Volkswagen charges a subscription for full engine power

[TheVoice]

Do you think there's any risk - as we have seen with PC software - of manufacturers ending support for a car? And what issues might that cause?

Absolutely. I had a 2014 SEAT Leon previously, SEAT updated the infotainment system in 2015 (I think) and not long after stopped supplying updated SD cards for the older satnav systems, so mine was out of date for the majority of the time I had it. In hindsight I wish I'd just spent the money to get an indy place to replace it with the updated hardware but it was pricey at the time.

With many cars running Android and being heavily reliant on internet connectivity and apps, it's easy to imagine that OS support ends or certificates expire e and suddenly services and apps stop working. I suppose the saving grace is most cars supporting CarPlay/Android Auto so in those instances, you just end up using your phone.

 

[Nasher]

Absolutely. I had a 2014 SEAT Leon previously, SEAT updated the infotainment system in 2015 (I think) and not long after stopped supplying updated SD cards for the older satnav systems, so mine was out of date for the majority of the time I had it. In hindsight I wish I'd just spent the money to get an indy place to replace it with the updated hardware but it was pricey at the time.

With many cars running Android and being heavily reliant on internet connectivity and apps, it's easy to imagine that OS support ends or certificates expire e and suddenly services and apps stop working. I suppose the saving grace is most cars supporting CarPlay/Android Auto so in those instances, you just end up using your phone.

Well unless that also uses certificates with an end date..

Or at some point carplay/android is probably going to get updated and the car won't be compatible anymore. Or some security hole gets patched and the car never gets a firmware update for it, then phones suddenly refuse to connect to it.

 

[stoofa]

The cost of Office is about 2 months subscription. It's not hard at all to run the latest version.

OK - so you're talking about pirate copies on Ebay.
Well of course it's cheaper to "just buy it" then.
Sorry, thought we were talking about legitimate copies of the software.

£150 is what one-off Office should cost you and that gets you the version you paid for.
£40 - £50 will get you 12 months subscription to 365 Personal, which also gives you 1TB of OneDrive storage and the ability to always run the latest version of Office when it is released.
So a one-off purchase of Office runs you around a 3yr subscription - so it all depends on what value you put on the storage and always latest version.

Buy your £20 - £30 one-off Ebay Office then of course it's cheaper to buy it once.

 

[Mr Jack]

OK - so you're talking about pirate copies on Ebay.
Well of course it's cheaper to "just buy it" then.
Sorry, thought we were talking about legitimate copies of the software.

No, I'm talking about 100% legal copies, reputably acquired. It's very easy to buy licenses for far less than MS's sticker price.

 

[Nasher]

No, I'm talking about 100% legal copies, reputably acquired. It's very easy to buy licenses for far less than MS's sticker price.

You can also find free, public KMS servers people have set up for "testing purposes". I guess what counts as testing purposes it's a bit of a grey area as MS doesn't seem to be caring too much about them

 

[bobert50]

To me… the idea of a subscription fee to unlock things like this is absolutely nuts. I just can’t believe it’s become a thing tbh.

As consumers we really shouldn’t be going along with this sort of thing

 

[DD_Crash]

I hate subscriptions which is why I dont do Adobe. I am not surprised though as it would seem to be a nice earner for the manufactures

 

[MissChief]

To me… the idea of a subscription fee to unlock things like this is absolutely nuts. I just can’t believe it’s become a thing tbh.

As consumers we really shouldn’t be going along with this sort of thing

They can be had with a one off payment, with a recurring subscription or on a monthly basis so you could have heated seats and steering wheel for three months over winter and stop it again come February.