+1 here as well. Greatly disappointed in the route that Chitubox chose. I would cringe at a $169 fixed cost - due to that many current slicer-software have the most functions that Pro offers for free. And just as Cliff Night writes... I am deeply reluctant to "subscription"-software as well.
I MIGHT have considered a $99 fixed cost - but it would not have been a sure thing...
I agree with a one-time $99 purchase price. I hate subscriptions for software the only exception is Adobe but you get ALL their software for about $360 a year not to mention constant updates to totally new versions with no additional cost. Chitubox is charging more than half the price for having a single program. This should be a one-time price. If they want additional funds in the future then it should be a major update like Chitubox Pro 2.x from 1.x, or even just to 1.5x stable. Then that should be at a discount for current owners. This strange price of $169 for a subscription is just going to turn away customers.
Yeah they'll definitely lose tons of business, and the community will no doubt just flash their boards with custom firmware if the truly are going to lock us in their ecosystem.
Here is the real problem... it's not so much that it's $169 per year for me... It's that the software SUCKS! I tried it for a week... could never get a single print. I had to keep going back to the basic version to punch holes and do basic things. Additionally, if you didn't notice already, support is basically AWOL. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone who is actually going to respond to this community. They're busy doing...whatever. But whatever they're doing isn't improving their software, focusing on customer support, or debugging their lousy release.
I'm offering $69 for a perpetual license, best I can do. Try creating enterprise licenses for businesses and offer some sort of support, but even businesses are in a pinch these days. No one wants an uncontrollable never-ending subscription for a hammer, wrench, or even an app. Instead, they're going for costs they can manage on their schedule, their budget. I get what you're going for, that continuous cash flow and reduced development expense. Subscriptions can be a cash cow if you're a content creator, but this is a tool like any other and most of us are just hobbyists.
I would consider $200 one time purchase with support and patches for one year. Once I'm happy with a specific release which does what I need, I would typically stop updating, and keep using it as is, rinse and repeat. If the slicer major releases would be aligned with machines generations releases, which is about 2 years these days, this software will earn retuning customers buying pro version for the new machines. Also consider the fact that older printers will be phased out and since they contain pretty unique parts, like specific model of LCD screens, they will not be worth fixing in 4-5 years, hence pro users will keep coming back anyway, but without feeling a tug on the bull bling.
+1 Too expensive. would consider <100$ for perpetual license with updates for a year. After that <<100$ year for continued acces to updates. Seems to work for Lightburn and many others.
I'd buy if if they would show on the forum that they are responsive to solving people problems. I'd also prefer to be a perpetual license or a much cheaper per year cost. This is a hobby at best for me.