Purchasing a yearly subscription for a solid, well performing piece of software can be a good investment. Wouldn’t it then be a better investment to purchase a multiple year license at a discounted price and reap the savings? Not always and here’s why: Within the span of an extended 2-3 year subscription period your software may become outdated by more effective, better performing and sometimes free products. What works well today, may not two years from now. Software products can become “bloated” or buggy in the pursuit of more bundled services, or poor implementation. Cutting edge may become bleeding edge. Norton products, case in point (in this writer’s humble opinion).
New players are continually coming onto the scene offering a product or service with an eye on simplicity and innovation, as in the case of many cloud based offerings. Even the behemoth Microsoft has stepped up to the plate with its free security essentials software which does a better job than many subscription-based anti-virus products. Ultimately, well developed software paired with good customer support will stand the scrutiny of an increasingly tech-savvy consumer market. But when in doubt about your money’s value when purchasing a 3 year subscription, go for one year. There’s always the chance to renew.
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