I have a Studio One Pro 7 perpetual license; I've been using S1 Pro since version 2. I just updated version 7 to the latest build, v7.1.1, but when I launched my DAW, it needed to be reactivated! Again, I don't do the subscription BS - I have a PERPETUAL Pro license. I don't recall this happening with any previous version of Studio One. I keep my DAW computer OFFLINE as much as possible, so this is a royal pain-in-the-noodle for me. Does Studio One now 'phone home' on a regular basis? Am I going to have to deal with this every month, just like PreSonus subscribers (gullible ninnies) do?
I also see that Fender Inc. has slyly removed the availability of ALL individual Studio One addons - in other words, unless you whore yourself out to their subscription racket, you can't buy them anymore. Another very distasteful, gougey, capitalistic BS move they made, was that they have PERMANENTLY CLOSED DOWN the Studio One users' forums - so no more free help and information from fellow Studio One users and so-called experts. Suffice it to say, Presonus (now owned by Fender) has lost me as a paying user after Studio One 7 is no longer updated!!
I've been dibble dabbling with Reaper now since a couple of years, and while Studio One is generally much nicer to look at, and functions with a much nicer workflow, Fender Inc. has 100% DESTROYED my loyalty towards Presonus. I don't allow any of those companies to abuse me and rape my wallet. I wouldn't care if they went bankrupt tomorrow. Any company that screws over their long time, loyal customers, can GO POUND SAND!
Cockos' affordable prices and generous licensing parameters are UNRIVALLED! Reaper is super resource friendly and far outperforms any other DAW out there. Sure, Reaper is somewhat 'unfriendly' to configure, and doesn't boast the easy-peasy workflow and interface that Studio One provides, but Reaper is super powerful, and super light on the wallet, and it is super lite on your PC. Plus, Reaper works well on Linux too, which I am using more and more. Between yabridge, and quite a few EXCELLENT FOSS native Linux plugins and VIs, the platform is becoming more and more viable for music production. I'm sick of Microsoft's BS too!
To boot, if Studio One has to "spy" and phone home on me all the time now (as of v7.1), then I'll resort to using some 'medicine' to remedy it. I've read about 'fixed' versions of Studio One somewhere out there in the wild. I'm not down with piracy, but neither do I allow my DAW computer to go online. I paid for the software (license) with my hard-got money - it's not like my small monthly disability allowance can afford Presonus', or any other gougey company's shenanigans.
Regardless of how "industry Standard" and all encompassing as Adobe's software was/is, I dropped them like a hot potato years ago, when they switched to subscription only. Instead, I now use Corel products, Gimp, and other excellent affordable and/or free alternatives. Fender is sneakily edging Presonus software over to the subscription only model more and more too - personally, I say boycott the buzzards and force them (and other companies) to bring back more CUSTOMER ORIENTED business models, the way things were 25 years ago. -- rant over