The Big Dilema: Perpetual vs. Subscription vs. Hybrid

To begin, "A solution is always available if only we give it a chance."

Licensing of a product or a service is governed by many underlying conditions. See the table below to see good and bad, side-by-side.

Times have changed. Meissa does not believe in free stuff. Neither Meissa likes to charge excess and not satisfy you nor it can provide everything for free. Meissa belives in pay and demand.

Perpetual vs. Subscription Comparison

#	Perpetual	Subscription
Definition	A software vendor sells a software license to a user for a one-time fee. The vendor suggests a configuration (the server in this case) and it is the responsibility of the licensee to maintain it. If desired, the software vendor will maintain for a negotiated fee.	Software as a Service aka SaaS is a subscription model i.e. pay and use the same software where the subscription period is choosen by the user.
Advantages	1. Make a one-time payment and use it forever. Hidden costs are infrastructure and maintenance. 2. May cost less only if no upgrades or security features desired. No reliance on cloud-service provider.	1. Pay the subscription price. No-hidden costs. Pay only for what you use. 2. Server, infrastructure, maintenance are NOT required. 3. Will never go obsolete. Never to worry of back-ups or loss of data or loss of access. 4. No need to pay for features as community based needs are served free of cost. 5. Choose at will to discontinue and still read or access all your data. 6. Guaranteed Service: Pay and demand service. 7. Cost effective: No up-front costs, pay only for what you use. 8. Time management: Save money and time, using the subscription model. 9. Scalability & Accessibility: Avail anywhere and anytime. 10. Security Issues: Responsibiity of the service provider. 11. Free trials: Subscribe only when fully satisfied. 12. With ongoing subscriptions, vendor can collect a wealth of data about how your users interact with their software, and can anticipate problems and adapt new designs to increase convenience.
Disadvantages	1. Perpetual licenses often become obsolete within a few years, and users are going to need to repurchase after bug fixes are no longer available. 2. The licensee has to have infrastructure to host it while the vendor may provide maintenance at a fixed cost per year if desired. This Elab package is a web application, must keep pace with changing environment. 3. Perpetual licenses cost more up-front and still become obsolete in shorter duration of time due to changes in operating systems and security threats. 4. Due to rapid changes in security, non-updated versions are the biggest security risks to data and organizations. 5. No new design or upgrade for the convenience of users. 6. Although Meissa provides code for automated back-ups, the licensee must secure his back-ups.	1. Subscription must be maintained.
Subscription	Life-time	Annual/Multi-year
Attribute	Ownership	Experience
Support	Separate Contract	Included
Payment	All Up Front (CAPEX)	Monthly/Annual/Multi-year
Term Options	Bug-fixes Only	Bug fixes, Support and Upgrades
Tax Benefit	Depreciated	Entire Cost
Renewal/Change Effort	High	Low
Feature Requests	On payment and high	Community based requests free

The verdict: Perpetual vs. Subscription licensing

When cloud services were not evolved, perpetual, single machine, one-time... was the best model. Many legacy approaches have become defunct whether it is hardware, software or service. Perpetual license may still be an option for certain software especially those operate instruments, while most others may not fit into this criteria.

Perpetual is unsuitable for web applications as they require constant vigil of the external environment.

There are distinct advantages of choosing the subscription model, incuding hybrid, is to have all the best-features suggested by a community of users, upgrades, top-quality maintenance at no additional cost.

For users who cannot invest in infrastructure such as servers, data centers, qualified man-power etc., the best choice is to opt for secure cloud servers and yet enjoy the product without any hassels.

Way Forward

Long-term licensing

It is possible to subscribe for a block of years in which an encrypted copy will be installed on site/cloud that includes annual maintenance.

Hybrid licensing

The hybrid hosting model makes you choose the on-site/cloud server and plan-type (paid by user) and hold complete access to the server. Meissa merely installs and runs the encrypted application for you. You are in full control of your server. However, you have the responsibility to manage your server, of course, Meissa will give you the guidence.

Imagine a scenario like this:

Q: "I want to use, want full control of the server. None of my colleagues or my institution wants to subscribe the Elab. What should I do?"

Meissa's reply: Change or adaptation to new technology is always an individual choice. Leave those who do not wish to use it. You can go ahead in many ways. We have a solution for this: use an encrypted stand-alone version instead of multi-tenant version where everything is as private as it can. You are the owner of the package!

Q: "I do not trust Meissa or do not want my data in someone's control but software is good"

Meissa's reply: Happy to note that you like the Elab and want to use it. This is where the unique hybrid model comes into play a role. Here is the solution:

Meissa will give an encrypted (tamper proof code), stand-alone package for your use. You can either host it in your institution's server or on a cloud. In case you wish to host it in your institution's server, you have to guard it yourself. Meissa will install in either place.

Q: "No I do not want to use my institutions's server what shoud I do?"

Meissa's reply: Meissa will suggest you a cloud server that satisfies the Indian cyber laws. You buy a cloud-server based on your annual budget. Meissa will install the same encrypted copy and set-up your package. In less than an hour, you are ready to go. Meissa, by default, follows cyber laws of India.

Finally, "A solution is always available if only we give it a chance."

Free Trial - 30 days

Try, explore, feel the features for free, just drop a mail. Hand holding for set-up is available.

Click to send mail

Money-back Guarantee

Use it, if not satisfied cancel within 60 days for full refund (not applicable to On-Campus or Hybrid-Hosting plans).

Absolutely, no questions asked.

Click to send mail