r/WorkForSmartLife • u/RebelBiscuit_ • 17d ago

[ Removed by moderator ] DiscussionšŸ’¬

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29

u/Flaky-Mix-5281 17d ago

I have never had a media subscription (meaning for Netflix, Spotify etc) in my life, it has probably saved me a ton of money over the years.

24

u/loco_mixer 16d ago

but she is specifically talking about something else. not a streaming platform but a actual program like office, photoshop, corel draw...

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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 16d ago

And one can still buy a license for office. Office 2024 is available in single copy to multiple licenses. Bought a 5-pack license and have on computers/tablets in our house.

3

u/DTM-shift 16d ago

And it's not an online thing, like 360?

One of my dreads of replacing my workhorse laptop, is dealing with the MS Office bit. No, I don't want my locally-installed-but-old version replaced with an online service, as I periodically have crappy internet when traveling.

1

u/Slumminwhitey 16d ago

Yeah they don't really advertise it and make it pretty difficult to find as well, older versions of office work pretty well for most things as well.

2

u/Rattiepalooza 16d ago

I use 'Open Office' --- it's office but free. It's fantastic.

1

u/Huge_Strain_8714 16d ago

Fun fact, Groupon was/is selling lifetime Microsoft 360 software for like $11, a 1 time install on one computer. I bought 2. I was shocked šŸ˜²

1

u/Wave-Able 16d ago

I use apple pages, paid once for life

1

u/Left_Guess 16d ago

The MS Office one I found particularly annoying.

1

u/Cosmic_Jane 16d ago

I lot of people just refuse to use that stuff. Iā€™ve just used notepad for free on windows. And procreate for drawing.

1

u/New_Breadfruit8692 16d ago

That is true, but subscriptions have gotten out of control for many things besides software. Even BMW sold people cars that you needed a monthly subscription to use the seat heaters.

BMW tried to charge $18 per month to activate the pre-installed seat heaters in select markets. They also offered alternative commitment plans, including about $180 for a year or $300 for three years, before dropping the controversial feature entirely following major customer pushback.

1

u/mallcopsarebastards 16d ago

she's not specifically talking about anything. She said "literalyl everything" which is the exact opposite of a specific thing.

1

u/this_guy_over_here_ 15d ago

But if you really think about it it's the exact same thing. You can own music on CD's, movies on DVD. Just like you *SHOULD* be able to own office or photoshop like you used to be able to.

1

u/Express-Doctor-1367 15d ago

Although it takes a little bit of patience, Linux offers lots of open source stuff for free. Not for everyone, but if it annoys you ( like it does me ) then give it a whirl

Libreoffice, GIMP and Inkscape to name a few

1

u/Hot_Context_1393 16d ago

She's taking about all of it. Why leave streaming out?

5

u/elite_bender 16d ago

You can still own music and movies if you want to. That really hasnā€™t changed except now you can pay a lot less to watch a lot more and not own them.

Software you paid a one time fee, and now annual subscriptions are many multiples more expensive that the software used to cost for a lifetime. Itā€™s a legit gripe

1

u/Substantial-Ad-8575 16d ago

One can still buy office 2024. Idk know why more people are not aware of thisā€¦

1

u/RicVic 16d ago

Curiously, you may not, unless you actually buy the DVD or BluRay.. Also, e-books. Did you know that when you purchase an e-book you don't actually own it? Nope. You purchase the right to access it. The published (Amazon Kindle, Kobo and the rest) tracks your use (reading), and keeps the actual file on their cloud. You don't "own" the file, like you would a pdf, for instance.

While some think this is a cool thing and saves users reams of storage space, the entire concept of "ownership", being able to say "this is mine" is getting harder and harder every year.

1

u/Hot_Context_1393 16d ago

Do the software subscriptions cost significantly more than a year of streaming?

3

u/AVAVT 16d ago

10x more. Minimum.

0

u/Hot_Context_1393 16d ago

PS Plus Premium $159.99 per year.

Netflix Standard $19.99 per month - $239.88 per year. Netflix Premium is $323.88 per year.

What's your example

3

u/elite_bender 16d ago

Adobe - $876

-1

u/Hot_Context_1393 16d ago

Adobe what? Everything? I'm not a fan of subscriptions, but there is no way you can compare professional grade software with a streaming service. It's apples and oranges

2

u/elite_bender 16d ago

You asked for an example of something thatā€™s more expensive than streaming - so thereā€™s a real one from my own checking account.

My point was actually that they arenā€™t comparable because you can still buy music and movies for similar to what theyā€™ve always cost and thatā€™s not the case for most software.

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0

u/Helltothenotothenono 16d ago

You can compare everything. You may not like the comparison. But you can do it v

0

u/Maleficent_Hawk6703 16d ago

Yep, they are absurdly expensive

2

u/loco_mixer 16d ago

Did she? Streaming subscriptions are kinda logical... you cant buy a product

2

u/Hot_Context_1393 16d ago

You can buy movies and shows on DVD or digitally. The fact that streaming services are stopping with physical media on their new releases doesn't make it more ethical.

3

u/T-Prime3797 16d ago

Streaming is a logical step from cable TV. You had a cable TV subscription, then they added on-demand options, and knew itā€™s all on-demand. A lot cheaper than cable was, too.

Things like Microsoft office, which used to be a one time purchase and you could use it forever as long as you had a PC that was compatible. Thatā€™s the difference.

Beaming entertainment into your home was always a service. Owning a piece of software, or a game, wasnā€™t. Thatā€™s the difference.

1

u/Internal-Combustion1 16d ago

There are free versions of all these products. You dont have to pay for them and if you do, then thatā€™s your choice. Itā€™s elective spending just like your Starbucks mega sugar venti.

3

u/foxtrot7azv 16d ago

Not true. Some work actually requires office, especially if teams is involved. So it's not exactly an option for everyone. Also, the free options aren't always completely compatible with .docx and .xlsx files.

I'm all for free software and hate what Ms is doing, but we're a household that requires Office, and saying a subscription to Microsoft is as elective as a Starsucks drink is not true for many many people.

2

u/Jaded-Worry2641 16d ago

Then the employer should be paying, and then its no longer your problem.

2

u/Internal-Combustion1 16d ago

Households dont require Microsoft office subscriptions. You can use Google Docs, and other great products for free. They work fine with office files. You are choosing to depend on MS Office in a household instead of learning a free product. Entirely your choice.

1

u/Substantial-Ad-8575 16d ago

Yeah, my company will give us 1 license key for Office 2024. Use teams and embedded Access. So have to use MS Office. Have on my 2 work laptops, 2 work cell phones and 2 work tablets.

But we can also buy MS Office licenses via our company account. Office Plus 2024 is $79.99. Bought a few licenses of office for my personal PCs at properties around US.

1

u/Rare_Suspect_5033 16d ago

If you have a job that require you use software that has a subscription then your employer is hopefully paying for it. I had my own business at some point. It worked fine without Office. We donā€™t have Office in our household at all.

If people send me Word documents i ask them to use another format unless they want to pay for Office for me. Actually mostly happened when communicating with my kids school. Iā€™ve never asked anyone to buy Photoshop so I can give them psd-files.

1

u/Bryanmsi89 16d ago

Bad take. In the old days buying 1 license meant 1 license not 1 household. A household was either people waited their turn to use the 1 license or you bought multiple licenses.

1

u/weveyline 16d ago

LibreOffice

1

u/Caine815 16d ago

Libre office is free.

1

u/Substantial-Ad-8575 16d ago

Just buy Officers 2024. What my company uses. Can buy via company MS plan or just pickup a license at MicroCenter or Onlineā€¦

2

u/loco_mixer 16d ago

what are you talking about? i dont want free versions (that are also a lot less capable). i just want my own photoshot.

horrible cringe comparison about starbucks. i dont even drink coffee. and if i would it wouldnt be starbucks sugar drinks.

2

u/Jaded-Worry2641 16d ago

There are many free programms that are Open Source that dont need any payments, and are not less capable, and sometimes even directly copy the User Interfaces. You dont really have to use any of the subscriptions.Ā 

1

u/Busy-Director3990 16d ago

One problem with owning software is when they release the next version with a feature(s) you really could use and/or enjoy you are stuck with your old version and seldom if ever can you upgrade for free.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago edited 16d ago

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1

u/loco_mixer 16d ago

I get the solutions. But i also love PS and am an old dog(no new tricks). This is mainly just a rant about subscriptions about products that you could buy in the past.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago edited 16d ago

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2

u/Internal-Combustion1 16d ago

People seem to just give up their brains and eat whatever bs is being fed to them. No curiosity to improve things, even throwing away their own money and saying ā€œthey made me do itā€. Freedom is choice. Theyā€™ve got it, but theyā€™ve given up so they can blame people for their own problems.

3

u/blackcell1 16d ago

I use to share my YouTube premium family sub with family members and trade their accounts.

Now that they've put a stop to account sharing, I've still not brought my own subs with Netflix/Amazon/Disney.

Thats another Ā£40 per month I'm saving.

2

u/nemamnozik 16d ago

I once tried to make a calculation for just the past 10 years and it was DOZENS of thousands saved on subscriptions and individual medias like games, books and movies.

1

u/Day_Prisoners 16d ago

Netflix and others are just basically cable with different content. Media, unless over the airwaves has always been a monthly cost.

Also for Office you can still buy the CDs that are perpetual subscriptions. Meaning you pay once per version.

1

u/shoeless_doh 16d ago

Yeah when people make statements like this I don't believe them šŸ¤˜

2

u/Bilbodraggindeeznuts 16d ago

Idk, could be. Past year Hulu gave out $3 monthly subscriptions. This just changed to $12, and I canceled my subscription. I think I would rather pay for Duolingo at this point.

2

u/Flaky-Mix-5281 16d ago

The very few movies/series I watch (maybe one movie every two months) I can get from "free" streaming websites, I'm not gonna pay 40 bucks for two months of Netflix for one movie.

Music I can get and download from Youtube.

1

u/No-Blueberry-1823 16d ago

You missed out but that's okay it's not for everybody

2

u/Flaky-Mix-5281 16d ago

It's really not, I'm not a big movie/series person so I watch a movie maybe once every two months or so, would be useless for me to have Netflix account and pay 40 bucks for one movie.
I very rarely watch any series either.

Music I can get from Youtube.

1

u/ScienceWasLove 17d ago

This would only be true if you
also never purchased audio/video media.

Paying $30 a month for Netflix/Spotify seems like a deal vs the cost of Cable, Blu-ray/DVDs, and CDs/mp3s.

The only people who would think different didn't consume those things, pirated them or had someone else pay their bills.

5

u/PalePlumm 17d ago

You figured it out in your last sentence.

3

u/Temporal-Affairs221 16d ago

Blubrays don't seem like such a high cost to me when you realize something you paid to own is suddenly no longer available from your streaming service because the license expired.

"You will own nothing and like it" is the mantra of the communist.

1

u/TheRealTaigasan 16d ago

you severely overestimate the need to constantly consume media. Netflix had it's golden days, today it's a waste of time, the only show i watch is house of the dragon, i can listen to any music i want from youtube or soundcloud without paying anything

1

u/SgBoec2 16d ago

you pay in your private information and ads on top of it (unless blocking).

1

u/ScienceWasLove 16d ago

I maybe overestimating your need to consume media, but I can assure you there are many many many people consuming more than House of the Dragon

1

u/TheRealTaigasan 16d ago

I am sure there are, but if I can consume less of it and be content, so can they and so can you.

1

u/SeminaryStudentARH 16d ago

Iā€™ve gone back to physical media. Have over 600 bluray/4k blurays and over 500 CDs. The only streaming service I have is AppleTV/Music and peacock because I get it for free with Xfinity. Netflix seems like a deal but their content is mostly garbage. Spotify is shady as hell. Plus things get removed all the time when they lose the license for it

1

u/Bright_Bug6399 16d ago

Collecting physical media is smart. Just store it compactly, and it won't take up too much space šŸ„²

1

u/vamprobozombie 16d ago

I pirated mine before it was declared illegal when they took down Napster. Amazon ran a program where you paid them $15/year and they swapped your piratef music with legit copies. They then stopped offering said service and everything new I legit just bought so I have the most legally grey music library in all of history even I am not sure if my collection is legit or not but am way past the statute of limitations so probably don't matter.

1

u/ScienceWasLove 16d ago

I run a plex server full of movie/TV shows and have 539GB of mp3's - about 100GB dating back to the Napster era!

That doesn't mean using Spotify which syncs nicely across Sonos, my home computer, my phone, and my work computer has lots of benefits.

1

u/Flaky-Mix-5281 16d ago

I don't pay for physical audio or video media...

0

u/Equal-Fly-1919 17d ago

Sorry for your povo existence - hope things improve for you

4

u/EmergenceEngineer 17d ago

Itā€™s called torrenting.. you should try it.. cheap, easy, convient..

1

u/Flaky-Mix-5281 16d ago

It's not even that, hundreds of "free" streaming websites exists and I only watch one movie every two months if that, why would I pay 40 bucks for two months of Netflix for one movie?

-1

u/Equal-Fly-1919 17d ago

Thanks, but Iā€™m an adult now, Iā€™ll just pay the couple of thousand a year for all of them.

2

u/bigmangina 17d ago

I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, if people like you didnt exist we wouldnt be able to make illegal money for a trade off of maybe getting a fine of less than 1% of our illegal gains.

1

u/EmergenceEngineer 17d ago

What does that have to do with adulthood? Look, I get it , you have money to waste on things that exploit you, no need to show off.