9 ms·

This seems an increasingly common dev cycle on software that hasn't adopted subscription pricing. See it a lot in the Mac ecosystem, big numbered release that y

This seems an increasingly common dev cycle on software that hasn't adopted subscription pricing. See it a lot in the Mac ecosystem, big numbered release that you need to pay again for, fast follow with about 4 bug fix releases then silence for 3-5 years and repeat.

apozem 6y ago
Absolutely. If a developer can only cash in on a big-number new version, that incentivizes holding back features to sell the new version. It just does. I understand the frustration with subscription pricing, but it's a business model that actually aligns my incentives with the developer's. I want an up-to-date product and they want ongoing revenue for their ongoing work.
- ric2b 6y ago
  I agree, but with the option to keep whatever version you had when you stop paying the subscription. Maybe applying only after a N consecutive months with an active subscription, to prevent paying for a single month behaving as a lifetime purchase.
  - aembleton 6y ago
    This is what JetBrains does. They give you a perpetual fall back licence to where you were 12 months ago. More info: https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What-is-perpetual-fallback-license- https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What...
- azornathogron 6y ago
  God no. Subscription has the opposite problem that the publisher is incentivised to keep changing the damn software underneath me. It means I can't decide "this version works fine for me, I'll just keep using this for the next decade", which is something I totally can do with Sublime.
wbond 6y ago
Just to clarify, we’ve done major releases in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and now early 2021. We also released a second product (Sublime Merge) in 2018 and did a major release of that in 2020. There haven’t been any significant gaps in our release cadence since before I joined the company in 2016. That said, the current dev cycle has been a little longer because people do expect more from major version releases. We’ve got a large collection of new features, improvements and bug fixes coming with this release. We’ve addressed over 600 issues on GitHub in the current release, added some pretty significant changes, and laid the foundation for more to come. IMO, it is by far the most significant release we’ve ever done. We’ve also got some changes planned to help shorten our release cycles moving forward!
- hnrodey 6y ago
  Do you have any options for a reduced cost license? Ideally I get enough value from the tool that I'd like to contribute financially but the current cost is (for me) too high. Perhaps I should just continue with the occasional nag popup. I really enjoy using Sublime Text for some parts my daily workflow yet that equates for me using like 5% of the actual functionality. I don't actively write code within ST but use it for stuff surrounding my coding workflow. Nonetheless, thanks for the product. I really enjoy it. edit: lol downvotes because I'm trying to give someone money
  - wedowhatwedo 6y ago
    I bought the product in 2015. I don't remember the cost but let's assume it was $80. (EDIT, I just looked and it was $70 at the time) That's $16 a year. If you use even 5% of the functionality, isn't it worth that? I don't know what country you are from and there my be economic differences but sublime text has been one of the best software purchases I've made. It's worth every cent. If you don't feel it's worth $80, you can use Visual Studio Code for free.
    - ipaddr 6y ago
      Are you offering to purchase this product for the parent commentor? Unless you are offering to pay for it because the cost is so little I'm not sure your rebuttal holds water. $80.00 US is a lot for an editor that doesn't provide updates.

apozem 6y ago

Absolutely. If a developer can only cash in on a big-number new version, that incentivizes holding back features to sell the new version. It just does. I understand the frustration with subscription pricing, but it's a business model that actually aligns my incentives with the developer's. I want an up-to-date product and they want ongoing revenue for their ongoing work.

ric2b 6y ago
I agree, but with the option to keep whatever version you had when you stop paying the subscription. Maybe applying only after a N consecutive months with an active subscription, to prevent paying for a single month behaving as a lifetime purchase.
- aembleton 6y ago
  This is what JetBrains does. They give you a perpetual fall back licence to where you were 12 months ago. More info: https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What-is-perpetual-fallback-license- https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What...
azornathogron 6y ago
God no. Subscription has the opposite problem that the publisher is incentivised to keep changing the damn software underneath me. It means I can't decide "this version works fine for me, I'll just keep using this for the next decade", which is something I totally can do with Sublime.

wbond 6y ago

Just to clarify, we’ve done major releases in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and now early 2021. We also released a second product (Sublime Merge) in 2018 and did a major release of that in 2020. There haven’t been any significant gaps in our release cadence since before I joined the company in 2016. That said, the current dev cycle has been a little longer because people do expect more from major version releases. We’ve got a large collection of new features, improvements and bug fixes coming with this release. We’ve addressed over 600 issues on GitHub in the current release, added some pretty significant changes, and laid the foundation for more to come. IMO, it is by far the most significant release we’ve ever done. We’ve also got some changes planned to help shorten our release cycles moving forward!

hnrodey 6y ago
Do you have any options for a reduced cost license? Ideally I get enough value from the tool that I'd like to contribute financially but the current cost is (for me) too high. Perhaps I should just continue with the occasional nag popup. I really enjoy using Sublime Text for some parts my daily workflow yet that equates for me using like 5% of the actual functionality. I don't actively write code within ST but use it for stuff surrounding my coding workflow. Nonetheless, thanks for the product. I really enjoy it. edit: lol downvotes because I'm trying to give someone money
- wedowhatwedo 6y ago
  I bought the product in 2015. I don't remember the cost but let's assume it was $80. (EDIT, I just looked and it was $70 at the time) That's $16 a year. If you use even 5% of the functionality, isn't it worth that? I don't know what country you are from and there my be economic differences but sublime text has been one of the best software purchases I've made. It's worth every cent. If you don't feel it's worth $80, you can use Visual Studio Code for free.
  - ipaddr 6y ago
    Are you offering to purchase this product for the parent commentor? Unless you are offering to pay for it because the cost is so little I'm not sure your rebuttal holds water. $80.00 US is a lot for an editor that doesn't provide updates.