The subscription model is killing the software industry. This model only benefits large companies.
Please, do not confuse a maintenance contract with the above, they are very different things.
I disagree on both counts but, as with all things, "it depends". My software (tvCAD) is B2B (Business to Business). They want ongoing maintenance. They also tend to have a much easier time finding op-ex than cap-ex, subscription jumps both of those hurdles. tvCAD's pricing is pretty-much the same as AutoCAD's, most of my prospects are far more interested in an annual subscription than an outright purchase. Those that are after an outright purchase, I told them they can have a perpetual license after a 3-year subscription. They are also interested in monthly subscriptions for short-term projects and burst capacity.
As for cracking protection, I'm retreating from the idea of obfuscation. There is plenty on the Internet about the proliferation of cracked versions of Adobe Photoshop actually having a positive contribution to its revenue because the users were well-accustomed to the app and would pay for it when they could afford it or when a business bought it for them. As an aside, Adobe's revenue is also doing well after they forced subscription on all their customers but I digress.
Back to crackers, they were never going to pay anyway. There's a discussion and links at
http://www.theswamp.org/index.php?topic=46325.0 and
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2525/net-obfuscation-tools-strategy. Perhaps reverse-engineering is a problem you anticipate but my feeling is that if reverse-engineering your product provides more value than paying for it then there's a message there. Also, obfuscation adds an area where your app could have problems, that area is a black hole and that worries me. Ultimately the value of obfuscation depends a lot on what you're doing and what you want, who your market is, what resources you have, your evaluation of the risk and extra effort (obfuscated stack-traces anyone?). Are you better off using the time to offer better support, write more tests, add more features, focus on sales, drink more beer? Your time is a finite asset.
from
http://wyday.com/limelm/features/why/ (it's worth reading)
The point of licensing isn't to stop crackers from cracking your software. The point of licensing is to increase your revenue by preventing casual piracy (using serials over and over again). There is real money to be made by stopping casual piracy.
Haha, casual piracy ...
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/police-settle-piracy-dispute-with-software-giant-20130130-2dkwq.html ... oops.
I feel if the licensing is tight and
easy to use then you are most of the way there. If crackers want to break in an show your app around then that may actually work in your favour if your app is always newer, better,
supported and fairly priced and
easy to use and it actually works!!!. Seriously, if you are doing subscriptions then manage the reminders properly - you would be shocked how many $x0k support contracts neglect this step and lapse. That's a #FAIL, folks. Services like Fastspring also handle
dunning management for you which is why they
cost more but they also earn more. Personally, I outsource the hell out of boring stuff that is NOT my core business - I just don't need any more complexity or distractions in my business nor in my life.
It wasn't until I wrote this response that I came to realise that perhaps "
obfuscation is a big hack", it feels more and more like the 80% of work giving 20% return when you combine it with licensing and call it "software protection".
Yeah, I got off-topic a bit but I think this is a consideration when you're thinking deployment, subscription licensing etc.
