by doodlebugging | 2026-02-02 06:40:19+00:00
>SaaS seems to only way to go for our sustainability.

I hope not.

In my line of business, geophysical data processing, we purchased a license to use the software tools for a particular version of the software, whichever was the most up-to-date release at the time of the license purchase. Use of the software required a dongle for the workstation. The company could purchase multiple dongles for multiple users or users could process over the network based on the number of seats licensed.

The user had the right to bug fixes and software patches during the term of their license, even if it was a perpetual license. Those who purchased a perpetual license also paid an annual maintenance fee and they used that version plus all the updates and bug fixes until it no longer functioned on their hardware or until they opted to upgrade to a newer release. Newer releases were discounted to existing users, sometimes quite steeply, so that existing customers could upgrade their hardware and software to keep everything compatible. This also helped the software provider's customers remain competitive in a cutthroat environment where CPU cycles were tallied and billed to clients.

If a customer wanted to continue to use a legacy version of the software after the provider's support period expired they could negotiate extended support for bug fixes or software patches. There was always a back-and-forth arrangement where patches and bugs were identified by customers and fixed by the provider so that the software provider ended up with an improved product due to customer feedback and over the long term, most issues were identified and patched or deemed irrelevant enough that they would not be fixed until the next version. Support requests always required a dongle serial number to validate the installation.

Clients would always have the option to buy a perpetual license with or without the annual maintenance fee, and if they choose no maintenance fee then they are only entitled to maintenance for a predefined period. After that period ends they are on their own with whichever version they licensed, no dongle required. This works for a lot of users. If you also sell or license the SDK they can fix their own bugs and add modules developed in-house as they need them. Your software would become like on common package used in our industry, a front-end for a custom processing package that does most of the I/O using your modules but manages most of the more lucrative processing using custom modules.

One client maintained an installation that was several years out of official support while still receiving support because it was critical for new projects for their clients to be processed identically so that 4D changes in producing reservoirs could be observed. All new data would be processed using the legacy software processing flows so that direct comparisons were apples to apples.

After that, new data and old data would be reprocessed using updated algorithms and processes in newer releases.

I think in your case that you could sell dongle-controlled perpetual licenses to clients and offer bug fixes and patches for that version as a maintenance fee. That is how our software was licensed, buy a perpetual license with a dongle and pay an annual maintenance fee, typically about 20% of the cost of the newest version, and the maintenance fee entitles you to all updates and bug fixes for your version. Incentivize upgrades by offering discounts to registered users even if they use it to buy another perpetual license instead of a subscription product. This is a good way to attract and retain customers. There are plenty of industries that do not change quickly enough to make chasing the latest version of software a reasonable cost of doing business for them.

If your product is useful for those in your discipline, you will have customers. Part of your responsibility to them is to continue to innovate and make sure your software is relevant as the industry changes. In turn, they can help with the bug ID and patches if you provide a clear channel of communication so that they can submit issues and then act in a responsible fashion to address their concerns. Your software will improve thru their user input and their clients will benefit from the higher quality of the output products that they commission.

That's a lot of words just to say that I hate SaaS and subscription-based licensing.

Continued good luck to you in your endeavors no matter how you manage all of it.