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demanbmore t1_jd2msoj wrote

Google offers a free version of many applications, but their paid version has more features and storage. The more Google gets its users to rely on the applications it provides, the greater the likelihood that more users will convert to a paid version when they need more features. Providing free applications also takes away market share from Microsoft, one of Google's biggest rivals in the workplace app space.

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shitdayinafrica t1_jd2rcpt wrote

More than that - companies are more likely to use software their workers are familiar with. That is why Microsoft discounts "student" software.

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samanime t1_jd2w64m wrote

Yeah, and not just Microsoft. Students can usually buy* software for tens of dollars a year what pros have to pay thousands a year for (like 3D/CAD software) because companies really want students used to their software vs their competitors.

  • It used to be buy, but now that everything is subscription-based, they're really only leasing it.
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klrjhthertjr t1_jd2ybcz wrote

Yep, got solidworks for free in school through student design team, got pretty good at it, tried to switch to cheaper Cad software, gave up and paid solidworks 12k for software and 2k a year for maintenance.

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nowake t1_jd391ri wrote

I started working for a small manufacturing company in 2014, and the previous guy at my chair was still using AutoCAD 2000i for the shop drawings. Not to mention, Windows XP. This was good enough for what it was for, but it was time for a revamp.

I requisitioned a new PC, a pair of monitors, and a perpetual license for Autodesk's design suite 2016. I was up and running.

Then, Autodesk got in touch with me repeatedly to update and upgrade to design suite 2017, 2018, and so on... none of which would have a perpetual license, but paid monthly or yearly. I was like "Nope! No need here!"

Updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and it was pretty difficult to retain the perpetual subscription. Pretty soon I wasn't able to run on my PC and my laptop, which was important as I'd started working from home more often.

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klrjhthertjr t1_jd3ikzt wrote

The nice thing about solidworks is that it is a perpetual license, the Maintnence is just for yearly updates and dedicated phone and email support. I just need to keep updated because some of my clients stay of the most current version so I have to make sure my files are compatible.

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LazyLich t1_jd36yff wrote

Damn... I remember when they were first trying to implement the subscription thing and thought it'd never take off.. "It's such a scam! People are just gonna use the older version until yall give up this stupid idea!"

I still don't know how they did it..

Thank god for google docs

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samanime t1_jd37d3q wrote

A lot of people stayed on those old versions for a REALLY long time (some probably still are), but they just got too old for most so they had to cave in since it was the only real option.

Adobe isn't too bad. $60/mo for the master collection, which used to be $3k, so it is actually cheaper if you upgraded more than every 5 years.

3D/CAD software is crazy though. Some are priced as much as if you upgraded every year, or more, which nobody was doing.

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brickmaster32000 t1_jd4sbtq wrote

>I still don't know how they did it..

Sinple, they didn't make it an option. If you can't buy the older version with the perpetual license you can't use it. Within piracy the companies can quarentee that the number of people on such licenses slowly decreases down to nothing.

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CriticalNovel22 t1_jd37eml wrote

Yeah, because students become pros and spend thousands on the software they're familiar with because no one wants to relearn how to do things on new software.

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SubstantialBelly6 t1_jd37ymc wrote

So they are grooming them, more or less, to use their software. And here I thought they offered student discounts to be nice 🫠

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GsTSaien t1_jd2svsy wrote

Kind of. The market is not really there at the consumer level, google known no single person will pay for these features when free options are available. So they make their options free and as good as they can be so we rely on them. This makes the workforce have experience with their tools over others, so when a company needs to use something, they will prefer google services. Only a company needs to scale up, and so they pay for whatever they have to. It is cheaper to pay up whatever google asks than to train your workers on a different toolset every few years.

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Epancho16 t1_jd31jdx wrote

I never knew there were paid for benefits in google docs, can you list a few?

I'm mainly a word user so I never spend more time than necessary in docs.

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GsTSaien t1_jd333jd wrote

I think for docs it is mostly storage space, I think they are pretty tame in what they charge too, at least compared to other industry standard programs in their own fields.

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5seat t1_jd35zjx wrote

Yeah, it's insanely cheap. I get 2 TB for 10 bucks a month.

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samanime t1_jd2wh44 wrote

This is exactly it. In addition, it costs Google pennies per user (on the high-end) to give it for free, so it doesn't really cost them anything to give it for free to those who wouldn't pay otherwise, while also greatly increasing the likelihood that companies will pay them to use it for their businesses.

It's a win-win.

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Boo_Ya_Ka_Sha_ t1_jd2y6hu wrote

Right. It’s just a sales strategy. It’s bait. Not google acting out of the kindness of their heart.

With that said, I love free stuff. Google docs came in super clutch in college.

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Painting_Agency t1_jd32s50 wrote

> It’s bait. Not google acting out of the kindness of their heart.

IMO it's also free ongoing testing. They get to see how users interact with their software, as a LARGE aggregate. Very useful information.

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CarneDelGato t1_jd361q8 wrote

Just to piggyback on this, a lot of the stuff that might be free for an individual is something a business pays for. For instance, my company pays to use gmail and the rest of the Google web suite (e.g. Hangouts, Drive) for most of its operations. When people already understand the set of tools, it makes it more attractive to the business, I.e. letting people use it for free is good marketing.

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audiate t1_jd388j5 wrote

Plus it gets their tendrils into the every day lives of people. Call it an investment to intertwine their company with the basic functions of people’s lives in order to get them invested in the ecosystem, making it easy for them to go all-in on google services and difficult to switch to another service.

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