Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

Post by OJFord » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 12:49 PM UTC

nvr219 wrote: post #188

jwr wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a cynical take, but is actually close to the truth. The usual take is that businesses are "greedy" and subscription models are "lucrative". The word I'd rather use is "sustainable". Maintaining software (any software) is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort. It needs to be paid for on an ongoing basis. Even a tiny phone app needs regular maintenance work just to stay current with OS and tools de…

> It is unrealistic to expect to be able to pay once and use an app "forever". No it's not. This is very realistic: pay once for a license to use the software, and then you pay a maintenance fee every year to get the updates and new versions. You stop paying, you stop getting the updates, but whatever you have already still works. There's no shortage of examples but I'll give a shout-out to one of my favorite softwar…

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 12:50 PM UTC

pyrrhotech wrote: post #154

xg15 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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...)

take a look at ADBE stock chart before and after they switched to SAAS model

Post by Swenrekcah » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 12:51 PM UTC

renonce wrote: post #182

viraptor wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is unrealistic to expect to be able to pay once and use an app "forever". That's the other extreme though. There's a middle ground that http://reaper.fm/ uses. You buy the current x and x+1 versions. Then you pay for the license again for x+2, x+3 if you want to. The price is very reasonable and there's no subscription as such. If you're happy with the old major version, you can use it as long as it continues to…

In that case the number of users who would buy x+2, x+3 is probably not half as many as users who bought x, x+1 and the developers would no longer be incentivized to build any more versions, making such a business unsustainable. And newer versions of operating systems, especially Windows, break old software like Office 2003 to ensure that you are using the latest version of Office 365 so they can profit. You can stay…

Post by spaceman_2020 » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 12:51 PM UTC

StevenWaterman wrote: post #157

mattjenner wrote: post #21

Dear innovative people: think of a better model. 1. Free = problematic with the lack of money 2. Freemium = looks good if the balance is right 3. Ads = Mostly works but the model is flawed and skewed 4. Subscription = Love/Hate currently trendy but too relied on 5. Pay-what-you-can = Fans provide the service for everyone 6. Premium only = Only what it's worth, when it's worth 7. Enterprise = S'ok because my company/o…

Metered usage, pay for what you use

Post by viraptor » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 12:52 PM UTC

renonce wrote: post #182

viraptor wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is unrealistic to expect to be able to pay once and use an app "forever". That's the other extreme though. There's a middle ground that http://reaper.fm/ uses. You buy the current x and x+1 versions. Then you pay for the license again for x+2, x+3 if you want to. The price is very reasonable and there's no subscription as such. If you're happy with the old major version, you can use it as long as it continues to…

In that case the number of users who would buy x+2, x+3 is probably not half as many as users who bought x, x+1 and the developers would no longer be incentivized to build any more versions, making such a business unsustainable. And newer versions of operating systems, especially Windows, break old software like Office 2003 to ensure that you are using the latest version of Office 365 so they can profit. You can stay…