Purchasing software or just "renting" it?

Once you purchase the software it's yours to keep. You must back everything up in the event you need to reformat. You get any updates for software you bought for one year. And I'm pretty sure you get unlimited downloads of any skin/themes that goes with said software. Master releases are extra. If I'm wrong about any of this I'm sure someone will correct me. But I've had my software for almost 9 years and 2 pc's without any problems.

It is also very possible you could renew your Object Desktop subscription instead of paying full price for a new one.  I don't know any of the time frames involved but that could save you a few bucks and it's worth a try.

You can download software while your subscription is active, but not after the subscription expires.  You can however install the software after the subscription has expired - as WebGizmos is saying, you need to keep backups of your software downloads so that you can install them again later when you need to.  You also need to keep track of  your registration keys, just like any other registered software.  An easy way to do that is to go to your account software page and save the page as a web page or a text file, and back that up as well.

As for the Master dreams you bought, I'm not sure if those will show back up if you renew.  They may very well not.

Good luck.

All online purchases, no matter what, whose, or from whom they come are reliant on the purchaser ensuring they retain the product they purchase.

There IS NO trick to this.

IOf you retain a copy of what you purchase it is yours to use for all eternity.

If, however, you delete...reformat...or simply totally lose your purchase records/history there is a certainty what you once had, like last winter's snow...is now gone.

No-one retains your purchases for you, no matter from whence they came.

If, however, your Object Desktop subscription was still active/current it would be available to you.

If it isn't...and thus is not...were you to renew your subscription and/or purchase products you will have now learned to take steps to retain what you purchased...:)

If you really like DeskScapes you can purchase the stand-alone and download that forever . . but ODNT is and always has been a subscription.

Think of it like you would a magazine subscription. If you let your Newsweek subscription lapse, you can still read all the old issues (that you saved) but you just will not get any new ones nor will the publisher send you the old ones without paying them.

Good info Dave, thanks!

Yes, you are just renting it if you use the Object Desktop subscription.

If a year has expired and you change machines, you can no longer install it and have to pay up again. Nice guaranteed revenue stream as long as the customers return.

I've been through this about 4 times now but lately I've had so many issues with the licensing that I don't think I'll renew again. I agree that it is essentially a "lease" and not a purchase. The fact that I can't use the main product, Windowblinds with Windows 8, and this not being made clear at payup + no refund available, was a dealbreaker together with the frustrating licensing issues that pop up the minute you touch the installation. 

Cordelia, I believe I read in one of your other posts that you purchased your subscription before Windows 8 was released, therefore your arguement is invalid.

No, you are not.

The year of subscription gives you any and all products within Object Desktop currently released, or to be released, or upgraded...within that year.

ALL OF THEM ARE YOURS TO KEEP.

After the subscription expires anything you have by then will still work....can still be reinstalled [assuming you remembered to back them up] forever....or until you no longer use the appropriate OS....and even then some still may.

This is NOT 'renting'.

The Magazine subscription analogy in #4 is 100% correct.

If you allow the subscription to lapse, AND have since reformatted and lost everything you simply have two options.

1. Kick yourself for not saving programs/products/data PRIOR to the reformat.

or

2. Resubscribe and access the Object Desktop products again.... INCLUDING Windowblinds which is currently in development/adaptation for the OS for which your earlier OD subscription was NOT relevant....;)

I also NEED to stress that this thread is in the 'Support' section and thus unhelpfull and/or misleading responses will be removed.

Assertions that a subscription service is 'renting' is incorrect, even simplisticly via a dictionary.... and therefore NOT assisting the OP.

It should also be mentioned that the software requirements for the software you originally subscribed to may or may not fit your current OS/machine. Take a close look at the current system requirements/compatibilities.

i.e.: ODNT of "several years ago" will not work (some apps will, some won't at this point) on Windows 8; nor will it really work on a netbook.

This time, should you choose to subscribe, near the end of your subscription (if you choose to let it lapse), download and store all your installers on a separate drive/s. That should insure some degree of safety.

Well, I guess that pretty much sums everything up then. I failed to backup the installers cause I had assumed that to install these programs, I had to use Impulse and nothing but Impulse. I figured that was the only way to access the software I "purchased", and once my apparent subscription was over, I could no longer access anything. So, I see that in totality, it is my fault for not jumping through hoops to keep what I paid for. All I can say on that note is, for a business, you have a very poor delivery system of your product. It's basically "hold tight to your stuff before we take it back!" Disappointed. This is why people pirate software.

No, people pirate software because they are criminals.

Yes, people who fail to keep what they purchase are simply silly.  It doesn't matter whether a purchase is from a 'shop' or from 'online', if you don't keep it you have by default LOST it.

People purchase products every day, from all sorts of companies - online.  In ALL cases what you download is yours to KEEP.  If you feel a need to NOT KEEP something you purchase you no longer have it - OBVIOUSLY.

To permanently retain something you purchase - copy the downloaded product to a secondary/external drive where you will not inadvertently reformat and lose it.

There IS NO problem with the 'delivery system'...

...provided you remember to retain a copy of what was delivered.

Then why not, when the subscription is up, instead of removing access to the software, just stop giving the consumer updated versions? That kind of makes more sense. Unless that is too much work to make a system to do that. Totally understandable.

Hopefully you'll back it up... sometimes experiences aren't painless...

I learned that the hard way. Not pretty!

It's happened to me as well...

This is going to shock some people . . but Stardock likes making money.  It pays people and funds new projects and maintains existing.

We allow you to back up and re-use whatever you had . . more than that is not promised.

Locking this thread as all that needs to be said has been said.

Zu ....just to clarify...Wizard was being facetious....[tongue firmly in cheek]....;)