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37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

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Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#191

Post by mattbgates »

whelp_24 wrote: post #155
mattbgates wrote: post #87

While I love the idea for simple software services, it doesn't work to support the actual lifetime of the software, though it can work to an extent. Adobe would be a good example of offering a one-time payment. You get a lifetime for that version of the software. However, you'd have to upgrade/pay another fee to upgrade to the next version, perhaps for a reduced price, and this is likely to be many versions. The issu…

You seem to be against actually selling software, and tactily agreeing that the main beneficiary of the saas is the business renting the software to consumers. We already know that company benefits from not actually selling you software.

It's selling it at the one-time price that may have long-term consequences. So it sounds great in theory and gives investors a chance to feel like they own it, but subscriptions are better in the fact that they are continued support for the product. I guess it just means not every product can be sold for a one-time price, though there is software out there where it works just fine to do so.

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#192

Post by grvdrm »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #95
markstos wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do GIS projects infrequently as a hobby. Simple stuff. You want own some GIS software. Subscription is burdensome due to infrequent use and you don’t care about next year’s features.

Maybe just download QGIS?

Another way: just write some R, Python, etc. - plenty of GIS there too.

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#193

Post by pleoxy »

api wrote: post #25
msy wrote: post #20

While IT depts might be keen to put the genie back in the bottle they may find their ‘clients’ are less keen on waiting months to years for their needs to be met. AWS sold as an insurgent into many organisations precisely because it meant you could stand up a service in minutes, not quarters.

A gigantic reason for the move to cloud and SaaS is to get around moribund non-responsive "no, you can't do that" IT departments.

Until the shadow IT that is unmanaged cloud freedom results in the finance and/or policy dept instituting the governance controls again.

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#194

Post by LoganDark »

Gigachad wrote: post #188
smoldesu wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that, but then stuff like OnePass and Dropbox decide to reneg their subscription services down-the-line or simply make their clients worse. A lot of the time, a subscription to a program gives the developer no incentive to iterate on what already exists.

And then you just drop them for a competitor. Since you have no sunk costs, you lose nothing by hopping to whatever the best option is other than a small amount of pain migrating, But for something like dropbox, there isn't that much lock in.

What competitor?

In most cases this is entirely unrealistic.

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#195

Post by Gigachad »

LoganDark wrote: post #194
Gigachad wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you just drop them for a competitor. Since you have no sunk costs, you lose nothing by hopping to whatever the best option is other than a small amount of pain migrating, But for something like dropbox, there isn't that much lock in.

What competitor? In most cases this is entirely unrealistic.

I've never heard of OnePass so I have no idea, but Dropbox is very easy to replace. I'm also not even sure how you'd expect a "pay once" model to work for cloud storage.

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#196

Post by mym1990 »

vlod wrote: post #147
mym1990 wrote: post #91

The amount of money I have spent on subscriptions I have forgotten to cancel, or subscriptions I have misunderstood the agreement to(Adobe ahem) has to be in the few thousands or more... This is of course my fault and I have learned to be very wary about what I sign up for, but it doesn't keep me from having an icky feeling of dark patterns that take advantage of psychological behavior.

TIP: Every subscription goes to google calendar with a notification with T-2 weeks. This also works for paying bills on time to avoid fees like credit cards. Yes I could auto pay, but this helps me validate if I want X each month.

I will give that a shot!

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#197

Post by LoganDark »

Gigachad wrote: post #195
LoganDark wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What competitor? In most cases this is entirely unrealistic.

I've never heard of OnePass so I have no idea, but Dropbox is very easy to replace. I'm also not even sure how you'd expect a "pay once" model to work for cloud storage.

For cloud storage a subscription model makes perfect sense, since the entire point is that you're renting server space on an ongoing basis. What I don't want to do is have to rent simple machine code that should be executable by my processor perfectly fine without any third party involved. Why should I have to rent Photoshop if it runs perfectly fine without internet access? I'm not renting server space from Adobe. It costs them nothing for me to run the software. They just want to charge me on an ongoing basis for no good reason.

For a password manager KeePassXC is better than all proprietary offerings and it's free and plenty of implementations are available on all major platforms.

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#199

Post by 112233 »

Gigachad wrote: post #186
mrbadguy wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does everyone have to be on the latest version?

They don't, It's just a better result for the users who get newer and better software, and a better result for the sellers who only have to support one version and get a consistent cash flow.

But what if it is newer and not better? Lightroom regularly breaks plugin compatibility, increases resource consumption and processing time, or simply stops working. If your workflow depends on software, that no longer works after a forced update, what are your options?

There are people running ancient MacOS versions, because that allows them to keep using professional firewire audio interfaces they have.

How would subscription model that breaks expensive hardware compatibility, breaks all your existing photo/video projects (aperture/final cut), or breaks compatibility with really expensive plugins needed for work be better for users?

Re: 37signals Introduces "Once" - Buy software one time

#200

Post by stefandesu »

stanmancan wrote: post #2

My favourite licensing models for self-hosted software are perpetual fallback licenses. Jetbrains does this well and their description of it is: A perpetual fallback license is a license that allows you to use a specific version of software without an active subscription for it. The license also includes all bugfix updates, more specifically in X.Y.Z version all Z releases are included.

Even better is the licensing model where you can keep using the version as-is after the subscription ends. You just don't get any new features. It's even possible to do on iOS, as Working Copy [0] is doing it. (You also get all the bug fixes and stuff, only new features are behind a flag that requires you to purchase another year of updates. I would also argue that Working Copy specifically is too cheap, but I guess it's working for them.)

[0]: https://workingcopyapp.com

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