[Richard Williams]

You have to go through more hoops to even find out what the perpetual price options are.

If you are a student suffering through statistics for a year, a 1-year license makes sense. But for everybody else, a 1-year license makes no sense. The last time I checked, 2 one year licenses cost about as much as a perpetual license. By hiding the pricing details, people may spend more than they need to, or may not buy at all if they think they can't possibly spend this much every year.

If Stata wants to go to a subscription model, it could, but then the annual cost should be lower. Stata would make less in the short run but more overall if people faithfully renewed instead of holding onto Stata 16 forever.

[Karen Strope (StataCorp)]

I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the feedback.

We are in the process of making updates to the website to make it clear that perpetual licenses are available. We want to be sure Stata users know that this continues to be an option.

I want to reassure you all that we are committed to continuing to offer perpetual licenses. We have even introduced new perpetual upgrade options in recent years by introducing upgrades for both GradPlan and Student licenses.

Also, for users that have a perpetual license, we will continue to offer upgrades of perpetual licenses on our website.

Thank you again for your feedback!

Best,
Karen Strope
Executive Director of Marketing

[Bjarte Aagnes]

Perpetual licenses now include the first year of maintenance. This applies to both new perpetual licenses as well as of upgrades, and applies to any perpetual license type: single user, volume purchase of single users, and network. If you are interested in a perpetual license, please contact us for pricing options at info[at]statanordic.com.

What is the meaning of

now include the first year of maintenance

and how differ this from previous perpetual licence?

[Sarah Marrs]

Good question. The perpetual license is still the same license that will not expire. The change is perpetual licenses now also automatically include one year of maintenance to ensure you maintain access to the latest features, updates, and support. If we release a new version of Stata, the maintenance holder will receive that latest version quickly and at no additional charge.

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

The change is perpetual licenses now also automatically include one year of maintenance to ensure you maintain access to the latest features, updates, and support. If we release a new version of Stata, the maintenance holder will receive that latest version quickly and at no additional charge.

This confuses me. So will a perpetual license holder who purchases Stata 17.0 be able to upgrade to say 17.1 and 17.2 at any time, or only if they are released within that 1 year maintenance period? Will this no incur a cost?

Or doe this apply to major version only, so perpetual version 17 can upgrade to version 18 for free within 1 year of license purchase?

[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.

[Leonardo Guizzetti]

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

[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?

[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.

[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

[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.

[Eric de Souza]

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

[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.

[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

[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