I agree, but only mostly: there will always be companies that 'get it' and offer both a cloud and a standalone version. For example (plug), we offer a product

I agree, but only mostly: there will always be companies that 'get it' and offer both a cloud and a standalone version. For example (plug), we offer a product called Userify (ssh key management for the cloud) but we also offer a (rather expensive) enterprise version for people to deploy it on-site. In fact, we recommend that, since it's more secure for you to deploy and lock down your own version in your own VPC or DC. And this is good for us, since the cloud version is free in its base form, and the enterprise version is currently the only way we're driving any revenue. As time goes on, these models will stabilize and companies will go back to giving people what they actually want. You can't optimize for yourself forever; at some point, you lose customers. So, as a counterpoint, large mobile providers have largely stopped subsidizing phones (which was blatant lock-in) in order to give people what they really want, which is choice. It makes more sense for the customer, and therefore automatically makes more sense for the company. Unless they have absolute market power, they can't throw their weight around that much. So I'm not worried about TV manufacturers that require a monthly subscription. Those will get returned to the store fairly quickly and the ones that hide their costs will have a growing black stain on their brand and eventually fade into oblivion. It's said that customers are fickle, but customers as a whole are really quite rational. (Counterpoint to this counterpoint: Apple and everything they make.)