The software industry is changing. More software vendors are changing the way they offer their products. In the past, customers would purchase perpetual licenses and depending on their policies, at time used the software for year without upgrading.
For software companies, this model of licensing provided large upfront revenue. However, since every product requires a great deal of work to keep pace with new technologies which means a continuous (and costly) research and development effort.
The dependence on perpetual software sales deprived companies from a predictable revenue stream to support day-to-day operations. With monthly subscriptions, it ensures consistent revenue is coming in monthly to help manage company finances.
For the upcoming PROCAD V2018 products, we will adopt subscription licensing only. It makes sense for us and for our customers. It brings more consistent revenue for us, and customers only need to pay-per-use, for as long as they need the software without incurring major capital expenditures for their projects.
We know this is a win-win proposition.
There’s a good article in Cadalyst magazine on this subject that would be worth your while to read.