Pay as Needed Floating License

1561
13
01-26-2011 10:43 AM
Status: Open
ChrisSkehan
New Contributor II

As a small business manager, we don't have the budget to buy anything more than ArcView.
So here is my idea.

Perhaps it would be wise to implement a "Pay As Needed" license for ArcEditor or ArcInfo...or Extensions for that matter. Sure, you wouldn't get that ma$$ive check from your users....but I think you would promote the Jack Dangermond idea that GIS should be for everyone (not just those with the big wallets)! 

So here is what I am thinking...

I have the need to build a new Geometric Network file 3 to 4 times a year tops.  This requires me to have the ArcEditor license, which is way out of my price range....For that amount of money; you will likely never have my business. Plus, how do I justify spending that much money for something I use maybe 10 hours a year total?

However, if there were a way where I could "Pay As Needed" to use a ArcEditor or ArcInfo license for a few hours, or for the day, I would sign up.  (Given that the pricing is reasonable). This approach would only work if you really consider the price in which a small business could afford to use the software.

I could just simply login with my ESRI account, and pay for a License by the hour or by the day.  The same principal would be great for extensions too!

This approach would allow the smaller guys to have just as much of a competitive advantage with ESRI software as the big guys with big wallets.

 

13 Comments
curtvprice
WIth the new check-out capability, seems to me this may be technically feasible!
DuncanHornby
I like your idea and could see a definite place in the market for 1 day licenses. Alternatively the amount you'll end up spending on 1 day licenses (lets face it ESRI will never be cheap) you could buy everything in one system like Manifold. I've never used it but it appears to do everything for a fraction of the price,
IsaacOshima2
I agree.  I do not have to worry about this directly, but think this is very worthwhile. 
Other than what was originally stated, I believe ESRI NEEDS this for the cloud computing that is
participating in with for example, Amazon.com and their EC2 hosting of server space, storage, and applications like ArcGIS Server.  These cloud offerings are basically a pay for usage so it doesn't make sense for all that cloud computing resources to be pay for usage and ESRI's to be only offered as a 24/7/365. 
DellisStanberry
I totally agree!  I know several people who would love to be able to do more with ArcGIS, but is restricted by the high price tag.
AlbertoLaurenti
Yes, this could be a great idea to meet the "GIS FOR EVERYONE"!!!
DaliborKladar
Yes, I agree, that "Pay as Needed" would increase significantly number of users for ESRI.

For example, Google Earth is free and it has 1000 times more users than ArcGIS.

This would be particularly usefull for small developers working on new ArcGIS applications...
JoyRoberts
   I can totally see the sense in this. I have many times where I could have signed in and used a particular license or stepped up to INFO from Map, but the cost to buy them puts them out of my reach and my use.   Maybe a particular point where it even trips over to something like "you have used this for ##  hours so you have paid for a license". That might help make the business case for purchasing licenses for extensions, etc. if one can say that they spent as much the previous year on it at an hourly/daily rate as it costs to buy it, then it's a justified purchase.
Sometimes it takes using the particular tool to make the case that we HAVE to have it. I hope I've made sense, if not, I apologize.
LaurenFagg
This is a really good idea. We occasionally have a project that will run for a week or two tops, and I think "oh, it'd be great if we had this extension, we could do x y and z in half the time!" but I cannot justify getting the extension for one weeks' work that I can do with a long-winded work around. But if I could just borrow a licence for a fraction of the cost it would save a lot of mucking about
JillStokes
I like this idea for parttime self-employeed freelance work. I might only need the advanced licensing for a matter of hours or days, depending on the project needs. An opportunity like this could make that more possible, depending on the pricing structure.
JacquesBeaudry
I just suggested something similar to ESRI and they send me to this site. like many small business, I cannot purchase an extension just for one project. Even something like publisher could be great. I create pdf maps but this is not fantastic especially when dealing with transparencies. Pay as needed would be a way to go as long as the pricing structure makes sense as well.