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[can we work around these new charges] This starts shifting from a "free vs paid tools" question to a "how I do business" question. If the pricing for somethin

[can we work around these new charges] This starts shifting from a "free vs paid tools" question to a "how I do business" question. If the pricing for something critical is so high it's not practical, it's time to do some hard evaluations. Edit: from practical experience, I've worked regularly with someone who will spend a lot of energy to avoid paying for things. That can result in hoop jumping just to accomplish things that should be quick and simple. Edit2: also be wary of trying to get paid by people who aggressively work to not pay for things.

happymellon 6y ago
It's also the volume of tools that keep moving to subscription models. There are only so many tools I can rent. Especially for apps that I download, Jetbrains have the best model for this as I keep the version that I paid for, but they keep releasing updates that are actually worthwhile to upgrade. Then I have other things like GitKraken which should be a one time purchase for $15. I know it's not sexy pricing, but the subscription price is just too damn high when I have ever other tool trying to bill me every year with fundamentally no change.
- fencepost 6y ago
  It's a tradeoff and depends on part on whether it's a business tool or a physical one (for you). If business, perhaps it's time to raise rates; if personal then you're probably not their target market. It also depends on the value of your time and how much of that you spend working around subscription models.
  - happymellon 6y ago
    Its more than that. Convincing my boss to buy a tool is one thing, even buying on an annual basis, but convincing them to subscribe to another service is completely different. As I said, I have personally purchased the JetBrains All Product pack, and have worked places where they will buy it for developers. Charging rent for a tool like GitKraken is just crappy, but I guess thats the only way to make ongoing money for a tool that you struggle to add value to encourage upgrade purchases.

happymellon 6y ago

It's also the volume of tools that keep moving to subscription models. There are only so many tools I can rent. Especially for apps that I download, Jetbrains have the best model for this as I keep the version that I paid for, but they keep releasing updates that are actually worthwhile to upgrade. Then I have other things like GitKraken which should be a one time purchase for $15. I know it's not sexy pricing, but the subscription price is just too damn high when I have ever other tool trying to bill me every year with fundamentally no change.

fencepost 6y ago
It's a tradeoff and depends on part on whether it's a business tool or a physical one (for you). If business, perhaps it's time to raise rates; if personal then you're probably not their target market. It also depends on the value of your time and how much of that you spend working around subscription models.
- happymellon 6y ago
  Its more than that. Convincing my boss to buy a tool is one thing, even buying on an annual basis, but convincing them to subscribe to another service is completely different. As I said, I have personally purchased the JetBrains All Product pack, and have worked places where they will buy it for developers. Charging rent for a tool like GitKraken is just crappy, but I guess thats the only way to make ongoing money for a tool that you struggle to add value to encourage upgrade purchases.