V. S. S.

[beanus]

what do people think about Vectorworks Select Service?, is this nemetschek trying to get us to pay for future updates before they come onto the market? or am I becoming sceptical in my old age?

Edited September 22, 2011 by beanus

[Benson Shaw]

Upsides for NNA (just guessing here):

Subscribers will purchase every upgrade, rather than skipping a cycle or two, so the income stream is more predictable - assuming subscribers are satisfied. The subscriber income is also collected at a known date, helping with cash flow predictability.

Upsides for Subscribers:

Somewhat lower costs for the initial product and future versions. Special content for free download in the subscriber web portal, such as extra library content (one example is additional 2d human figures for use directly or in image props). The first subscription (2011) had a sweetener in that the 2012 upgrade would release prior to any new subscription charges - essentially a first-upgrade-is-free offer.

Possible down sides for subscriber (guessing again):

Future update pricing may "force" a subscriber to pay more than expected.

Subscriber will have to make payment on the subscription schedule rather than waiting to purchase when convenient.

Subscriber will have to cancel the agreement to decline a version. Cancellation has notification and timing rules.

For me, it's all fine or at least OK at this time:

I have purchased every new version since VW8, so would likely upgrade anyway.

If a new version price is too big, I will cancel after that one.

The special content is not of great interest to me, but others may find it very useful.

Another upside scenario (my musings):

If the subscription model prevails as trusted by both subscribers and NNA, then maybe, hopefully, the development could stop being based on annual revisions (with attendant backward incompatibility problems) and instead become a continuous improvement stream. The development effort would not have to split between service packs and next year's top secret revision with its built in incompatibilities to prevent older versions from opening it. A new module or feature or fix or improvement is released when ready - no need to hold it back, subscribers are already paying for it.

One danger in my scenario is NNA development becoming complacent - money coming in, so why do anything exceptional? Money is OK for now, so why conceive that revolutionary, ground up rewrite every 5 or 10 years many of us wish for?

-B

[GWS]

I tried to opt out this year but unfortunately I discovered there was a 90 day clause; so I'm now finding that I'm going to have to pay for software I wont be using!

VSS has offered nothing other than a very slightly reduced upgrade fee.