This would help explain the trend toward cloud storage and toward not really owning, but renting your software. It appears that Adobe, for another example, now only provides the latest version of Photoshop as a monthly subscription service, so you’re not the owner, but the tenant, and they the property manager.
If you don’t have exclusive control of your software, user files, or your contact lists, etc., it could all be pulled out from under you, or used for other purposes via remote control by other people, at a whim. Same as your bank account now, by the way. The Endarkenment proceeds apace.
friends:
live by fresh water sources.
plant a garden, and buy lots of beans, rice and pasta. (and, olive oil and belly button cheese.)
buy guns. buy brass, bullets, primers and power. be prickly as hell. and, as vanderboegh says, drop the first ones who show up on your porch, and trust the rest of us to pull our fair share as well. those of us on the “spear tip” of things won’t be around to see how it all turns out, in all probability, but, rest assured, that if we do our part, we shall prevail.
and, as kaiser wilhelm said to a reluctant troop during maneuvers right before wwi, “what’s the matter, troop, do you think you are going to live forever?” in short, some perspective on things won’t hurt, either.
john jay
I was so horrified by Elements 9 that I cleansed my machine of its foul presence, and continue to use Elements 0 that came with the scanner so many years ago. This is not the future I’m looking for.
Yup. I don’t do subscription software.
I saw this, wondered if it was because they got leaned on the the Holder “Justice” department as part of Operation Choke Point, or if it’s just yet another in a long series of lawyer-driven CYA because somebody got a bug in their coffee, like removing the swings at my kids school because somebody, somewhere, got hurt and sued a school district.
To be true there is something slightly offending about being told that you can’t own something outright but think of it in a different light. What is one of the biggest headaches in companies IT setup, keeping all the software up to date and compatible with current and older software. If Microsoft now leases OFFICE to a customer it can give it the most recent update and continue to provide service on a continual basis. Companies can shift from a rather large upfront cost to what I and I think most could consider a reasonable monthly rate for the most up to date software. They no longer have to worry if their copy of office 1997 can read a new version and just pay a monthly bill like all the others. For an individual it kinda sucks because we can tolerate obsolescence much better that businesses and tend to use a product as long as we can until we are forced to upgrade (cough *windows xp*).
Just remember there are a million ways to make a deal and now the software manufactures see this pricing structure as providing the best value to their customers. If you don’t think so you can always buy a competitors software that has different licensing terms. God bless the free market.
Jesse
Or no licensing at all. Say hello to OpenOffice, which has about 95 percent of all of Office functionality and reads Office files just fine.
Hear! Hear!
I have Windows on two machines — the one required for my job, and one that plays games. The computer that does serious non-employer work is Linux; the game machine is slowly moving to Linux.
Oh, I understand there is some value to some people in rental software. But I don’t want to pay out forever for something. I don’t suddenly want a bunch of new features, a new look, etc, when I am comfortable with what I have. I hate the way they move shit around randomly, meaning I have to relearn workflow and whatnot all over again. Prove the features are worth it to *ME*, then I’ll buy it. Don’t bill me and tell me to shut up and like it.
And I know people still using XP.
At this rate, my next box will be UNIX.
I figure that there MUST be some willfull mischief going on, and that it has been going on for a long time in the software business. There’s no reason on Earth why the controls should be moved around with every new version. That would be like switching the pedals and other controls around with ever new model of motor vehicle– now you’re operating the clutch with your elbow, and next year you’re operating it with your left hand…
It has been suggested by Glenn Beck that this is one way to separate the generations, always keeping the younger people thinking that older people are worthless no-nothings. I can see that, as it’s an old communist tactic, but there’s more to it still. It is no coincidence that when the Obamatons started to target and mess with people based purely on ideological beliefs, the software companies were already all set up with the infrastructure to help out in that endeavor.
Some of it’s a campaign for job security from the developers. Some of it’s from user interface designers chasing the latest look-and-fad. Some of it’s from chasing corporate branding.
Mostly it’s hostility towards the users.
The recent experience some gun related companies had with banks and credit card outfits is another example. At least in that case they didn’t lose what they had (the bank accounts were closed but not confiscated).
Do you realize that e-books are another example? Look at your ebook license. You don’t “own” that book, as you do a real book.
At least I own my copy of the operating system in my Winchester ’94.
-Jesse/8:20- Yes, companies are different from home. Where I work, just the small production department has upwards of 20 desktops that I can think of. Fortunately, most of those are dedicated to one or another fixture. Most do not get updated for that reason. Some *can’t* be updated because they run locally grown software. Generally, network updates have resulted in fewer sightings of IT dude with his headhunter necklace of thumb drives. And I, of all people, am the Old DOS Dude. I have filled an antique hard drive.
Me-The hard drive is full.
Him-What do you mean?
Me-Full. Look, zero bytes free.
Him-???
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