Over time, it's become clear to me that the only business model with true longevity is open source. When I was first looking into password managers several year

Over time, it's become clear to me that the only business model with true longevity is open source. When I was first looking into password managers several years ago, I wanted something very simple: an iOS tool that could securely and locally encrypt a data blob with a memorized master password. 1Password did this job well for many years. Unfortunately, as with many App Store offerings, the pressing need for Agile Bits to grow has distorted the fundamental nature of the product. I was first alarmed when they added TouchID authentication: a seemingly innocuous feature, but one that necessarily stored your master password somewhere other than your head. (Fortunately, this was disabled by default.) Subsequently, features got added that stored your data on remote servers and even required you to send your master password over the web. I ignored this for the most part, but recent talk of this becoming the only use case for 1Password has put me on red alert. It's evidently time for me to start looking into OSS alternatives for my password manager, just as I have with a number of other tools in recent years. Unfortunately, it seems that many companies these days are more interested in developing services rather than deftly solving specific user problems. Whether or not this is financially sound, it's an ongoing assault on my workflow. I can't live in fear of every utility on my system pivoting to a new business model! Fundamental software needs to be stable, and there's a good reason why most of our essentials (compression, video playback, web browsing, etc.) are free and open source. Going forward, I hope we discover more ways to collectively fund open source software projects, large and small, because everything else is just an IOU for another future shakeup.