3 ms·

I doubt subscriptions will entirely go away, but maybe some of them will. Things like software as a service often don't make sense to me. It seems like companie

I doubt subscriptions will entirely go away, but maybe some of them will. Things like software as a service often don't make sense to me. It seems like companies who used to make software and sold it as a complete package realized that people aren't going to consistently buy their software again if what they have is working for their needs. So now instead of writing software and selling it they have to constantly justify their continued existence by making ever-increasingly niche changes and persuading people that they need the update. This seems unsustainable to me.

jshen 3y ago
That leaves out a lot of the story. Those purchased packages often went out of date after a couple years, I remember being stuck on a different version of omnigraffle than other people I worked with because it was a pain to go through procurement to buy a new version. This was a giant headache. There are also new truly useful features that people have come to expect that doesn’t work well with packaged software. Online collaboration, syncing across devices, etc.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  > There are also new truly useful features that people have come to expect that doesn’t work well with packaged software. Supports the latest iOS version...
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  for mobile, sure. IOS and Android moved fast and odds are software you buy 5 years ago simply won't work if not maintained. Because that's a design choice of the mobile OS. Meanwhile, Windows and Linux focused a lot on backwards compatibility. Not perfect, but you can trust that 99% of software from Windows XP onward will work on Windows 11 with zero tweaking. Microsoft Word '00 and Adobe's CS1 suite (2003) were complete packages sold at a single cost and should still do their job in 2023. >There are also new truly useful features that people have come to expect that doesn’t work well with packaged software. Online collaboration, syncing across devices, etc. That is one fair point. Featues that require upkeep of a server make sense to monetize as a subscription.
  - jshen 3y ago
    Yeah, I wish the mobile OSes cared more about backwards compatibility
ghaff 3y ago
It really varies. (And obviously the dollar amounts matter.) Subscribe to software that is an ongoing part of my regular workflow(s) and is regularly being enhanced? I'm mostly OK with a subscription to that--see Lightroom/Photoshop for me. Subscribe to some utility I maybe pull out for a task once a year? Nope.
benjaminwootton 3y ago
Software is never really finished and often has to be hosted and maintained on an ongoing basis. An ongoing stream of smaller payments just seems like a natural way of paying for an ongoing service, even if the benefits are weighted to the vendor.
- neuralRiot 3y ago
  > Software is never really finished and often has to be hosted and maintained on an ongoing basis. I have no problem paying for updates, as long as the product would keep working without an active subscription (what happens if there’s no connectivity, servers are down, the provider goes bakrupt or change its terms?)
  - johnnyanmac 3y ago
    That is one great thing about how Jetbrains monetizes. You "subscribe" for a year of some IDE and after a year's worth of subscriptions you keep the 20xx version that you subscribed to. So you can use 20xx as a standalone or subscribe so that you get updates for 20xx + 1.
- qzx_pierri 3y ago
  >Software is never really finished Tell that to my grandmother’s rock solid install of MS Word 2010 that she still uses. It’s okay for businesses to want more money, but people didn’t forget how reliable software was just 10-12 years ago. Be honest.
burnished 3y ago
I think thats because you are looking at the poor performers; the real goal is finding a way to turn your product into a service (and thus ongoing purchases) because doing it well becomes a license to print money. Doing it poorly becomes more like wheedling or strong arming.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  The reality and hard truth of the matter is that not everything needs to be a service, but capitalistic structures will try and force everything to pursue that model. The reward for such kinds of products should be that you gain trust for the next product launch that you also sell as a lump cost. But I guess Pandora's Box was long opened on that.
patmorgan23 3y ago
Most software was sold with annual maintenance/upgrades anyway.

jshen 3y ago

That leaves out a lot of the story. Those purchased packages often went out of date after a couple years, I remember being stuck on a different version of omnigraffle than other people I worked with because it was a pain to go through procurement to buy a new version. This was a giant headache. There are also new truly useful features that people have come to expect that doesn’t work well with packaged software. Online collaboration, syncing across devices, etc.

dehrmann 3y ago
> There are also new truly useful features that people have come to expect that doesn’t work well with packaged software. Supports the latest iOS version...
johnnyanmac 3y ago
for mobile, sure. IOS and Android moved fast and odds are software you buy 5 years ago simply won't work if not maintained. Because that's a design choice of the mobile OS. Meanwhile, Windows and Linux focused a lot on backwards compatibility. Not perfect, but you can trust that 99% of software from Windows XP onward will work on Windows 11 with zero tweaking. Microsoft Word '00 and Adobe's CS1 suite (2003) were complete packages sold at a single cost and should still do their job in 2023. >There are also new truly useful features that people have come to expect that doesn’t work well with packaged software. Online collaboration, syncing across devices, etc. That is one fair point. Featues that require upkeep of a server make sense to monetize as a subscription.
- jshen 3y ago
  Yeah, I wish the mobile OSes cared more about backwards compatibility

ghaff 3y ago

It really varies. (And obviously the dollar amounts matter.) Subscribe to software that is an ongoing part of my regular workflow(s) and is regularly being enhanced? I'm mostly OK with a subscription to that--see Lightroom/Photoshop for me. Subscribe to some utility I maybe pull out for a task once a year? Nope.

benjaminwootton 3y ago

Software is never really finished and often has to be hosted and maintained on an ongoing basis. An ongoing stream of smaller payments just seems like a natural way of paying for an ongoing service, even if the benefits are weighted to the vendor.

neuralRiot 3y ago
> Software is never really finished and often has to be hosted and maintained on an ongoing basis. I have no problem paying for updates, as long as the product would keep working without an active subscription (what happens if there’s no connectivity, servers are down, the provider goes bakrupt or change its terms?)
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  That is one great thing about how Jetbrains monetizes. You "subscribe" for a year of some IDE and after a year's worth of subscriptions you keep the 20xx version that you subscribed to. So you can use 20xx as a standalone or subscribe so that you get updates for 20xx + 1.
qzx_pierri 3y ago
>Software is never really finished Tell that to my grandmother’s rock solid install of MS Word 2010 that she still uses. It’s okay for businesses to want more money, but people didn’t forget how reliable software was just 10-12 years ago. Be honest.

burnished 3y ago

I think thats because you are looking at the poor performers; the real goal is finding a way to turn your product into a service (and thus ongoing purchases) because doing it well becomes a license to print money. Doing it poorly becomes more like wheedling or strong arming.

johnnyanmac 3y ago
The reality and hard truth of the matter is that not everything needs to be a service, but capitalistic structures will try and force everything to pursue that model. The reward for such kinds of products should be that you gain trust for the next product launch that you also sell as a lump cost. But I guess Pandora's Box was long opened on that.

patmorgan23 3y ago

Most software was sold with annual maintenance/upgrades anyway.