Questioning the super ACDSeedeal now available

[DaveC]

Long term ACDSee user. I understand the need for a continuous cash flow but this rental thing has me confused.
Does the rental deal mean that at the of the subscribed year my program stops working? If so it seems I would be locked in for life. True or False? This should be made clear in your advertising.
If the latter I guess I'm sticking with 2021 as the purchase deal seems a bit steep for me.

[Greyfox]

..Does the rental deal mean that at the of the subscribed year my program stops working?

If by "rental" you are referring to one of the "365" subscription plans, then the subscription allows you to use the software that is included in the plan on the specified number of computers (Personal = 2, Home = 5) for the subscription period only. During that period any updates, maintenance and new versions of the included software are free.

If so it seems I would be locked in for life. True or False?

No, at the end of the subscription period you can either choose to either renew the subscription, or not.
If you decide not to continue with a subscription plan, you can either outright purchase the next release, drop back to a previously outright purchased version or move to another product. You are not "locked in for life"

As a long term user who has an accumulation of outright purchased versions (both single and as packs) which were only used for 12 months, and one who regularly uses more than one of the included software items, on several computers, this year I have moved to a subscription plan.

[DaveC]

Thank you for this. It is as I suspected. For "locking in" I meant I lose the ability to access whatever may have been done on my photos to that date. I admit the subscription price is good but for how long?

[Greyfox]

..For "locking in" I meant I lose the ability to access whatever may have been done on my photos to that date.

Whilst there have been some significant improvements in the functionality of ACDSee in the past couple of years, U2021 and U2022 are still able to read back the metadata embedded in images using U2023, and both those versions can still handle the xmp files created by U2023 Develop mode. I haven't tested back further than that. Of course the earlier versions don't support some of the newer camera RAW formats (or the lens distortion correction data for them), so the purchase of a new camera may introduce another consideration..

I admit the subscription price is good but for how long?

Unfortunately the trajectory of prices is nearly always upwards. That's life, but because with subscriptions you don't get to own the software, the outlay should always be less than the buy outright price. It's a question of for how long it remains justifiable for each individual to continue to pay for new or improved features.