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[Eric Snodgrass]

I have a few collections of old, outdated software hardcopies (box sets with individual DVDs for loading the software).  The stuff is registered in my name but I've not used these versions for many years. 
Anyone here have any suggestions about what to do with this stuff?  Shredding the DVDs and tossing the packaging is my first inclination but I thought I'd ask the community here to see if there are alternatives to that. 

[Brian Jojade]

If you know you'll never want or need it again, recycling what you can and trashing the rest is pretty much all that you can do.  There's no value in old software, and some licenses even prohibit transfer.

It does hurt just throwing away a box that you know cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars not so long ago.  But that's how it goes.

[Chris Hindle]

maybe a museum or a school somewhere, with some kind of a "living memorial" to the history of computer Science and Technology?
Last century i donated my dark room and a bunch of film gear to a community college that had an arts program on the history of photography......
Chris.

[Stephen Swaffer]

If you know you'll never want or need it again, recycling what you can and trashing the rest is pretty much all that you can do.  There's no value in old software, and some licenses even prohibit transfer.

It does hurt just throwing away a box that you know cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars not so long ago.  But that's how it goes.

Did the box cost you that or the intellectual knowledge and skill and time of the programmer(s)?  Many conversations on here about customers seeing only "racks and stacks and gear" as what they are buying when they hire a sound provider

[Brian Jojade]

Did the box cost you that or the intellectual knowledge and skill and time of the programmer(s)?  Many conversations on here about customers seeing only "racks and stacks and gear" as what they are buying when they hire a sound provider

I never said it wasn't justified. The key is that the tangible item that remains is a box and a disc.

The value of the software disappears quickly over time.

As technology moves on, the physical box and disc is a relic of the past now, so when you buy software now, you just use it until you're done, then it poofs away with no evidence it ever existed.

[Stephen Swaffer]

I understand-I was just drawing the parallel between the value being transient-just like the value sound providers provide for an event.  The value is there-with software we just get a free souvenir-that's really the only value of the hard copy once the software is obsolete-unless you are building some sort of a tech museum.

[Frank Koenig]

It was a wistful moment when I binned a handful of distribution floppies for a >$3000 / seat printed circuit layout package a few years back. But at least back then you owned the license in perpetuity. Now pretty much all the big-ticket stuff is subscription. Thank the Goddess for open source alternatives. -F

[Dave Garoutte]

It was a wistful moment when I binned a handful of distribution floppies for a >$3000 / seat printed circuit layout package a few years back. But at least back then you owned the license in perpetuity. Now pretty much all the big-ticket stuff is subscription. Thank the Goddess for open source alternatives. -F

I HATE subscriptions !

[Russell Ault]

I have a few collections of old, outdated software hardcopies (box sets with individual DVDs for loading the software).  The stuff is registered in my name but I've not used these versions for many years. 
Anyone here have any suggestions about what to do with this stuff?  Shredding the DVDs and tossing the packaging is my first inclination but I thought I'd ask the community here to see if there are alternatives to that.

I think I'd be tempted to hold onto any "productivity" software (except maybe old versions of MS Office), "just in case". Part of the reason I try to use FOSS as much as possible is because it helps to assuage my fears that 10 years from now I'll want to open up some old file I created but won't be able to...

I HATE subscriptions !

It seems like most commercial software developers have concluded that there are only two kinds of software: the stuff that people will pay for a subscription to use, and the stuff that isn't worth charging for. To be fair, from a development business standpoint, subscriptions make way more sense than perpetual licenses under most circumstances.

-Russ

[Brian Jojade]

It seems like most commercial software developers have concluded that there are only two kinds of software: the stuff that people will pay for a subscription to use, and the stuff that isn't worth charging for. To be fair, from a development business standpoint, subscriptions make way more sense than perpetual licenses under most circumstances.

-Russ

And from an end user standpoint, subscriptions usually make more sense as well, as annoying as it may seem.

Now you can buy into software at extremely low prices and use it for the term that you need to get the job done, then cancel out.  It's very helpful to have access to a wide variety of tools at low prices instead of having to shell out huge cash up front.

On a long term, it may seem more annoying, but you get continual updated versions vs getting stuck in old, unsupported versions because you didn't pay for the update.

[ProSoundWeb Community]