Some of the comments made recently in this thread seem to me suggestive of heads being buried in sand. If I'm misinterpreting, my sincere apologies.

To me, and at least some others here, the writing seems to be quite clearly written on the wall, although there is some low-lying fog around that is obscuring the odd dotted 'i' and crossed 't'.

PS
So ... as PT Vanilla is now $899 to buy, what odds can I get on the monthly subscription fee (for an annually renewable contract) being somewhere in the ballpark of $37.50?

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by CygnusX-1Bk2

I don't get the feeling there will be a ProTools 12. 11 doesn't say 11. It's going to be ProTools and versioning will be part of the new upgrade scheme.

If there will be no way for HD users to buy in after letting a plan lapse then that is the big FU.

I know a lot of people have been saying "there will be no PT12". I don't see why - in fact, the little scraps of info that have been thrown by Avid suggest the opposite.

How does this new licensing scheme work? As far as anyone can tell me, if you buy it today you get iLok licenses for PT10 and PT11, exactly the same as you've been able to buy all year, only with updates til March 2016. There has been no official word on exactly what happens next, but we have been drip fed the following info:

1. Bug fixes will remain free, outside of support subscription plans.

2. If your support subscription lapses, you will have your license frozen forever where it is at the end of the plan's life (a bit like in Narnia's endless winter - fellow members are invited to reflect on furthering the analogy).

3. PT10 licenses will be included for some time to come for legacy projects.

4. As new versions come on stream for subs members, users will be required to surrender existing licenses as has been common in the past.

So. Given that, we know that point releases will still exist - those are the bug fixes. But it looks very much like integer releases will continue - in fact, it's hard to imagine how the licensing system will work without them. If we stayed on PT11 forever, then all users without the plan would be able to upgrade. Whereas if it was a new license for every little update, then the bug fixes wouldn't be free. And if we didn't surrender licenses, our iLoks would fill to the brim with dozens of versions. The major releases might be less major but more frequent than they were, and maybe they'll have some new naming / numbering / punctuation scheme to usher in the brave | new | world, but in effect I figure it'll have to be pretty much exactly what we've always had - new features will be new versions with new licenses, bug fixes will be minor revisions without new licenses.

This is all from reading the scraps of replies and reading tea leaves of course. It would be helpful if Tony or someone else from Avid would actually come out and say how this all is supposed to work, but it's beginning to look like they've had their day on the forums for the next couple of months until the next publicity drive, so we can all have fun winding each other up and griping over the confusion and speculation. It's the fun fun fun Avid way of communicating, it seems.

As for HD, the FAQ says in as many words that there will be no software-only purchase option going forward, speaking only of "affordable options", which is Avidspeak for rental. It'll be hardware, legacy CPTK owners and software-monthly-rental only from here on it seems. A tedious way of running a business down if you ask me, but they seem to like it.

[Ghost In The Attic]

Originally Posted by nigelpry

I'm sorry to have to say this, but, in my opinion:
1) Tony's posts, coupled with the hints on the Avid webpages and the FAQ, are very suggestive of a new flexible licensing scheme very like what I describe,
2) It would make no sense whatsoever for Avid to devise a completely different approach to flexible licensing having already devised and implemented such a system for Media Composer,
3) The only aspect that I can imagine Avid is perhaps still contemplating, thus delaying its announcement of the details, is the price point,

I am in total agreement.
Media Composer IS the model Pro Tools will be based on. No maybe about it in my opinion.

[FilterDecay]

All these people trying to muddy that fact are either retards or plants. Sorry.

[mesaone]

Originally Posted by FilterDecay

All these people trying to muddy that fact are either retards or plants. Sorry.

Let this serve as a monument to your candor... And a reminder that anyone who dares disagree with FilterDecay's posts is either mentally retarded, or flora with an internet connection.

Pure class