JetBrains IDEs Now Available Only by Subscription

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Web Development

Today, PyCharm suggested upgrading to IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate Edition, which surprised me, to say the least.

Following the provided link, I discovered an announcement about a change in the licensing model for JetBrains development environments:

What products are affected?
IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate, AppCode, CLion, PhpStorm, PyCharm Professional, RubyMine, WebStorm, ReSharper, ReSharper C++, dotTrace, dotCover, and dotMemory.
No changes apply to the family of server tools including YouTrack, TeamCity, Upsource, and Hub.
Source

The essence of the changes is as follows:

• A new license type allows renting multiple IDEs in a single bundle (even all at once).
• A subscription-based licensing model is introduced.
• The perpetual licensing model, which allowed products to be purchased permanently, is discontinued.

What is changing?
Perpetual licenses will no longer be available for purchase as of November 2, 2015, for selected products. A new subscription-based licensing model will replace the existing model.
Source

In the JetBrains company blog, you can read an inspiring post about how hard it was for developers to buy several development environments and how much better it will now become with the new licensing model:
JetBrains Blog

Developer Reactions

Most developers in the comments do not share the company's optimism. One comment by Andrzej Sliwa seemed to reflect the general opinion quite well:

"Seriously! Show me who will like renting over owning (not only software but any stuff like apartments, cars, etc.). We as developers really dislike any kind of DEPENDENCY! You should know it."

JetBrains representatives explained their decision by saying that their products are already feature-rich. With the new model, they can now focus on continuous improvement rather than releasing new features just to stimulate upgrades.

My Take on This

I have my theory that this innovation is more related to the financial instability of recent times, causing many to hold back on renewing their support contracts, which likely impacted the company's cash flow. Perhaps it would have been worth stating this directly?

It’s also worth noting the numerous warnings that the licensing model is not final and updates should be expected within a week:

Update (September 8th):
The licensing model announced previously, including conditions and prices, is not final. Please expect updates next week.
We announced a new subscription licensing model and JetBrains Toolbox yesterday. We want you to rest assured that we are listening. Your comments, questions, and concerns are not falling on deaf ears.
JetBrains Blog

Let’s Speak Up

Personally, I am disappointed by the change in the licensing model, but if this is necessary for JetBrains and their products to survive, I am willing to accept it.

What do you think about the new licensing model?

Poll Results

• 16.83% For me, nothing has changed (587 votes)
• 26.72% Disagree with the subscription, moving to another IDE (932 votes)
• 22.25% Disagree, but I’ll accept it (776 votes)
• 7.45% The new model suits me (260 votes)
• 23.05% I haven’t figured out what happened or am undecided (804 votes)
• 3.7% Special opinion (none of the options fit) (129 votes)

Total votes: 3488. Abstained: 1242 users.

Tags

jetbrains ide subscription