You make it sound as if we’re all running around from venue to venue all day every day with a couple of laptops and elicencer. I can imagine that the percentage of user base that do that is miniscule, especially in today’s pandemic influenced environments when people spend more and more time working on line which is what Steinberg Connect is for.
It’s quite clear that the end goal is a perpetual licence as is prootools or sphere with Studio one. It’s certainly not for the users benefits! We have purchased your software as well as our licence to use it.
Cracked software such as cubase/protools etc are ghosts from the past. Cracked software has no value these days when DAW’s such as Cakewalk Reaper, Traktion, to name just a few out of the over 21 well featured free ones available on line and of course with logic Pro free on ipad and cheap as chips to buy for mac’s one has to wonder what motives are really driving this new scheme to “benefit the user base”.
The arguments you put forward for trying to “force” (as you stated) users into compliance are nothing short of cutting costs whilst increasing revenue streams and skimming users data to build profiles and merchandise targets ala Facebook and others. Just a brief look through these forums show just how thrilled your user base are at your latest scheme to increase profit margins. It’s a mistake but there again your cash flow forecasters will have predicted the percentage of defectors and offset the amounts that can be gained by your monthly leasing business models, Steinberg staff know exactly what direction this is all moving towards but, haven’t got the front to come out with it at this point in time or have been told to keep a tight lip if they want to keep a job… Sinister!