Deals: Buy Parallels Desktop 18 and Get 14 Mac Apps for Free, Including Fantastical and Cardhop

[steve09090]

I used to think that way about PDF Expert, until I actually tried using it as a daily replacement for Acrobat in my work. Many of the features are indeed there, but are often buggy, incomplete or do not work as well as Acrobat. The same goes for most other PDF software developers. Many of the bilingual PDFs I have to handle on a daily basis fail to display correctly in PDF Expert, and the app wasn't as stable as I'd hoped it would be. I may go back and revisit that app someday to see how it's evolved, but I wasn't particularly impressed by my findings last year.

The fact is, Adobe has always had the cornerstone on PDFs, for better or for worse. (Maybe "monopoly" would be a more realistic term for this...) Adobe opened up their patent on PDFs in 2008, but I really don't feel that the market has made a reader/editor that surpasses Acrobat in terms of stability and functionality. After all, Adobe developed the PDF format, nearly three decades ago.

Fair points on everything, however, I have never had a buggy experience with PDF Expert, although thinking about it, I have had the odd crash, they do provide regular updates so my experience has been very good. I think you're right that Adobe has a monopoly, so it's all about how much people are willing to pay.

No different from Microsoft imo, but Microsoft only charges $99 (family price) per year for its entire suite which includes up to 6TB storage whereas Adobe Acrobat is $240 for the single app.

Adobe is basically a rip-off compared to other excellent companies and it's the reason people are walking away in droves, to pay for something that suits their workflow.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Snagit is the only thing I would want and a perpetual version of Parallels.

 

[sir1963nz]

I do NOT and NEVER will rent software.
My data is never going to be held ransom, because that is what it is.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I had that with Fantastical. I had a full-functioning lifetime licence through one of these deals. It had a decent machine-learning function and worked well within the Apple ecosystem.

Then Fantastical crippled the version I had when they went subscription only. It was basically useless. it would no longer do what I paid for, so I ditched it. Apple Calendar does what I need and works properly.

That stinks. I worry that this will become the norm, unless there are class action lawsuits in the future. In particular, since PDF Expert has embraced the subscription model, I hope they don’t go this route.

 

[bradman83]

There's something darkly ironic about an adblocker requiring an annual subscription.

 

[jchap]

Adobe is basically a rip-off compared to other excellent companies and it's the reason people are walking away in droves, to pay for something that suits their workflow.

Indeed, Adobe products are really exorbitantly priced, when compared with something like Microsoft Office/365. Of course, I would imagine that Adobe's pro and business user base is also significantly smaller than Microsoft's. Adobe was always a specialty app developer for desktop publishing tools to begin with, and even though the media format has broadened beyond print to the Web, they still cater pretty much to the designers and to the media content producers (and to the coders, if you want to count Dreamweaver), not to the moms-and-pops and school kids who just need a spreadsheet or word processor or a tool to present their slide deck to their classrooms.

Acrobat (the full version) is pretty much Adobe's only product that caters to business and "pro" users (aside from designers, who of course go for Illustrator, Photoshop, Animate and their other offerings). Their business model with Acrobat is a little lopsided, because they do offer Acrobat Reader for free, which has most of what's needed for working with PDFs at no cost. If you're one of the more uncommon users who actually needs to do things like edit PDFs, converting to different formats offline and designing your own forms, Adobe requires you to pay significantly higher fees that normally only business users would pay. Apparently, the business model works for them and for the majority of their users, but it really is expensive for users who want just that extra oomph from time to time and don't want (or can't afford to) to shell out the licensing fees as a business expense. Is Acrobat Pro even available for purchase as a full perpetual license anymore?

 

[jchap]

Snagit is the only thing I would want and a perpetual version of Parallels.

Isn't Parallels Desktop still available as a perpetual license? I thought that the Pro version was only available on subscription, but the "lesser" PD versions could be bought outright, or as an upgrade.

 

[Apple_Robert]

You should have jumped on the MPU 20% discount. thats as good as its going to get.. thats not even a real fantastical subscription in the bundle.. there is no $19/year..

Fantastical is $19 for the year with the bundle. After that, it goes back to the regular $57 / per year.

"Terms and conditions: Except for Snagit and Hype 4.1 Professional, all other offers to purchase listed above are for one year subscriptions for each app. For Snagit the offer to purchase is for a perpetual license with one year of maintenance included. For Hype 4.1 Professional the offer to purchase is for a perpetual license. All purchases are subject to our terms and conditions at the below link for Legal and to those of our third party providers as applicable."

 

[Mr. Dee]

Isn't Parallels Desktop still available as a perpetual license? I thought that the Pro version was only available on subscription, but the "lesser" PD versions could be bought outright, or as an upgrade.

I don't know, I'll research it.

 

[4743913]

Fantastical is $19 for the year with the bundle. After that, it goes back to the regular $57 / per year.

that makes no sense. the value of the subscription is $57. it says a $19 value but they are giving it to you for free..

"Buy Parallels Desktop 18 and Get 14 Mac Apps for Free"​

 

[Razorpit]

I had that with Fantastical. I had a full-functioning lifetime licence through one of these deals. It had a decent machine-learning function and worked well within the Apple ecosystem.

Then Fantastical crippled the version I had when they went subscription only. It was basically useless. it would no longer do what I paid for, so I ditched it. Apple Calendar does what I need and works properly.

Sorry you got burned, that’s why I avoid programs that “offer additional {fill in the blank}“ over built-in Apple programs.

My calendars, contacts, mail, note taking, etc. are all done with the built-in Apple apps. I’m not paying a company $10 month to hold my notes or passwords for me when Apple’s Pages and built in password manager work good enough.

 

[anshuvorty]

Isn't Parallels Desktop still available as a perpetual license? I thought that the Pro version was only available on subscription, but the "lesser" PD versions could be bought outright, or as an upgrade.

Yes, you can get Parallels as a perpetual license, but you won't be able to upgrade it to a newer version.

 

[Daimhin]

Will it add a year to my Fantastical Subscription or is it new customers only? That would make it worth the price alone.

No it has to be a new subscription to Fantastical. It didn't say that until AFTER I did the purchase. So if you have a current subscription it does you no good.

 

[sigmadog]

What's the origin of that phrase? It doesn't sound too complimentary. Maybe from a movie or something?

Not sure. It's a phrase that's been around for ages. It seemed appropriate in this context.

 

[McScooby]

PDF Expert is the only app I have from
This lot and I use it all the time. It’s a really great app for the Mac.

The rest are meh. Fantastical, whilst it has same good features, looks ugly and is so bloated. It is not worth a subscription. It’s like a $80 full pic jade peoce value.

I used to use it, got a lifetime licence in a previous bundle until it wasn’t. Then IIRC we find that to do conversions your pdf is uploaded to their servers & not done on device, F that. Got parallels with the whole premise to use an older device on snow leopard, scoped the whole thing out, got server edition etc (as retail standalone didn’t work) only to find out usb/firewire devices aren’t supported/don’t work in a vm & forgot to canx so Charged Full Price for a year.

 

[CalMin]

No it has to be a new subscription to Fantastical. It didn't say that until AFTER I did the purchase. So if you have a current subscription it does you no good.

Thanks. Really tricky of them not to mention that until after the purchase. I suppose I could just register under a different email address to get this offer.

 

[jennyp]

Will it add a year to my Fantastical Subscription or is it new customers only? That would make it worth the price alone.

No, what it does is put a free calendar reminder on the day of your subscription renewal (or possibly the day after).

 

[jchap]

I used to use it, got a lifetime licence in a previous bundle until it wasn’t. Then IIRC we find that to do conversions your pdf is uploaded to their servers & not done on device, F that.

Ha! I got a chuckle out of the "F that" part, because I've felt that way too when Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Office wanted me to upload content to their online service to create a PDF. Definitely, "F that!" Generating PDFs online seems like an entirely wasteful process, and opens an unnecessary window for companies to process your content. PDF conversion can absolutely be done offline... and especially on the Mac, which makes PDF creation dead simple in numerous ways.

Companies seem to be trying everything they can to get their mitts on your content these days. Even Apple wants your content, with their blatant offers upon installing macOS as to whether you want to store your entire Documents and Desktop folders to iCloud. I won't pass judgment on people who take that "generous" offer, but I do see it as a serious relinquishing of user data that could be alleviated by a proper offline backup setup.

Anyway, this is a digression from the original topic of The Bundle on offer... sorry...

 

[NagasakiGG]

If someone doesn't need Parallels, I'd buy it

 

[sracer]

Isn't Parallels Desktop still available as a perpetual license? I thought that the Pro version was only available on subscription, but the "lesser" PD versions could be bought outright, or as an upgrade.

Yes, you can get Parallels as a perpetual license, but you won't be able to upgrade it to a newer version.

You are correct... but it is slightly more restrictive than that... a specific version of Parallels will only work on the particular version of Mac OS. When Apple releases a new version of Mac OS, if you update your system, that version of Parallels will no longer function. It will require an upgrade... making it effectively a subscription.

 

[djplong]

You know, we're all familiar with "BOGO" - "Buy One Get One (Free)"

We don't have a word or acronym for "Buy One - Get signed up for 12 expensive subscriptions"

 

[4743913]

Yes, you can get Parallels as a perpetual license, but you won't be able to upgrade it to a newer version.

of course you can upgrade to a newer version at a discount. it has always been so.

 

[4743913]

You know, we're all familiar with "BOGO" - "Buy One Get One (Free)"

We don't have a word or acronym for "Buy One - Get signed up for 12 expensive subscriptions"

sure we do. It's BOGF

 

[saudor]

As much as I hate subs, can't fully blame them on the mac platform. It's amazing how a service-pack type macOS update breaks my apps every single year. All of that takes dev work to fix up - every single year. Backwards compatibility is something windows does really well.

Also, it's easier for people to swallow $5-10 per month here and there vs a perpetual lump sum of $200 = bigger revenues overall

 

[4743913]

You are correct... but it is slightly more restrictive than that... a specific version of Parallels will only work on the particular version of Mac OS. When Apple releases a new version of Mac OS, if you update your system, that version of Parallels will no longer function. It will require an upgrade... making it effectively a subscription.

no thats not true. I usually get 2 years of macOS upgrades before I need to upgrade Parallels. It does not "quit functioning".. some bugs may creep up but they are not app killing bugs.