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Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

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Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#211

Post by ekianjo »

codeptualize wrote: post #63

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…

> I pay for the thing it allows me to do

Why can't software ever be "finished" or "sufficient" to meet your needs? I don't see the point of having software is updated day after day, month after month, if I am not interested in the new features they bring.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#212

Post by paintman252 »

rajamaka wrote: post #190
chrisseaton wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the software requires continuous updates and a server component and storage and things, this doesn't make any sense.

Seems to work for most video games

Does it? The servers of average video game don't last very long

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#213

Post by [deleted] »

danielvaughn wrote: post #79
codeptualize wrote: post #63

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.

[deleted]

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#214

Post by mschuster91 »

manigandham wrote: post #152
webmobdev wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me add some more fuel to the debate - How can software-as-a-service be regulated in a way that it balances consumer rights and the rights of a business? Perhaps: 1. Every SaaS business should be compelled to offer both a subscription price and perpetual license at a fixed price. 2. The fixed price of a perpetual license should not be more than 10x or 20x (?) of the monthly subscription price. 3. If a user has opt…

Regulation is the worst solution to any of this. Let the free market figure it out and you'll find enough competition if there really is enough demand.

The "free market" will always, always end up with large fish eating up the small fish and extracting rents once the competition is eliminated and the startup costs too high for startups to enter the market.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#215

Post by analog31 »

nathan_compton wrote: post #141
Brian_K_White wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I sold furniture, the designs and manufacturing processes and materials usage all undergo continuous iteration, yet when I sell you your chair, you don't have to keep paying me forever to keep using it. 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…

No one is going to use an unpatched bug in your chair to rob your house.

Nobody is going to pay for an unpatched bug in a chair in the first place, and then be happy when they're asked to pay more to fix it.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#216

Post by ekianjo »

alanfranz wrote: post #112
daveoc64 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how a lot of games work (and have done for decades). You buy the game once, then get access to online multiplayer servers. Subscription models encourage constant needless changes to the product.

Very few follow that trend, though, and servers sometime get shut down after a while, exactly because they have a price. And expansions, dlcs, seasons, are a way to subsidize such online services. How many games that offer no additional packages keep their online offering working forever?

> How many games that offer no additional packages keep their online offering working forever?

All the games that actually released binaries for hosting your own servers. That used to be the standard back in the day.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#217

Post by imperfect_blue »

bluedino wrote: post #184
Joeri wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software used to require little maintenance work. You would buy your software and run it without a single byte changed for 5 or 10 years, and then buy a new version. This worked because OS updates were rare, and everything was local and file-based. In the modern era though software requires continuous maintenance, because we expect our data to move freely between all our devices and the cloud, because operating syste…

You can still run 30 year old accounting and manufacturing software on your midsize IBM. Plenty of people still do it.

They do it not because they want to but because they have no choice. The UX on those software are horrible by modern standards and incur massive wastes of manhours.

Had a subscription model been used, those software might have benefited from 30 years worth of usability updates...or they might still be garbage, looking at SAP.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#218

Post by Varqu »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #110
danielvaughn wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If I sold furniture, the designs and manufacturing processes and materials usage all undergo continuous iteration, yet when I sell you your chair, you don't have to keep paying me forever to keep using it. 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…

Speaking from a consumer perspective, there should be definitely 2 options: 1. You pay for a subscription $X per month and get the newest updates. 2. You pay $Y*X once, but then you are left with the version which you bought in the first place.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#219

Post by viraptor »

Kye wrote: post #193
viraptor wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't realise that. Now I actually want them to cut a new version soon. They deserve my money again and then some.

That's the neat thing. They're always making a new version. They dropped a whole notation editor in with nothing more than an item in the changelog. The video compositor is always improving. You get all of whatever version you start on (Even if you start at x.99), plus the next, and then your license is done unless you renew it. So no matter what, I don't get updates after 6.99 unless I renew. Most of what I do music…

Oh, I know they release new versions, I've been using them for over a year. I meant that I wouldn't mind if they released a major version every year or two. Still worth it.

Re: Dear startups: I hate subscription services (2021)

#220

Post by ghaff »

projektfu wrote: post #173
nathan_compton wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is going to use an unpatched bug in your chair to rob your house.

No, but if my dehumidifier model causes fires it will be recalled and I'll get my money back to buy a new one. Although, I think some companies use recalls in a dark pattern, specifically baby product companies.

So you're talking about an unusually serious flaw and almost certainly for some bounded period of time--and assuming the purchasers even learns of the recall. Automobiles aside, I don't think in my 60+ years I have ever been aware of a recall on a product I purchased.
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