Cloudy Skies

[RAF.]

What would we do if Bobcad ever went to a cloud storage system??

I'm pretty sure I'd be out and be sticking with the last Version before the storm.
It seems like almost every thing today is wanting to have total control of how we have to use a product that we purchase.
monthly dues, yearly contracts almost like property tax you never really own it.

Hopefully Bobcad development would sail right past this storm...

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[jrmach]

I won't do it in my lifetime.
As a matter a fact,,I more than likely don't need to upgrade my software for the rest of my working stiff lifetime.

[Rotax91]

oops wrong post

[LeWhite]

Adobe went to the cloud and I stayed well grounded.

[magicniner]

I occasionally use cloud storage to transfer large non-confidential files, beyond that I won't touch it, your data is only as safe as some one else makes it and we see almost weekly examples of what slackers corporates are when it comes to protecting customer data.

I wouldn't consider cloud based software unless it would continue to be fully functional throughout an internet connection outage and gave a "Local data storage only" - which I guess is not cloud based ;-)

I'd consider a monthly rental fee for software if the company in question contracted to release only fully tested working software and address any reported bugs on a basis which customers would view as timely - which is just not going to happen, especially in this culture of "Release and be Damned" where full releases are at best Beta-Testing and at worst a 1st person interactive "Find the Broken Bit" game.

[photomankc]

My thoughts:

Cloud Storage:

I'm not really thrilled, but not really terrified either. However, a shop that relies on keeping it's designs safe from competitors rightly needs to be extremely concerned over it. A breach or leak from those that control the cloud could easily lead to others pirating the design. Also there is the fact that governments have FAR easier access to plans and designs stored in cloud servers. Tinfoil aside. When they decide to come take a close look at you the bar to entry where your data is stored outside the confines of your home or business is far easier to hurdle. There are some ways to address this. Un-brokered encryption would be one. Designs can be encrypted such that only the customer has the keys to the data.

I did have concerns when a vendor locks me into using the cloud only. I was nervous that they can hike the price of the software and leave me with little choice but to pay once a significant portion of my designs are housed in the cloud. However, realistically most software vendors can already implement systems where if maintenance is not renewed the product will no longer work. This is not unique to the cloud and can render locally stored data just as useless. I would STRONGLY prefer a model where cloud storage is used to sync designs between systems and is supplemental to local storage. Exclusively cloud based storage I see as a negative right now.



Subscription Pricing:

More and more software will be wanting to move to subscription pricing. I'm not too happy about that. Right now a few people doing it isn't so bad. When you think of nearly every software house doing that as well the issue becomes more of a problem as you are nickel and dimed to death. Some benefits though I like. Right now the expectation is that since I pay monthly/yearly then I am always entitled to the latest version. Current models on even moderately priced CAD software is very high yearly maintenance costs to keep up-to-date. I far prefer the modest subscription for program and updates vs modest purchase and heavy maintenance. Most vendors are not even willing to provide bug fixes outside maintenance so you can easily be held ransom to maintenance to fix a show-stopper bug. And often the pricing is punitive if you've let it lapse.

Here again, I see up sides and down sides to the model, not just all bad. I think it will take time for companies to understand where the lines will need to be drawn to avoid turning off customers. I hope that some companies will retain the buy-it-once model to provide alternatives to the cloud/subscription model. I also DO NOT appreciate the forced upgrade nature of some vendors doing this. Access to upgrades is fine, forcing me to bleeding edge is not. I'd agree with others that want to be able to choose either a 'stable release' or 'current release" track. If I'm on stable then I only get versions that have been extensively tested prior to release. More like what a company would release for version 2.0 to 2.1. Current release keeps you on the leading edge of new features, but includes a higher risk of new bugs being introduced like 2.1.45-build11 to 2.1.45-build13.

[SBC Cycle]

What would we do if Bobcad ever went to a cloud storage system??

I'm pretty sure I'd be out and be sticking with the last Version before the storm.
It seems like almost every thing today is wanting to have total control of how we have to use a product that we purchase.
monthly dues, yearly contracts almost like property tax you never really own it.

Hopefully Bobcad development would sail right past this storm...

There are many convincing arguments for going to cloud storage/computing. None apply to me and few apply to 90% of the CNC/machining world. Our industry is not like, say, accounting where you can just go to the park and continue working.

The benefits by and large benefit the software company. Forget my customer files, my machining/programming techniques are proprietary.

[ger21]

The benefits by and large benefit the software company

Correct. Regardless of what the software companies tell you, the main goal for them with subscriptions and the cloud, is to make them more money.

[Malish]

I can't see many companies being to thrilled about going to a cloud based storage system for the many reasons that people outlined above. My company has our customer service & order entry software hosted offsite and it's connected to us via a private fiber connection, and while it fairly stable every once in a while the connection goes down and we have numerous people sitting around doing nothing waiting on it to come back up. So while there is benefits, there is also large drawbacks, and since a lot of data could be drawings and programs that are propriety, I don't think cloud storage would be to wise.

As for the subscription model of software pricing I'm kind of torn on it. If it's a package where I always want the latest release and can use the updates I don't mind it that much, but when it's something that I used infrequently and where the old version does what I need then I would rather just pay one time and not keep paying for it over and over. Like when Adobe went to sub based pricing, I have a copy of Photoshop CS2, it does what I need it for and I use it a few times a month at most, why on earth would I want to keep paying for it all the time for it to work. Same thing with Microsoft office 360, even though I use excel, work & outlook all the time there is very little in the newer versions that makes paying the subscription worth it to me. I think as this trend grows I think people will take a harder look at what software they are using and what they want to pay for it.

[fidia]

I wont be purchasing SolidWorks 2015 or any new Office software or MS Operating systems beyond Win 10 as they are/will all (be) subscription based. The cloud drew the line for me.

[victorofga]

sw companies always made huge effort to securing their income.. they always failed..
and possible it wont change in the future too..

when we seeing supersafe databases getting published... hard to believe their cloudsystem will secure for them anything..

just likely a lock on the door.. honest people will be kept back, and cons will walk trough when ever they want..

also an example..

autocad in the late 80's about the v11 or v12 already got on a very high level.. for daily work in a machineshop, still don't need more..
so this example shows, the reality..

on other side.. programs that can be rented monthly, without annual agreements, they will be popular.. like CorelDraw you can rent any month and miss long times, and rent again.. they are the real benefit of subscription base...
programs that you have to sign annual contrct they are less likely..