4 ms·

I just want to purchase software these days. Not another subscription.

by bb88 2y ago

smaccona 2y ago
The homelab and professional editions have lifetime licenses available - I didnt notice them in the pricing section but there’s a link to them in the FAQ
- bb88 2y ago
  The issue is do I own the software or rely upon SaaS infra I can't control? I'm not really interested in the latter.
  - crschnick 2y ago
    You will own a lifetime license for the software if you choose the lifetime plan. Everyone has seen it in practice that some companies try to pull a bait and switch by then changing the terms of licenses or simply shutting down the servers when going out of business. Since this is a desktop tool not hosted on any server infrastructure, at least the latter part isn't that much of a risk. You still have to have some trust in me to honor the license terms, but I try my best to build that trust. There is also an offline license functionality, meaning that if you obtain a lifetime license and request an offline license file, that one will not perform any verification with any online services, so it will work forever without any dependency on some SaaS infra. Anyone interested in that can simply request an offline license, you can find the details on the pricing page. The offline licenses are also often used for usage in air-gapped environments.
    - KomoD 2y ago
      The feature matrix says you can't get an offline license with "Homelab" though.
      - crschnick 2y ago
        Alright, fair point. I will change that on the website, you can still write me an email to request that
crschnick 2y ago
I fully get that. The reason why it focuses on the subscription model is that is quite difficult to plan ahead with an irregular revenue stream. Everything is financed via bootstrapping, so I can't afford to burn through money or have irregular revenue over time when planning expenses.
- BehindTheMath 2y ago
  Doesn't that mean that you're charging extra from those that don't care about updates to subsidize them for those that do?
  - whalesalad 2y ago
    that's how software as a service works.
  - crschnick 2y ago
    I think everyone cares about updates to some degree. Doesn't have to be about big feature updates, just continuous fixes for various small bugs and performance improvements can improve you user experience quite a bit. If you used XPipe a year ago, it's night and day compared to today in terms of features, stability, and performance.
- bb88 2y ago
  So typically I'm fine with something like a $50 upfront cost and then $10/year for updates (that actually get updated). Or maybe a license with $70 with two years of updates included and then $10/year afterward. Or what Jetbrains does and reduce the cost of the subscription over time, but let the users still use their last version after the subscription ends.

I just want to purchase software these days. Not another subscription.

by bb88 2y ago

I just want to purchase software these days. Not another subscription.

The homelab and professional editions have lifetime licenses available - I didnt notice them in the pricing section but there’s a link to them in the FAQ

bb88 2y ago
The issue is do I own the software or rely upon SaaS infra I can't control? I'm not really interested in the latter.
- crschnick 2y ago
  You will own a lifetime license for the software if you choose the lifetime plan. Everyone has seen it in practice that some companies try to pull a bait and switch by then changing the terms of licenses or simply shutting down the servers when going out of business. Since this is a desktop tool not hosted on any server infrastructure, at least the latter part isn't that much of a risk. You still have to have some trust in me to honor the license terms, but I try my best to build that trust. There is also an offline license functionality, meaning that if you obtain a lifetime license and request an offline license file, that one will not perform any verification with any online services, so it will work forever without any dependency on some SaaS infra. Anyone interested in that can simply request an offline license, you can find the details on the pricing page. The offline licenses are also often used for usage in air-gapped environments.
  - KomoD 2y ago
    The feature matrix says you can't get an offline license with "Homelab" though.
    - crschnick 2y ago
      Alright, fair point. I will change that on the website, you can still write me an email to request that

crschnick 2y ago

I fully get that. The reason why it focuses on the subscription model is that is quite difficult to plan ahead with an irregular revenue stream. Everything is financed via bootstrapping, so I can't afford to burn through money or have irregular revenue over time when planning expenses.

BehindTheMath 2y ago
Doesn't that mean that you're charging extra from those that don't care about updates to subsidize them for those that do?
- whalesalad 2y ago
  that's how software as a service works.
- crschnick 2y ago
  I think everyone cares about updates to some degree. Doesn't have to be about big feature updates, just continuous fixes for various small bugs and performance improvements can improve you user experience quite a bit. If you used XPipe a year ago, it's night and day compared to today in terms of features, stability, and performance.
bb88 2y ago
So typically I'm fine with something like a $50 upfront cost and then $10/year for updates (that actually get updated). Or maybe a license with $70 with two years of updates included and then $10/year afterward. Or what Jetbrains does and reduce the cost of the subscription over time, but let the users still use their last version after the subscription ends.