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Earlier quoted context omitted.
You own a license, instead of paying for a license in perpetuity.
When the software requires continuous updates and a server component and storage and things, this doesn't make any sense.
Dear customers: we know. But our businesses are viable as subscription services, and not as one-off or ad-hoc puchase models. We know because we tried them. So we're catering to the people who are OK with buying a subscription because there are enough of them. Sorry if that doesn't suit you.
> But our businesses are viable as subscription services, and not as one-off or ad-hoc puchase models. Doesn't explain businesses that had been per-purchase for a long time and are now still switching to subscriptions though. (E.g. photoshop, jetbrains...)
Jetbrains is a great example, because with a steadily growing ecosystem of third party developer tools that they must integrate with, their maintenance cost is probably high and rising. We expect our IDE’s to support everything under the sun but balk at paying for the never-ending work needed to support that. Something’s gotta give in that equation.
Some subscriptions are horribly expensive. $8/month for something I’d be happy to pay $10/year.
That’s the real problem. A lot of services come out at $50/$60 per year with minimal improvements over an OSS or ad-supported tool.
Not sure if credit cards are in openbanking but that would be the core of it
However, for guys like Netflix or for those companies that ship cooking ingredients and recipes to your door, I would happily be gouged by them for one or two on demand purchases.
Dear customers: we know. But our businesses are viable as subscription services, and not as one-off or ad-hoc puchase models. We know because we tried them. So we're catering to the people who are OK with buying a subscription because there are enough of them. Sorry if that doesn't suit you.
> But our businesses are viable as subscription services, and not as one-off or ad-hoc puchase models. Doesn't explain businesses that had been per-purchase for a long time and are now still switching to subscriptions though. (E.g. photoshop, jetbrains...)
For example, Adobe is the largest SaaS by revenue:
https://www.mikesonders.com/largest-saas-companies/
— Model clearly works if you look at Abobe’s revenue per year since 2004:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266399/revenue-of-adobe-...
— Here’s a detailed history of Abobe, if you’re interested in the SaaS part, just search for “SaaS” on the page:
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You own a license, instead of paying for a license in perpetuity.
And how frequently would said license be renewed? How about for maximum flexability we do a per user rolling monthly license.
I don't mind subscriptions, I actually prefer them for many things. Especially for software I rely on I want the developers to consistently earn money so they keep motivated to work on it, do maintenance and fix bugs. I don't pay for software, I pay for the thing it allows me to do. Me paying a subscription fee creates an incentive and responsibility to keep things working. If there is a backend component to its even…
It blows my mind that there are people in this thread who think that a business should charge once for a product that requires iteration or continued backend support.
Yes, you also don't get updates to it.
That is actually perfectly fine for countless bits of software.
I have 30 year old software, and it still does it's original job just fine, if I happen to be ok with all it's original limitations. It's too late to try to say that is an insane idea, since, I already have it in my hands to prove that it's possible.
And then there is media. Every provider wants to force everyone onto the perpetual rent, nothing to leave to your kids, model for books/music/video, not just software. What's the "it blows my mind" excuse there?
It does not blow my mind at all that there are people on HN trying to excuse and justify this rent-life hell they've created for everyone else. It is the most obvious thing in the world.