Luminar 5 AI+ launching soon
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That's definitely not what I expect from a company providing high value software. To be honest: I feel kind of screwed, having a software which still suffers from a lot of bugs, which are not resolved, but a new software is pushed to the market which the company expects me to buy. A way which would make sense would be to include the new features into Luminar AI, I would be even willing to pay for a major release, but not for a completely new product which might do what I would expect from the previous one.
If this really happens I will uninstall this piece of s...oftware from my PC.
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Whilst I don't mind paying for good software, it is a fact of life, but making sure a good, reliable and well supported product is in place must surely be a better long term strategy that "ah ditch those last customers, they'll probably have to upgrade anyway".
It is disappointing to see a new version so soon, I would suggest the current product is not finished (none of my issues have been addressed yet, maybe that's what the "new engine" does, I still see other people struggling) - all those surveys about what we want ignore "make it work" and now we can either face a new one off cost but that avoids a regular fee as has been used as advertising before, oh hang on, paying yearly is the same thing.
Come on Skylum this is a bit too cynical - you've asked me to hand you more money < 9 months since the last time, about 4 months of which have been usable (because I fixed a problem not your support), 9 months based on what I paid evidences that lightroom is actually a good choice because it's a stronger product covering more of the functionality we need on a day to day basis.
Come to think of it what does the new product offer - the blurb doesn't say.
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I responded that I'm not willing to pay for another version, the current one isn't finished yet and I said I'm gobsmacked they are already talking about a new version that is pay for. If this is how Skylum behave then it really isn't that much different to paying for Lightroom continually but at least with lightroom it truly is a strong standalone product.
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I'm done with Skylum. Their business model is equivalent to pissing your pants to keep warm. It will work at first but eventually you'll be even colder. Lesson learned
Dear Skylum
Perhaps you should consider switching to mobile apps. Your nickel and dime mentality and lack of ethics seems a perfect fit for it
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I don't know about you guys, but I think this was the proverbial writing on the wall; for this reason I have decided I'm not going to be mad about it, not even disappointed.
Soo...Bingo time, I guess :D
I have taken the time to compile a list of the most longstanding complaints about Luminar; the day Neo launches I'm going to grab the biggest bucket of popcorn I can find and scour the forum comments to see what has been fixed and what still hasn't*:
- Internet connection issues
- Installation does not complete
- Authentication issues
- Partial/questionable GPU support that requires fiddling with the registry/GPU panel
- Catalog corruption
- Database corruption
- Workflow has changed again, backwards compatibility is promised, but not guaranteed
- Windows version has no caching preferences, thumbnails take ages to regenerate
- Some tools behave differently across plaforms
- Memory leaks/unusually high usage of RAM
- Overall slowness
- Crashes at startup
- 15000px image size limit
- No advanced print options
- Unable to import into Luminar
- Unable to export from Luminar
- Plugin not launching
- No/incomplete support for recent cameras
- No/incomplete support for lens profiles
- OS update breaks things
- Application update breaks more things while adding features nobody asked for (see: Lumichat)
Bonus comments:
- Press release with buzzwords galore
- The usual suspects on Youtube calling it the bestest thing ever (plz like, comment and subscribe).
- "We still support Aurora"
- "No ETA"
(I'm sure I have forgotten a bunch)
*and, mind you, I'm not doing this for the sake of being a jerk, on the contrary, I'll be more than happy if this time around Skylum gets its act together, even if I don't think I'll be blown away.
Cheers,
--
Marco
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That's such bologna, Elena. Wish I could downvote this so many more times than once. This has been Skylum's schtick since 2018. It's the same song and dance. You and I both know AI will be completely abandoned in a year's time, or less. And another year after that the next product, Luminar Morpheus, will be announced, but hey - you have a choice! It include's all of Neo's core features, but it's for an entirely different purpose. We'll continue to "support" Neo, promise! [for a year]... then abandon that as well.
There's absolutely no way in the world you can convince me otherwise at this point, after almost 4 years of this. It's Skylum's scummy business model. Luminar AI still doesn't work as promised. It's the most buggy and unreliable piece of software on my Mac right now... and I wouldn't expect anything else from Neo if I were to invest in it.
Fortunately, I'm done giving your overlords cash, and I hope many others let you know what they think of Skylum's business practices by voting with their wallets as well.
I'm not even really that disappointed. It's downright humorous at this point.
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Scott:
https://community.skylum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360009699140/comments/360002179539
i can’t claim a lot of credit for nailing it, it was sooooo predictable.
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LuminarAI and Luminar Neo are designed to serve two different purposes
And yet this is in your FAQ for Neo
So if they serve 2 different purposes then how come Neo apparently has all the tools of AI and expands upon them? That doesn't sound like a different tool but an upgraded AI except we will have to buy it
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"Please note that Luminar AI license is a perpetual one. It means that together with a perpetual software license, we usually offer a technical support period for another year from the date the last copy of the app was sold."
Thank you for confirming the business model. The software is automatically EOL if purchased during the final period of it's development, then 12 months later EOS. There is nothing wrong with a perpetual model but users are finding there is no transition path between products, products are never polished to a working level - Yes they are 'different'.
But it's sell new dump the old product. Scummy is the perfect word.
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Development costs, and I'm not adverse to 'upgrades' whether that be annual, or every other year but I feel Luminar never has been polish, and will be abandoned for the 'AI'. Maybe that where the market is going, Skylum have admitted they struggled with the DAM features of Luminar and it's not their strength. I don't need a full DAM but I get the sense AI is a backward step in this regard. Affinity will charge for an upgrade at some point but I think they're really trying to produce a good product.
Many comments in this youtube video details similar feelings about the model at $kylum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFHkMmRy3hA
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There are competitive products out there like PerfectlyClear from EyeQ which can survive and even develop new feature without charging their customers with monthly or yearly fees. Maybe the guys at Skylum could have a look at their business modell (and yes, this product is pretty professional, fast, has a ridiculous number of bugs etc.).
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Having Luminar as a monthly subscription would make me go away from that software - same as I did from Adobe Photoshop to Affinity Photo. Sure, Luminar has a couple of bugs, sometimes I have the impression that the QA should be better, but there are also a lot of awesome feature which are hard to find for other products.
Having a monthly or yearly subscription model might sound attractive to Skylum, but this will limit their customer base to the professionals (who for sure will also request a more robust and speed optimized software).
Skylum, think about these thoughts please.
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There are two basic business models: 1) monthly subscription (Adobe, Cyberlink) or 2) annual paid 'major' upgrade (ON1, Capture One, Luminar). Affinity Photo seems to be the exception. They haven't had a paid major upgrade in a while. To stay in business, a business must make money. If you don't like either model, then you need to look for open source/free applications.
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Hi everyone,
LuminarAI and Luminar Neo are designed to serve two different purposes.
Both applications will be available on the market so that you can choose the software according to your preferred workflow and the desired outcome.
Please note that Luminar AI license is a perpetual one. It means that together with a perpetual software license, we usually offer a technical support period for another year from the date the last copy of the app was sold.
LuminarAI is a complete set of tools that will not grow in complexity. You can continue to expand its template-driven workflow with new additions from the Luminar marketplace or with Luminar X. We will ensure, however, that it receives updates to its performance and camera support, so it provides an excellent experience for those who rely on it. We’ll also ship updates for things like the forthcoming Windows 11 from Microsoft. And the app will also continue to run for many years to come.
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