Move to a Monthly/Yearly Subscription Model instead (Rental) instead of Buying the software

[Rollin_McCarty]

Dear All,

Currently to use LabVIEW in a functional way you have to spend about $5000 to get the bells and whistles.

Large corporations don't have a problem, but there is a lot of normal people that would like to have LabVIEW but are not students and can't justify spending that amount on software that they may use only occasionally, but would like to have.

Adobe has moved away from the (legacy) model where you buy and own your copy of the software, to a subscription based model ($20 to $50 a month) where you get ALL the LATEST version of EVERY application they make, as long as you pay your monthly bill. I was reluctant to use that model but I finally subcribed, and let me tell you it saves me a ton of cash, and I get whatever I need at the latest version. 

National Instruments high-level management and marketing department should seriously consider moving forward and making an AFFORDABLE monthly subscription scheme, like Adobe succesfully did. This would benefit NI by getting some money out of folks like me, and would ensure that the whole world would be using the latest versions of it's products.

Successful companies are the ones that make available the best products and services to the BROADEST range of people (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Adobe). Restricting access to technology based on income will hurt National Instruments in the long run. 

With best regards,

Rollin McCarty

[Intaris]

It's basically called the developer suite with SSP.

Not quite the same, but similar.

[Brian_Powell]

When Adobe came out with this model (called the "Creative Cloud"), I was pretty skeptical.  I'd invested a bunch of my own money in their products, and I wasn't emotionally ready to accept a different model.  I still haven't converted to the Creative Cloud, but it becomes more and more tempting.

Note that Adobe entices you a couple of ways:  some features are available only in the Creative Cloud versions of their software, and other features roll out to the Creative Cloud first.  So if you like being on the leading edge (like I do), you're motivated to switch.  (This approach isn't just because they're trying to shift people to the Creative Cloud.  I think some of it has to do with the tax economics of R&D capitalization.  But I digress.)

Another point to make:  I don't think Adobe expects their "desktop" versions to go away any time soon.  (To be clear, the Creative Cloud versions are also downloaded and installed the way their software traditionally has been.)  This also has to do with economics--for many companies, a one-time buy with or without a service agreement is easier to approve than a software lease.  For different companies, the opposite is true.

I think this is an idea worth considering, but it needs more data to convince people it's a good idea.

[ni_michaelt]

In the R&D cloud team at NI we have been exploring making NI software available in the cloud. Part of this means looking at the cloud licensing models where software is rented, typically by the hour. This year we have begun a lead user program where NI customers can "rent" LabVIEW by the hour running on the Amazon cloud.  We call this program LAMI meaning "LabVIEW Amazon Machine Image" and it is available through the Amazon AWS Marketplace.  For more information see:

https://decibel.ni.com/content/groups/labview-amazon-machine-image-lami-lead-user-program

We are interested in how customers take to renting the software (and in the LAMI case the hardware too), but more so we would also love to see what interesting things can be done using LabVIEW in the cloud.  As Brian notes it is certainly not a desktop LabVIEW replacement, but we hope that it can encourage some new uses for LabVIEW.

[Darren]

Any idea that has received less than 2 kudos within 2 years after posting will be automatically declined. 

[piZviZ]

I am agree .It would be easy for small startup based company

[JÞB]

For those that find this in the future and for completeness.

Annual Software License Leases have existed for some time.  You need only punch all the checkboxes needed and qualify as a NI Alliance Partner.  It does require some demonstration of competency and you must lease the software reference Library.  Cutting a similar deal for "Hacks" would only discourage platform adoption by flooding the developer space with poorly developed code.