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Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

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Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be precise, their base software is Free software, licensed under the AGPLv3. The also distribute non-Free (and non-Open Source, and non-gratis) software. Their base software has an artificial limit in terms of number of users and number of 'collections', which goes contrary to the ethics of Free software.

How can this be an issue if their base software is open source? Just recompile it with the numbers upped, surely?

Your passwords are stored on their server. You'd have to compile and run your own server, which is more expensive than the $1/month they're asking for.

Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#33
With all these subscription-only apps that are proliferating, I am curious how many enterprising app developers would be interested in making and marketing "cloudless" apps that rely on up-front high prices for revenue, but neverending free updates (mostly bug fixes, I would hope). With GDPR, this seems like it would be actually be easier to deliver.

Of course growth numbers may suck, given how hard it is to make it for any app these days. Long-term growth would probably actually not be sustainable because if it blows up, there is no additional revenue down the road from lack of subscription, and also no network effects to power exponential growth in terms of market share. As far as I can tell, if you're not going to do subscription, there's no way to force users to pay to upgrade to a new version (new features) in the Apple App Store, not sure about Google Play. Your only option is to maybe create a new separate app that's able to import data from the old app, but that seems tacky to me. So, this really wouldn't be a big long-term play at all. But I imagine that there must be short-term markets out there willing to pay for apps that don't keep their data and usage hostage.

I'm myself thinking of making an app like this for budget tracking, just because I haven't found any out there these days that don't require neverending subscriptions and also fit my unique needs. Cloudless is also fine for me, as my phone is storage enough, or if it isn't enough, maybe use my iCloud storage, Dropbox storage, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc for holding the data? Besides that, it'll finally give me the kick in the behind I need to finally learn Swift, which I've been meaning to do for a while. Alas, I imagine cost of customer acquisition may be too high to make even a short-term profit.

So... would this just be a small project for me to prove I can learn Swift and show future employers that I can make smartphone apps too? Or is there actually a real business here and in so many other niches because some people hate being locked into subscription fees? Curious if anyone else has some thoughts.

Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#34

I've been using KeepassXC (KeePass w/ macOS GUI elements) and enjoying it. It's a little simple (you just copy and paste the PW). It doesn't do fancy autofill but there's support for pretty much every OS. (I use Spideroak to sync the DB across devices)

KeepassXC does have a browser extension for Firefox & Chrome.

I use Syncthing to sync it among devices, it's open source and fairly simple to use(compared to other DIY cloud apps)

Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#36
I did not pay for a subscription software, I bought a password manager which stored password locally.

I also don't want to pay for a upgrade just because apple upgraded the OS.

I now only buy mac software on Mac App Store.

Apps which I have not renewed include 1password, screenflow, textmate, vmware Fusion,

Paid Products I wish were on Mac App Store with free updates. Sublime, Paragon NTFS , printopia

Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#37
post #4

Good timing that I moved all my passwords from 1Password to Emacs and GPG one year ago. It’s a pity; I’ve been a very happy customer for a long time, had licenses for multiple machines and was happy enough to pay for the updates. But my data shall be my data, again. I’m not paying for an app that I regularly have to buy an upgrade for and which doesn’t give me the opportunity to hold my data locally after explicitly…

Could you comment on your emacs setup? I see a few threads on this from Google, but just curious what your setup is and maybe some tidbits about the pros and cons of this kind of setup. Thanks in advance.

Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#38
post #5

I have been using Bitwarden for some time now. It’s an open source password manager. There are apps for all major platforms and extensions to all major browsers. Checkout https://bitwarden.com/

To be precise, their base software is Free software, licensed under the AGPLv3. The also distribute non-Free (and non-Open Source, and non-gratis) software. Their base software has an artificial limit in terms of number of users and number of 'collections', which goes contrary to the ethics of Free software.

> which goes contrary to the ethics of Free software.

No it doesn’t. Free software doesn’t have to be free: Even on the GPL page it’s written that it’s even ok to sell free software. It’s only unethical if you equate OSS to software communism, but that’s another topic.

So anything that encourages the user to either use the freemium, then either dive into the code or either pay, is ethically correct. After all, you can download their AGPL, knock the limit, and redistribute. At which point you’ll be a contributor and while you’re at it, you’ll probably make a few other improvements: it means effectively free for contributors, which is awesome. See, it articulates quite well gratis, contributors and funding.

It’s only designed to make enterprises pay, which is good because they can “donate” huge sums for good software, so it funds the open-source community quite well. And it retains the qualities of OSS: You know what you install, you’re not tied to the editor if he dies, and if they stop improving the software, a contributor can take over their code and become more famous. Win-win-win.

Re: Getting 1Password 7 ready for the Mac App Store

#40
post #33

With all these subscription-only apps that are proliferating, I am curious how many enterprising app developers would be interested in making and marketing "cloudless" apps that rely on up-front high prices for revenue, but neverending free updates (mostly bug fixes, I would hope). With GDPR, this seems like it would be actually be easier to deliver. Of course growth numbers may suck, given how hard it is to make it…

> I'm myself thinking of making an app like this for budget tracking, just because I haven't found any out there these days that don't require neverending subscriptions and also fit my unique needs.

Did you try GnuCash? It's not user friendly but a friend of mine swears by it.

https://www.gnucash.org/

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