What happened to the perpetual license option for new purchases?

[Bruce Weaver]

Greetings all. A colleague just alerted me to this. When I go through the motions of ordering a new single-user license via the Gradplan, I no longer see a Perpetual License option. The only options are Annual and Multiyear. And for the latter, I am directed to contact Statacorp for more info. In the Purchasing FAQs, however, I can see a page that says perpetual (educational) licenses are available. Also, if I go to the page to order a student (single-user) license, the Perpetual License option is still there.

So, I'm a bit confused. What's going on? Is Statacorp planning on phasing out perpetual licenses? I certainly hope not.

[Adam Zahm]

Bumping this to note that the "Perpectual licenses are also available. Contact us for pricing." language is now removed from the Prof+ Plan page. Only the Student page lists perpetual as an option.

[Bruce Weaver]

Please pardon the typo in the visual abstract in #32. That question should have read:

Q. Why not include a Perpetual tab for the Prof+Plan order page, like the one on the page for ordering Student licenses?

[Bruce Weaver]

I'll let my visual abstract do the talking.

[Danny Lempert]

...yeah, just wanted to chime in here after looking on the website for pricing ... not a smart policy in the long run to raise prices and confuse potential purchasers when open source alternatives are gaining ground...been with stata since version 9, but the only thing that's really keeping me is the time i've invested in learning stata already...i recognize that lots of programs etc are going to the subscription model, but in this case, i'm not sure following the herd is wise...


edit: and i know it costs money to produce stata, but it's an unfortunately reality that stata pricing and research budgets in most places are moving very much in opposite directions...

[Bruce Weaver]

Thanks for the update, Jean-Claude Arbaut. I'm sorry to see you go.

Let me just add that it appears perpetual licenses are still available to students at the same prices as before (IIRC).

• https://www.stata.com/order/new/edu/...udent-pricing/

Cheers,
Bruce

[Jean-Claude Arbaut]

Sorry to insist.

Apparently, the maintenance price (that is, maintenance for a perpetual license) doubled since last year. I had to check my previous invoice as I couldn't believe it.
Now it's at the same price as a new annual license. So the benefit of having paid for a perpetual license is void. Likewise, the price for an upgrade doubled too.

Saying it's disappointing would be a huge understatement.

As a consequence I'm now faced with a difficult choice, but I made up my mind. I'll invest my time, money and efforts in a well-known open-source alternative.

Which also means I am leaving this community. Thanks to all for the great stuff I read here.

See you around.

Jean-Claude Arbaut

[Steven Spivack]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I am having to go through so many hoops to buy a perpetual license. This policy is really silly and I wish Stata would make it easier for those of us not interested/in need of new version of Stata every time one comes out.

[Eric de Souza]

I have to go to Purchase FAQq to find the choice between Annual and Perpetual License.

[Bruce Weaver]

Vol 35 No 4 of the Stata includes a link to this page, which announces that the GradPlan is now called the Prof+ Plan. A Ctrl-F search for the word perpetual comes empty on that page. It seems very clear to me that StataCorp would prefer it if new customers were unaware of the possibility of buying a perpetual license. I think that is unfortunate, because a reasonably priced perpetual license is one of the things that sets Stata apart from many of its competitors. That feature makes Stata attractive to students or staff who may wish to continue using a stats package after they are no longer affiliated with a university.

[FernandoRios]

Hi Bruce Weaver
I do agree with you, it would be far easier (from our perspective as users) to have the perpetual license options available without having to contact Stata directly. Last time I checked, that option was available only if you were buying Stata as a student.

I may say that a lot of the behavioral analysis would suggest that most people would use the default option when they see the screen you see.
1. they will just go ahead and get the 1-year, m-year, license, (especially if they want to have the newest Stata version all the time).
2. Or, reported earlier in this discussion, will abandon Stata and migrate to other platforms (perhaps worst-case scenario), either just keep the previous version of it, or keep the latest perpetual license Version they have.

This Ecos Richard Williams comments earlier too.

I suppose that, from a cost-benefit analysis, the decision was that the benefits from case 1 will outweigh the cost of option 2. Only time will tell.
I wonder if this will qualify as "whishes and grumbles" next Stata meeting?
Best regards

[Sarah Marrs]

I totally see where you are coming from. We have a lot of license options and we want to make sure we help users find the best one to fit their needs. A perpetual license is certainly a great option, but again, we ask that you contact us directly.

[Bruce Weaver]

We want to be sure Stata users know that this [i.e., a perpetual license] continues to be an option.

Just now I looked at the page for ordering a singe-user license under the Campus GradPlan. Here's what I saw (red box added):

:


Surely the best way to ensure that users know a perpetual license is still available would be to have a 3rd tab for perpetual licenses, and to show the prices for perpetual licenses, would it not? What am I missing?

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

Thank you for clarifying, Sarah. That's what I expected.

[Sarah Marrs]

All users will receive minor updates and bug fixes to the version of Stata that they purchased — for example, if you purchased Stata 16, you automatically received the Stata 16.1 updates. However, users with current maintenance will receive the next release of Stata automatically and without an additional charge.