Intellij has no choice but to do this. Otherwise they lose revenue. They have mature software products and people are not going to renew the license every year

Intellij has no choice but to do this. Otherwise they lose revenue. They have mature software products and people are not going to renew the license every year for a minor update. Most of their products are so mature that you can buy them once and never look back. So how do they make up for this one time sale? Switch to a subscription model and convince users it's in their best interest. Frankly, I don't care about paying money every month; IntelliJ is worth the price. However, I never update software unless there is a major bug or major features. Updating software is always a gamble and if you customize it, it often requires additional work (deprecated plugins, invalid keymap, new bugs etc.) I hope they get this right and find the right business model to stay afloat without ruining the relationship they have with their customers.