7 ms·

It would e.g. take 33M users who agree to pay $5/mo for a Mozilla "support subscription" to collect $400M a year. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but when I do t

It would e.g. take 33M users who agree to pay $5/mo for a Mozilla "support subscription" to collect $400M a year. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but when I do the math (33M x 5 x 12) I get $1.98B. Maybe you meant $1/month?

widdershins 3y ago
Yep, you're right. At 5$/month they'd need 6.66M subscribed users. Still a lot, but more acheivable.
- abirch 3y ago
  Most people don't want to pay for anything. Look at all of the workarounds for news sites. I try to pay or donate for most of what I use but there seem to be a lot of people who want to get everything for free.
  - nine_k 3y ago
    I totally won't mind paying for the occasional article I open, if micropayments were a thing! Pay a quarter, read something worthy. The problem is that micropayments are not interesting for most news outlets: the friction of current solutions is high, the resulting revenue stream, unsteady. Monthly / yearly subscriptions bring a better revenue stream, and cost way less. If micropayments were indeed zero-friction, and effectively zero-cost, maybe they'd be (reluctantly) integrated.
  - abrahms 3y ago
    My experience w/ most news outlets is that they have a random article I'm linked to. That's not worth a subscription in my mind. A news service you have an ongoing relationship with is.
rdm_blackhole 3y ago
If you pay yearly, you usually get a discount so you cant multiply by 12.
mariusor 3y ago
I'm deeply disturbed of this normalization of software as a subscription service. I want the return of good old days when people could pay once for their software and use it in perpetuity.
- Barrin92 3y ago
  subscription is a significantly fairer revenue model for software which undergoes regular upgrades and has support, which is most software nowadays. It makes sure that people who continue to use continue to pay. Upfront charges are often either too low with long term users free-riding or too high, in case the project is abandoned. Subscription makes it much more likely to price products correctly.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > subscription is a significantly fairer revenue model for software which undergoes regular upgrades and has support I could not disagree more. Subscriptions for software are a deeply unfair approach. Great for the companies, of course, but not for users. A more fair approach is to charge for upgrades and support instead. At least that way, users only pay if/when they choose to obtain additional value.
    - charcircuit 3y ago
      Leaving nonpaying users on old versions on browsers with security issues and who will no longer support the latest web standards will be bad for the web.
      - JohnFen 3y ago
        How would it be bad for the web? If users want to stay on an old version, why shouldn't they be allowed to? Sure, there may be additional security considerations or missing functionality, but there's nothing wrong with a user making that choice.
        3y ago

widdershins 3y ago

Yep, you're right. At 5$/month they'd need 6.66M subscribed users. Still a lot, but more acheivable.

abirch 3y ago
Most people don't want to pay for anything. Look at all of the workarounds for news sites. I try to pay or donate for most of what I use but there seem to be a lot of people who want to get everything for free.
- nine_k 3y ago
  I totally won't mind paying for the occasional article I open, if micropayments were a thing! Pay a quarter, read something worthy. The problem is that micropayments are not interesting for most news outlets: the friction of current solutions is high, the resulting revenue stream, unsteady. Monthly / yearly subscriptions bring a better revenue stream, and cost way less. If micropayments were indeed zero-friction, and effectively zero-cost, maybe they'd be (reluctantly) integrated.
- abrahms 3y ago
  My experience w/ most news outlets is that they have a random article I'm linked to. That's not worth a subscription in my mind. A news service you have an ongoing relationship with is.

rdm_blackhole 3y ago

If you pay yearly, you usually get a discount so you cant multiply by 12.

mariusor 3y ago

I'm deeply disturbed of this normalization of software as a subscription service. I want the return of good old days when people could pay once for their software and use it in perpetuity.

Barrin92 3y ago
subscription is a significantly fairer revenue model for software which undergoes regular upgrades and has support, which is most software nowadays. It makes sure that people who continue to use continue to pay. Upfront charges are often either too low with long term users free-riding or too high, in case the project is abandoned. Subscription makes it much more likely to price products correctly.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > subscription is a significantly fairer revenue model for software which undergoes regular upgrades and has support I could not disagree more. Subscriptions for software are a deeply unfair approach. Great for the companies, of course, but not for users. A more fair approach is to charge for upgrades and support instead. At least that way, users only pay if/when they choose to obtain additional value.
  - charcircuit 3y ago
    Leaving nonpaying users on old versions on browsers with security issues and who will no longer support the latest web standards will be bad for the web.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      How would it be bad for the web? If users want to stay on an old version, why shouldn't they be allowed to? Sure, there may be additional security considerations or missing functionality, but there's nothing wrong with a user making that choice.
      - 3y ago