Embracing Subscription Licensing

scottalanmiller

Didn't have time to read the whole article, but I don't really see subscription as an IT issue.

That's how it should be. But I've seen a tremendous amount of pushback from IT, not finance, because IT often does not like to "not own" their software. In the enterprise space there is no feeling of personal ownership and, as expected, I've never encountered this attitude there. But in the SMB, IT people often feel that the network, the computers, the software are "theirs" and they react emotionally to subscription licensing as if it takes something out of their hands that they previously had. They often forget that even before the licensing change, it was the business and not them personally, who owned the software.

Carnival Boy

@scottalanmiller said:

But I've seen a tremendous amount of pushback from IT, not finance, because IT often does not like to "not own" their software.

Really? I find that attitude strange. Then again, I find a lot of IT people strange!

In my personal life, I quite like owning things. I love my original vinyl copy of the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, for example. But I don't feel the same way about the DVD of Photoshop 6 sitting in the safe at work.

scottalanmiller

@Carnival-Boy said:

In my personal life, I quite like owning things. I love my original vinyl copy of the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, for example. But I don't feel the same way about the DVD of Photoshop 6 sitting in the safe at work.

I'm the same way. But I see it a lot. Because subscription licensing became a hot topic, I saw it often in IT people demanding that they, not the business or HR, determine what people can and cannot do on the "their" network. They will often talk about it in personal ownership terms and talk about what they "want" people doing on the network and will often get upset if you ask if those tasks are business related or have positive or negative business impact. You can tell that they feel like it is their personal property and people are just allowed to borrow it if they use it like IT wants them to use it. It's bizarre.

scottalanmiller

@Carnival-Boy said:

In my personal life, I quite like owning things. I love my original vinyl copy of the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, for example.

I'm starting to break that at home too. I try now to buy everything digitally and keep them with the providers. Games on Steam and Gog, books on O'Reilly or whoever's system, videos on Amazon, etc.

Carnival Boy

Yeah me too. Though I'm not sure about it. It makes the house tidier having less stuff.

Slightly off-topic, but I watched this mini play today:
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/video/2014/nov/20/groove-is-in-the-heart-tobias-menzies-microplay-guardian-royal-court-video

It's about a teenager making a mix tape for her boyfriend in the early 90s. I don't mind admitting I shed a tear at the end - I still have the mixtapes my wife made for me when we were teenage sweethearts.

Well worth a watch if you've got 5 minutes and are as soppy as me, though it may not translate as well if you're not British. I mention it because it really sums up what a physical object can mean to people emotionally.

scottalanmiller

@Carnival-Boy said:

Yeah me too. Though I'm not sure about it. It makes the house tidier having less stuff.

I move often so it is a really big deal for me not having to pack things up and unpack them over and over again. Having the house tidier is big, but not having to relocate the same stuff all of the time is bigger.

Carnival Boy

I'm really interesting in minimalism. The trouble is, if I get rid of my own stuff, my wife and kids just see it as excuse to get more of their own stuff. For example, if I get rid of half the clothes in my wardrobe, the next thing I'll find is my wife has stored a load of new dresses in my wardrobe. So my beautifully minimalist wardrobe is now just as a rammed as it used to be, but with my wife's clothes instead of my own.

scottalanmiller

@Carnival-Boy said:

I'm really interesting in minimalism. The trouble is, if I get rid of my own stuff, my wife and kids just see it as excuse to get more of their own stuff.

Preaching to the choir.

MattSpeller

@Carnival-Boy I don't recommend it, but moving several thousand miles will help with this immediately. You can only bring what will fit in your car, you have 10 days to do it including travel time, good luck! (This is how I moved from Toronto to Victoria.)

scottalanmiller

@MattSpeller said:

@Carnival-Boy I don't recommend it, but moving several thousand miles will help with this immediately. You can only bring what will fit in your car, you have 10 days to do it including travel time, good luck! (This is how I moved from Toronto to Victoria.)

that's what does it for us. The constant moving makes you trim down your stuff pretty quickly.

Carnival Boy

I moved from England to Hong Kong with just a suitcase. I put all my possessions into storage for 3 years, at huge expense. When I moved back to England I had a massive crate of new stuff shipped back with me to add to all the crap I had in storage.

I have at least managed to go minimalist at work where I don't have a wife and kids to worry about. I have a paperless office. It's tough trying to persuade the rest of my organisation that a paperless office is actually possible.

scottalanmiller

I always keep my office completely free of personal stuff. My rule is to keep it clean, neat and be willing to stand up and walk away without needing to grab anything more than my coat.

Nic

Great article - covers all the bases. Separating the pricing from the model is key too. The only benefit I can still see to ownership is that you can eek out more time on old software if the business is going through lean times, whereas in the subscription model you'd get cut off. Similar to owning an old car and keeping it running with duct tape and baling wire.