Capture One's raising greediness. No more C1 Express.

 To make things clear, I'm a C1 user since a reasonably time and started with the dedicated Fuji version, then tried Express and later upgraded to the "perpetual" Pro Version.

Capture one is a very good software for some operations but not even close to be te best raw converter neither the best DAM. But I like to use it in some situations, like when I need remote camera tethering (this was the main reason why I decided for it).

It works reasonably well with layers and it's a Swiss-Army knife. 

But the last news from mid December 2023 raised a red flag to me and many other people on several forums.

Thom Hogan wrote a brilliant note about this. Please read it following this link.

C1 annouced the end-of-life of the free Express version. Nothing wrong with this, I saw this many times before but never like what they are planning to do. Please read carefully their statements.

Express is coming to an end

We're constantly working to improve our tools for you. And, to give you the best creative and collaborative experience, we need to focus on our main products. This means that starting January 30, 2024, Express will no longer be available. You won’t be able to download and access Express from our website after January 30. If you already own an Express license key, you’ll no longer be able to activate this. We’ll end all support for Express after January 30.   Your images and edits will still be available until January 30. If you want to know more, just hit the button below.

Again, read carefully. But there is more.

"You won’t be able to download and access Express from our website after the above-mentioned date. If you already own an Express license key, you’ll no longer be able to activate this. We’ll also end all support for Express. Your RAW files and edits will still be available until the above-mentioned date – after this time you’ll no longer have access."

"You’ll be able to use Express in full until it’s discontinued (see above). This means you can work as normal, and still have access to your RAW files and edits. We recommend that you transfer your files before we close Express completely, which can be done in a number of ways (see below)."

What the f**k ? 

Nothing wrong with a product's end-of-life, but why on earth to kill existing installations and prevent not only to use it but access your work (images, adjustments) ?

This is the most stupid, spiteful, greedy movement I've ever seen from a software maker: To blackmail the product base, students and hobbysts (read people that form opinion about products) to start paying to continue doing what they were doing. Blackmail is what is happening here. 

A decent company would simply not update it anymore and let who installed it continue using.

And to complete the mess, Capure One's CEO said that they are not interested in the non-professional market (translation: fuck the hobbists, amateurs and who don't have money)

I bet the guys at Adobe had a very loud laugh after reading the C1 news.

I'm sure that C1 has the legal back to do this, but again this is extremely stupid to do.

My two cents:

Stick with C1 if you really need to or if you have a real advantage on doing this.

If you want a decent raw converter + editor, I would go for DxO + Affinity or RawPower + Affinity and just forget about C1. They are a better combo, not subscription-based and far less expensive.

Even the Adobe suite subscription is a far better value.