3 ms·

It used to be manufacturing, back when you'd ship a cardboard box to a store once a year. I think the delusion we have today is that the internet-enabled model

It used to be manufacturing, back when you'd ship a cardboard box to a store once a year. I think the delusion we have today is that the internet-enabled model is somehow superior. It just seems to introduce more problems, and forces companies to expend a much greater amount of money, effort, and maintenance to get the same result consistently. I feel like the next great revolution will be selling updated software only once a year. No privacy implications, no persistent security concerns, no data hoarding, no advertising, no connectivity issues, no addictive social gamification or micro-payment or subscription service. Just a fully-functioning rock-solid program on your local device, developed by a small team, sold to millions of people. I'd pay premium for that!

coldcode 5y ago
My first product in 1987 sold in boxes, with floppies that had to be duplicated and a manual printed, plus shipping to distributors and mail order companies. If we were lucky we got paid 180 days later assuming they were sold, otherwise we had to pay to get the unsold inventory back. A later product with a larger audience cost $10 just to send an update, and that had very little profit, since it required all the same manufacturing costs. I never did that again.
gbear605 5y ago
That’s basically how IntelliJ (and the other JetBrain IDEs) work. They market it as a subscription, but after you’ve been subscribed for a year you get an key that lasts forever for the version that you initially subscribed to. Subscription years after the first (so basically, choosing to upgrade from the initial version) are cheaper than the first year. It would be nice if they chose to have an option to just buy a version outright without the appearance of a subscription, but I understand why they don’t.

3 ms·

It used to be manufacturing, back when you'd ship a cardboard box to a store once a year. I think the delusion we have today is that the internet-enabled model

by 0xbadcafebee 5y ago

coldcode 5y ago
My first product in 1987 sold in boxes, with floppies that had to be duplicated and a manual printed, plus shipping to distributors and mail order companies. If we were lucky we got paid 180 days later assuming they were sold, otherwise we had to pay to get the unsold inventory back. A later product with a larger audience cost $10 just to send an update, and that had very little profit, since it required all the same manufacturing costs. I never did that again.
gbear605 5y ago
That’s basically how IntelliJ (and the other JetBrain IDEs) work. They market it as a subscription, but after you’ve been subscribed for a year you get an key that lasts forever for the version that you initially subscribed to. Subscription years after the first (so basically, choosing to upgrade from the initial version) are cheaper than the first year. It would be nice if they chose to have an option to just buy a version outright without the appearance of a subscription, but I understand why they don’t.