msm8378

The discussion here is interesting and thoughtful (unlike other forums I have encountered)... Revised and extended remarks as follows: Re: Microsoft...The "Consumer" market is a very small market share compared to the core target they have with Corporate Commercial/Industrial Businesses in mind and the quantity licensing it nets them. These quantity license deals often are for the larger and more feature filled package options, thus higher subscription rates versus the $8 Home User (consumer) package. I know of a number of entities in this area that have switched to Apache Open Office and alternative products for Project Management, DTP, etc... The basis I used for my original comment was information taken from an information sheet in my stock portfolio concerning revenue and earnings for MS. Re: Adobe...I am trying to recall/re-find the data to support my statement and will post it when I can run it down again. My bottom line take goes back to my college days with Business/Economics 101..."The primary purpose of any commerce based enterprise is to make as much of the customer's money your money in any way possible without violating any law or basic principles of personal or business ethics."...So I really don't fault CA for following the "Pack" on this one, although it is concerning to me, personally, given the financial investment I have put into CA to date.

Time will tell if CA is making a good business decision by going this route. Microsoft has paid a price for doing a similar action in it's handling of the MS Office Suite of products. Sales by subscription are down significantly. Adobe has taken a similar hit in revenue due to changing to subscription based sales and then scaling back upgrade and development of the core products. My personal take is this is a typical move by business's in the software industry attempting to protect their revenue streams by punishing everyone instead of going after those who abuse the letter of the law and the EULA you agree to with the original conventional purchase schema.