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2023 - Upcoming changes to our perpetual license

Roon

Anyone seen this yet?

I wonder who those users are to shoot themselves in the foot by asking for a new license format that is more expensive?
I've been upgrading since V3, I hope the mentioned "loyalty scheme" pays off for those using CO since the beginning.

 

-------------- start of email from CO -------------

Upcoming changes to our perpetual license

 

Hi Roon,

Over the past few years many of you have told us you want access to new tools and improvements sooner, rather than have them all in one ‘major’ version of Capture One Pro at the end of each year. That’s why we’ve been investing heavily in our technology to be able release features to you as soon as they are ready. Now we’re ready to fully embrace this approach.

From 2023 we will no longer be tied to an annual cycle for major releases. As a result, there will not be a Capture One 24. Instead, we will continuously release new tools and features on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Alongside this, we will also be making changes to our perpetual licenses from February 1, 2023. Here’s what’s changing:

  1. New perpetual licenses will include updates with bug fixes until the next version, but new features released after purchase will not be included. 
  2. Upgrade pricing will no longer be available and will be replaced with a new loyalty scheme. More details will be announced on February 1, 2023.
 

Here’s how it affects you:
As you already own a license for Capture One Pro 23, you will receive free updates including all new features and improvements until September 30, 2023.

After this date, you can choose to remain on Capture One Pro 23 for as long as it suits your needs, purchase a new license when another version is released, or switch to a subscription. 
 

You can find more details of the changes and how it affects you on this page.

Thank you as always for being part of the Capture One community. We’re excited to share our new products and features with you over the coming months, and hope you’ll enjoy using them as much as we have creating them! 

Thank you,
The Capture One Team

------------------------ end of email ------------------

8

Comments

45 comments

Date Votes
  • Emile Gregoire

    https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/7998068628637

    Last sentence: "If you want to make sure that you get the latest version of Capture One Pro each year (as it works under the current model) and don’t need new features as soon as they are released, we want to make sure your cost of ownership does not go up."

    As I'm not looking forward to switching to anything else, I hope their loyalty program amounts to anything (user since v3). I'll reserve my opinion until I have all the facts.

    1
  • Abbott Schindler

    Regarding Cameron Davidson's comment:

    Yes, since the spinoff Capture One has said that they had no plans to discontinue perpetual licenses. However, I interpreted that to mean "don't have plans now, but plans can change". Also, I don't recall them ever saying that they wouldn't change perpetual license conditions (which is what they're doing now).

    0
  • Ross Corsair
    • Edited

    Back in the day, a "Perpetual License" meant something. I purposely bought a Perpetual License from you to not have to deal with the subscription baloney other photography software issuers were peddling. CO writes as if this license change (after one has already purchased a "Perpetual" License) is for our benefit. I wonder what marketing dunce within CO came up with that palaver. A Perpetual License should mean just that. With a subscription, over say a ten year period, one is paying $1000s more for the same software. The new CO "Perpetual" License seems to be much more of a subscription now to me. And - as above - I already paid you for a Perpetual License not very long ago and would like a refund as I am moving on.

    2
  • Emile Gregoire

    Ross, my C1 23 license is still perpetual. Next version I buy into without a subscription in say two years will be perpetual as well. The difference seems to me to be less than everyone makes it out to be. But maybe I’m mistaken.

    0
  • Jerry C

    It would help if Capture One could clarify what it intends. Perhaps they mean an upgrade will occur when a significant new feature is ready. If they charged a price for that new feature proportional to its substance, that would be better than the current yearly upgrade often with little substance. But, how to interpret what they actually mean?

    Given Capture One has become quite robust, one could easily coast on the current version for quite some time until enough new features or new hardware compelled a purchase of the latest version. Unless each new iteration translates into more profit or personal joy for the user, why not wait until there is a compelling need to upgrade? 

    To survive Capture One must find more new users to buy a perpetual license or pay to rent Capture One. As rate of new innovation approaches an asymptote and increasing price drives perpetual license users to skip upgrades, becoming a landlord with tenants, rather than a contractor who is called on only when one needs to build an addition may look more attractive to Capture One. My concern is that this licensing change is a foreshadowing of the end of the perpetual license.

    1
  • Michael Mazzola
    • Edited

    Here's what I think may help clarify what subscription means:
    When the subscription runs out:

    • there is no more access to any prior editing 
    • There is no more OUTPUT of any edited images
    •  
    • unless they have been previously exported to tiff/png/jpg et cetera
    • NO access to any prior work done. Think about what that means.
    • if it's perpetual license, one might have to dig out an older machine, load the perpetual C1P app (& hope the catalog has NOT been updated past that license).

    So the pincers I see are the irreversibly updated catalogs combined with the subscription. 

    Holding your work hostage.

    0
  • Jerry C

    To some extent we are already held hostage, just as you are with any software that has online registration. It's part of the license agreement. Try moving your perpetual license to another computer without registering the copy or exceeding the number of allowed installations of various versions. You can't because you have to register each copy and deactivate any that exceed the allowable total. If Capture One stopped the activation process, the only recourse would be litigation. This scenario is unlikely, but what would happen if Capture One went out of business without "freeing" your software license key? 

    1
  • Pavel Derka

    I'm moving on.  Just bought DXO photolab 6 and actually like the features and output better.  It is stable as well, something that I have not been able to say about C1 for about four years.  

    How mismanaged by the bean counters can a company get?  Well, I'm not sticking around to find out.  

    I'd been a C1 user since v3 btw.  But back then the company had integrity and was not owned by a huge investment firm. 

    0
  • Jack W
    Admin

    Hi everyone, it's worth checking the FAQ again as we are updating it based on your feedback and concerns.

    Myself and the rest of the team is doing our best to keep up and to provide you as much information as possible – keep an eye on it here.

    -1
  • Paul Traynar

    Hi Jack - thanks for stepping in and point us to the latest FAQ - unfortunatly I don't see any significant new information to allay our suspicions that C1 is simply forcing users to the subscription model and leaving perpetual license users swinging in the wind. There is a curious sentence at the end though:

    If you want to make sure that you get the latest version of Capture One Pro each year (as it works under the current model) and don’t need new features as soon as they are released, we want to make sure your cost of ownership does not go up.

    What does this mean? - you say 'we want to make sure your cost of ownership does not go up' but from what I see cost of ownership of perpetual licenses is definitely going up.

     

    1
  • Simone Colomba

    I am very disappointed with the behavior of the company.

    They don't listen to their customers and when they are criticized, they respond with ritual phrases, lies or they don't answer at all.

    In my country (Italy), all the content creators and all the people in the forums agree that the company's behavior is dishonest.

    The software offers less than Adobe Lightroom + Photoshop... at a much higher cost.

    They don't say if and when the new cameras and lenses will be included in the software. They don't say what and when improvements will be added.

    Nor do they guarantee corrections according to current legislation.

    If the company continues to insult the intelligence of its customers, it will close in 2 two or 3 years.

    Guys, let's start giving this company a signal: do not subscribe and do not buy Capture One until they are back to reality.

    4
  • Ian Forber

    I like how C1 processes my files but, as a hobbyist, I feel DxO calling…

    1
  • Thomas Kyhn
    • Edited
    Top Commenter

    For those on Facebook. You can leave a comment here (remove the square brackets – included here as outside links are often blocked):

    facebook[.]com/captureonepro/photos/a.210024026090463/1562444304181755/?type=3

    On Twitter too:

    twitter[.]com/captureonepro/status/1602650558061477890?

    -1
  • Alan Brooke

    “It will be cheaper for you to upgrade to Capture One Pro 23 before February 14, 2023.” So, it will be MORE expensive to upgrade…after Feb 14, 2023.  Love the changes, THANKS Capture One team/Phase One/AXCEL 

    1
  • Richard Corfield

    So presumably you're using feature switches? Each feature is date coded and the date of the feature is compared to the date of the license? So we all keep updating which gives us bug fixes but new feature code is disabled?

    If this is the case I wonder how things will go as the amount of possible feature switches increases. Could the system start misbehaving for customers on older licenses as effectively the amount of configurations you need to test increases over time? I guess you'll keep running old test suites written against those older "versions" and hoping the tests are comprehensive enough to spot this?

    0

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