Same here!Also the percentage my software purchases have declined since the subscription model rules the day
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What makes you think that Macrumors readers want to hear from you twenty times on a single thread? Let other people have their say and stop spamming our inboxes repeating the same nonsense about how great subscription software and how wonderful Adobe is over and over. Macrumors readers heard you the first time. We (collectively) disagree.
Stop trying to shout us down or bore us to death please.
BusyCal is also a subscription service these days
Nope. BusyCal is buy-once, use-forever. You get current versions for a year and a half. I've gone two and a half years between deciding I needed an update (I tend not to beta-test/run Apple's latest OS versions, as I have work to do and doing free troubleshooting for the world's richest company is not on my agenda). I can live with paying for updates when I choose to do so. I won't buy subscription software.
As others have mentioned, the drive to subscription software is driving me to stop buying and using utility apps and just use what's built in. Or to use true FOSS freeware, just to avoid managing subscriptions/licenses.
You don't have to use Adobe. The guys over at Affinity Digital have created a perfectly capable (sometimes better) suite of Photo, Designer, Publisher. The others I don't know about. By creeping along with your education discount, you are helping those monopolies extend their power.
No Adobe or Microsoft software has been on my Macs for at least seven years. And they run much better for it. Adobe and Microsoft install huge frameworks and libraries which create all kinds of hidden issues.
I buy my software from small publishers who mostly work for the Mac platform and sell licenses. The guys at Many Tricks, Peter Lewis (Keyboard Maestro), Gus Mueller (Acorn), Benny Kjær Nielsen (Mailmate), Ergonis (Typinator), Michael Tsai (SpamSieve, EagleFiler), Frank Reiff (A Better Finder Renamer, Vitamin-R, Big Mean Folder Machine) are all heroes and publish amazing software which is not subscription driven.
PS. My apologies to the dozens of amazing Mac shareware and independent developers who are not on the short list above. I'm at work and have to get back to it.
Yeah, the App Store *really* pushes subscriptions. I find it pays to go to the developer's site in many cases to see if they're offering a sweeter deal -- or even just to not pay Apple's 40% markup so the whole purchase price goes to the people who deserve it.
While it's true that Microsoft doesn't "officially" support Windows ARM, the retail version of W11 ARM is readily available. And in fact, Parallels will download W11 ARM for you if you so desire. And guess what, Parallels runs W11 ARM very, very well. I need to run only one PC only program. It's a very complicated piece of software that I need to make my living (and I don't want to buy a PC) and it runs very well under Parallels. With Fusion's severe limitations, I couldn't run that software. So, I'm quite satisfied with paying Parallels for a subscription. And for the cost of a decent PC, I can pay the subscription costs for many years.
What makes you think you can speak for all Macrumors readers (collectively)?
Good for you, do you want a cookie or a pat on the back?
Some of use work in collaborative settings that require certain software environments. Simple as that. I also fully admitted that a large part of it is convenience. I've used Adobe products for over 20 years. I have large libraries. I'm very much unwilling to relearn entire workflows and spend the time and headspace converting files and libraries. Could I save a few bucks? Sure, possibly. I'm willing to those for my personal convenience just as I'm willing to pay a noticeable premium for Apple products for my personal comfort level.
I highly doubt that my $20/month help Adobe stay a monoply as their main source of income is corporative. I also doubt that I help stay Microsoft a monopoly when I literally only throw like a few dozen bucks their way every 5, 6, 7 or more years.
What works better or not is obviously subjective. I'm happy to die on that hill, though, that some - not all - leading software is leading for a reason.
And what do these programs do?
I'm a software minimalist. Just because it exists, doesn't mean you need it. As I said in an earlier comment, there's so many things that are natively implemented in macOS that I very very rarely find myself in need of looking for addition (small) programs. I'm more than happy to support smaller software developers when necessary and have bought a bunch of software at some point or another, but in comparison, it's rare because I simply don't need them. And I'm willing to bet that's the majority of mac users. Because that's the beauty of mac: you turn it on and it just works.
This is really akin to those fundraising coupon books you buy from your kids' school or sports team. Sure, they will advertise as "Over $9000 in savings!", but most people will use the 3 or 4 coupons that actually provide value for their particular purpose and toss the rest. (I think there was an Office episode about this once).
That's not to say that the value isn't there. At one point (very long ago - when I was in HS), we were able to buy a pile of $20 coupon books that each had a two-for-one lift pass deal for Marmot Basin in there. Even back then, a day's lift pass was something like $40, so those books paid for themselves twice over with just the one coupon. We were a family of five who normally went to Jasper about a half-dozen times a given Winter season, so that one coupon offer probably saved my parents upwards of $1000 that season.
And that's really the way I'd look at a bundle deal like this. You look at whether any of the tools on offer are worthwhile, and you take advantage of the offer in that case. I already use SnagIT and upgrade every couple of versions. To me, that 2023 license is compelling.
As for the subscription nature of most of these bundles - again, really depends on whether its worthwhile to you. I pay for MS Office at home because I find it a better value to have an easily-budgeted-for monthly cost that covers not only myself, but my wife and oldest daughter (I have 2 other kids, but they rarely use it), and gives us all OneDrive space alongside it. I don't have to fork out periodically for upgrades or jump through hoops. To me, the rather minimal cost is pretty easy to justify. If there were a bundle that included a yearly subscription to Office for free, I'd be pretty happy with that myself as well.
That's not to say that the value isn't there. At one point (very long ago - when I was in HS), we were able to buy a pile of $20 coupon books that each had a two-for-one lift pass deal for Marmot Basin in there. Even back then, a day's lift pass was something like $40, so those books paid for themselves twice over with just the one coupon. We were a family of five who normally went to Jasper about a half-dozen times a given Winter season, so that one coupon offer probably saved my parents upwards of $1000 that season.
And that's really the way I'd look at a bundle deal like this. You look at whether any of the tools on offer are worthwhile, and you take advantage of the offer in that case. I already use SnagIT and upgrade every couple of versions. To me, that 2023 license is compelling.
As for the subscription nature of most of these bundles - again, really depends on whether its worthwhile to you. I pay for MS Office at home because I find it a better value to have an easily-budgeted-for monthly cost that covers not only myself, but my wife and oldest daughter (I have 2 other kids, but they rarely use it), and gives us all OneDrive space alongside it. I don't have to fork out periodically for upgrades or jump through hoops. To me, the rather minimal cost is pretty easy to justify. If there were a bundle that included a yearly subscription to Office for free, I'd be pretty happy with that myself as well.
My feelings would not be hurt if you simply opened my profile and pressed the "Ignore" button. I've already done the same for you, as I'm not a fan. Sorry.
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I read the whole thread and counted voices, not messages. The voices are clearly against subscription software. Of course there's a couple of people who for some reason are on a religious crusade to absolve Adobe for their responsibility in pushing subscription software and promote Adobe in general. Weird. Then there's one or two people who seem like they might be affiliated with Parallels and hence advocating for subscription software. Cynical but understandable. In both instances, many, many posts but few voices.
Then there's the rest of us.
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Does UTM have the shared folders and clipboard features? Being able to copy/paste from my Mac to the Windows 11 ARM VM is essential. I tried VMWare Fusion but it was missing those features for ARM. It had them for Intel VM's.
I don't use MS-Windows, but this documentation covers guest support: https://docs.getutm.app/guest-support/windows/
Like with other solutions, you'll have to install some tools on the guest OS to get those integration features.
Thanks. I read them over and the features aren't quiet there yet. I went ahead and purchased Parallels Desktop 18.