Originally posted by XHipHop:
Sheet,
That was a decent argument and I agree with some points you've made. But let's say you were a Motu 3.0 user who just went to 4.0. You also invested heavily in a suite of Bomb Factory plugins. They have not yet been ported to 4.0 and as of now, there are no plans to do so...so you just lost all of those plugins. They are software!!!
I lost money on buying some Refuse (a link between Reason and PT 5.11) because when i went to OSX, PT added Rewire support.
If there wasn't a VST to AU adaptor for OSX, lots of people would be complaining about money the lost on plugins.
It's like a never ending money cycle...
I'm just trying to be much more selective when i buy software from now on...because every few years, everything changes.
I agree on the never ending cycle. And things do change about every three years. When I went to OS X and PT HD/6.1 I had to upgrade everything including Mezzo, which I have to have to do back ups. But, all in all, we should keep in mind that we are using computers, which are disposable technology. I would much rather be doing this, than be locked into a hardware solution w/an OS like the one Mackie uses, that prohibits larger drives, increased sample rate, etc.
We can't fight it. And in the long run, when you consider dollar per function, it is still cheaper than buying hardware.
As far as MOTU/BF, there is more going on there than meets the eye. Eric the "Bombguy" and the MOTU boys don't see eye to eye on things. He is a hard man to get along with. He, like others, is into releasing better product. But the people that make decisions on various platforms make life hard. At one time he wasn't getting along well with Digi either, and subsequently the BF stuff was eliminated from the Digi HD plug in bundles all together.
There is no way to tell what the future holds. It is inevitable that OS's will change with hardware. New concepts and ideals will be introduced. People will get pissy. One thing is for sure. No matter what you buy, analog or digital, it's days are numbered.
Maybe I will come up with a subscription service. Instead of people buying the software that they want, they will rent it. The software companies can charges a license fee, or agrees to take royalties, etc. What do you think?
Or, Would you be willing to pay more upfront for a service charge/policy that locks you into multiple upgrades in the future, gambling on the company's (or your) existance?