Zimbra's new pricing strategy: perpetual licenses vs. licenses per year

One of Gestion-Ressources' partner (www.gestion-ressources.com), the company where I work, has changed its pricing strategy. The partner, Zimbra (www.zimbra.com) offers its client perpetual licenses rather than licences billed on a yearly basis. The price of perpetual licences is equivalent to 3 years of licences on a year basis. In contrast, the cost of technical support represent 20% of the perpetual licences price (it used to come with the licences). The technical support enables users to benefit from updates, add-ons etc. However it is not mandatory after the first year.

When I think about this new princing strategy I can't help thinkking about the difference between Free Software and Open Source software. The client pays licenses but in the long term it is the service that is billed.

What do you think about this new princing strategy. Could it be the future of the Open Source economic model?