DxO has launched
Nik 7 . As so often with Nik upgrades, the improvements seem fairly minor - more like a point upgrade than a major version upgrade. Looks good for folk who are new to Nik, or using a very old version. But no compelling reason to upgrade for users of Nik 6.
Also worth pointing out that Nik no longer includes Perspective meaning you need to keep Nik 6 installed, or buy ViewPoint 4 separately, to access its tools. A money maker for DxO, sure, but really frustrating for folk like me who used Perspective regularly as a standalone.
I think I'll pass.
I've been a big fan of DxO software for many years.... But DxO wants to charge me $89 to update to Nik 7. I really cannot see the value there....
I understand that inflation is real, and the market for photo editing software is probably either declining or only expanding slowly, so the increasing cost of development has to be spread over fewer buyers. But the pace of development also seems to have slowed.
If you think Adobe is photographer-hostile now as it courts text-to-image AI "creators", wait until they've clubbed DxO and C1 like a pair of baby harp seals. I am glad to give DxO a few hundred bucks each year, whether I need upgrades or not, just to keep them in the game and developing new and better tools.
On the whole, I have many thoughts similar to yours, although only to a degree.
In the past I've paid for marginal DxO updates for much the same reason: I wanted DxO to survive, and to emerge from the French bankruptcy-like proceeding as a viable software developer / publisher. But it seems like both the frequency and the cost of the new 'major' versions have increased.
Years on from that, if DxO expects or wants me to keep bankrolling them this way, then some financial transparency would go a long way. If they publish their tax returns or whatever and tell your customers, 'Look, we lost €400,000 last year. Something's got to give,' then I would be with them in looking for a financially-sustainable solution (although very probably
not a subscription).
In DxO's defense, they did recently roll out PureRAW 4 with some nice new features. I will upgrade PhotoLab the instant they add that new stuff to it.
That right there annoys me. In the past, new features and functions appeared first in their premier product, PhotoLab (Elite). The fact that they've prioritized this ancillary product and made the users of their premier product wait seems to me a bad way to do business. I guess they have their reasons.
This is just my opinion, as their customer but not somebody very familiar with the software publishing industry, but the constant nickle-and-diming turned quarter-and-dollaring is not a way to build a happy customer base. The higher prices and frequent major-version updates need strong justification, with 'wow!' features and/or transparency about dire finances.
And to the extent they've spread themselves thin, maybe they should concentrate on their core products--which Nik and FIlmPack most emphatically are not. Move the masking advances for which PhotoLab requires FilmPack 6 or newer into PhotoLab proper. Consider merging ViewPoint into PhotoLab proper. Make PhotoLab the best it can be, and make it cover all the basics. Make LR / PureRaw users see that PhotoLab Elite users get all the new features and techologies first. If you have to increase the PhotoLab Elite price to $250 or even a bit more and make the major-version upgrades $125 but wait until you have something major, fine.
But it sounds like you have many of the same reservations and concerns as I do about the way the software options are going. Capture One seems to be suffering too. I don't want Adobe to be the only game in town. And I do think DxO remains the best tool.
