Foster your Perpetual licenses

Don’t follow the software giants’ roadmaps; set your own path. Big software companies focus on their cloud services, especially their own, pushing subscriptions over original licenses with annual support fees. This switch favors them financially. Instead of a one-time cost (CAPEX) for a license and regular annual support (OPEX), you now pay periodic fees for both license use and support, all counted as OPEX due to its recurring nature. Although vendor splits vary, typically 70-80% goes towards usage and 20-30% towards support.

The big downside of Subscriptions is that the right to use the software is limited. This right is not perpetual but valid only as long as the subscription lasts, usually monthly or yearly. The major drawback is that you lose all usage rights once the term ends.

A perpetual license retains its value, often limited to a certain version or as long as support is paid, and offers the option to switch to cheaper support, like third-party support. However, this doesn’t apply to subscriptions. If you stop paying, you immediately lose the right to use the software. So, when choosing another solution, you may need to keep paying for expensive subscriptions until the transition is complete.

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For VMware by Broadcom, switching to subscriptions is mandatory. However, you often retain the right to revert your subscriptions back to perpetual licenses, known as “rollback right”. The downside is this stops support, except for critical patches. Some companies have traded this right for a small discount on subscriptions. This is considered an expensive option, especially long-term. If you don’t want to follow the vendor’s roadmap, I can help with an alternative plan (PlanJB) that could save you a lot of money.