[tatersolid]

Sketch is simply using the legacy “license plus upgrades/maintenance” model. Nothing innovative about that; in fact it’s what built Microsoft, Adobe, and Oracle into the giants they still are. Businesses have been buying software this way for 50 years.

[interpol_p]

It's not the same model, as you're not paying for version 1.0, 2.0, etc.

With Sketch, for the year since your purchase, you receive all updates. Whether they are major or minor.

I get that it sounds similar to legacy licensing models, but it is not the same. I think it's a good blend of patronage/subscription and keeping-what-you-paid-for

With the old 1.0/2.0 paid upgrade model, you could go years before the next major version. You also got different tiers of upgrade pricing: upgrading to 3.0 from 1.0? Or from 2.0? Or are you buying 3.0 outright?

With something like Sketch, any time you pay $100, you get the latest and greatest for one year. If you want to take a break you're not financially punished for skipping updates

So I would say the Sketch model is quite a bit different

[tatersolid]

The popular, 40+ year-old license scheme for business software is not based on version numbers (which can be manipulated by the vendor), it is based on time. So long as you pay maintenance you get rights to use whatever released version you choose, and you have perpetual rights to the last version released while you paid maintenance.

So exactly the same as Sketch.

[interpol_p]

That's not my experience at all. I used to purchase 3D modelling and animation software (Lightwave 3D). Version upgrade pricing was entirely based on version numbers — as was all the big name software at the time (3D Studio, 3DS Max, Softimage, etc)

I purchased Lightwave 4.0, and paid for the upgrade to 5.0 (I think it was about $1000 for the upgrade). I believe I skipped version 6.0, so the price to go from 5.0 to 7.0 cost me more than the price from 6.0 to 7.0 (for users who had purchased 6.0). There were multiple tiers of upgrade pricing, and new users had to pay significantly more than users who were upgrading

Under the Sketch model, taking a break from upgrading does not financially penalise you relative to other users — sure you don't get updates during that time period — but when you go to pick up the software again you pay exactly the same price as anyone else renewing at that time and receive all the latest features

Even someone who has never used the app before will pay $100 and get exactly the same feature set as me, a user who has paid regularly for years