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Subscription Hell

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Re: Subscription Hell

#381

Post by hdra »

Reedx wrote: post #295
gkya wrote: post #154

> Today’s consumers though have significantly higher standards than the original users of the web. Consumers want immersive experiences, well-designed pages with fonts, graphics, photos, and videos coming together into a compelling format. Citation needed. This comes up quite often, and people like to assume they know what users want all the time. But is there actual, scientific evidence that, given the same content,…

Well, they say they researched it: "Yet, all of our research shows people want high-definition images with their stories, instant loading of articles on the site, and interactivity." They understand how much more expensive an image and JS heavy site is to develop and host, so they must have good reason to go through the trouble?

While that sounds reasonable, I wouldn't bet on it. I have seen too many inane bloat that was implemented simply because the designer/developer/project manager thought it was a cool thing to have or because they read it on some growth-hack thoughtpiece somewhere.

Re: Subscription Hell

#382

Post by psandersen »

rolleiflex wrote: post #277
wpietri wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A model I really like is the one IntelliJ uses. They encourage you to buy a subscription. But when you buy a year at once, you get a "perpetual fallback license" such that you can always keep using the version that is current when you buy: https://sales.jetbrains.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207240845-What... That means I always will have access to my projects and to the level of functionality I start with. But I keep getti…

One thing that always rubbed me wrong about this is that, logically speaking, if you buy a license for a year, the perpetual fallback license should be the version you had at the end of the license, not the one that was on the market at the beginning of it. It doesn't really make sense the way they do it, and it feels like a particularly hamfisted attempt to grab an almost negligible amount of money, so I'm puzzled.

Wait, so if I've paid the subscription fee for 2 years I get the one at the start of the subscription period?

Some lag from the latest version seems fair, e.g. 6 months before the latest major version is perpetual...

Re: Subscription Hell

#383

Post by wott »

lajhsdfkl wrote: post #218
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I don't think it would be a great loss to forgo most of the advertising funded content.

>Honestly, I don't think it would be a great loss to forgo most of the advertising funded content. Since you clearly haven't put much thought into this comment let's just start listing things that are funded by ads - News - content creators on youtube - music - twitch - search - blogs - websites with tutorials - a thousand different things which I have missed and then facebook, snapchat, instagram, and twitter which…

- News

Best TV and radio channels across the globe are government channels, funded by tax.

- content creators on youtube & twitch

99,99% dispensable trash.

- music

Music funded by ads???

- search

The only point that holds in your list. Could perfectly be funded by ISPs as part of our Internet subscription.

- blogs & websites with tutorials

No need for funding. Cost to setup is zero (provided by ISP) or close to zero (basic hosting or domain name registering).

Re: Subscription Hell

#384

Post by dabockster »

cornholio wrote: post #35

I disagree with the author that subscriptions are objectively and inherently the superior model for web monetization. An unsung virtue of the ad-driven web it's is inclusiveness and strong worldwide redistribution effects. Everybody sees the ads, however the actual value of a pair of eyeballs is widely variable, by orders of magnitude so. It's therefore profitable to make the content free and distribute it as far as…

Maybe it's possible to create a sort of tiered system. The latest news and top stories are always free, but the detailed analysis and exposes (the stuff that usually wins awards) require a subscription. On the more local news level, maybe require a subscription to read the restaurant reviews or something.

I'm not going to pretend that this is the end all solution. But both the open web and journalism cannot survive in the present state. We have to adapt.

Re: Subscription Hell

#385

Post by tokyodude »

jjeaff wrote: post #115
hedora wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real innovation of the *aaS model is that you no longer need to compete with prior versions of your own software or hardware infrastructure. You can hike prices, cut engineering costs, cut some nines off your availability, defeature, or just plain embrace incompetence, and, in the short term, it will improve your balance sheet. Of course, in the long term, customers will revolt, and do so swiftly, and without mer…

I don't know. I think a lot of people have decided they like things like the Adobe products subscription. Instead of the several thousand dollars you would have had to pay for the various softwares in the lineup up front, you just pay $50 a month. Which is reasonable of you previously used more than just Photoshop and maybe upgraded every 3 to 4 years. If the end result is a similar cost, I would much rather keep my…

What? Am I doing my math wrong? Photoshop upgrades were always $199. Photoshop subscriptions are $239 a year. So upgrading every 3 year is $199 vs paying a subscription for 3 year is $747. How is paying nearly 3x keeping money in your business?

Re: Subscription Hell

#386

Post by mancerayder »

It's fine that this thread turned into a software subscription debate, but there's one thing troubling, very troubling, around the news subscription model:

These paywalls are blocking information about current events and one can argue that a society has an interest in keeping its population up to date on local and world events. Now, if all the reliable media will appeal mostly to people with means, what exactly are we expecting to happen?

Re: Subscription Hell

#387

Post by jimmybot »

psandersen wrote: post #382
rolleiflex wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that always rubbed me wrong about this is that, logically speaking, if you buy a license for a year, the perpetual fallback license should be the version you had at the end of the license, not the one that was on the market at the beginning of it. It doesn't really make sense the way they do it, and it feels like a particularly hamfisted attempt to grab an almost negligible amount of money, so I'm puzzled.

Wait, so if I've paid the subscription fee for 2 years I get the one at the start of the subscription period? Some lag from the latest version seems fair, e.g. 6 months before the latest major version is perpetual...

You're in luck. You get the version 12 months before the subscription ended, so the version released before the 1 year mark.

Re: Subscription Hell

#388

Post by frizkie »

mancerayder wrote: post #386

It's fine that this thread turned into a software subscription debate, but there's one thing troubling, very troubling, around the news subscription model: These paywalls are blocking information about current events and one can argue that a society has an interest in keeping its population up to date on local and world events. Now, if all the reliable media will appeal mostly to people with means, what exactly are w…

This does highlight the fact that before the internet, you paid for your news. TV or Newspaper.

Re: Subscription Hell

#389

Post by tokyodude »

madeofpalk wrote: post #219
jakobegger wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But 50€ a month is way too much for casual users. I do some vector design work maybe once a month. I'd love to buy a license for Illustrator, if it cost whatever it used to cost before Creative Cloud. I would use it for a long time. But 50€ per month is too much. So I bought a license for Affinity Designer instead. It covers most of my needs, and it's no subscription. I also bought a license for Sketch, since the sub…

They never became more expensive. They were extremely expensive to begin with and now they’re a lot cheaper. Previously it was like 500€ or so? That's too much for the casual user as well. Here’s the reality. I used to pirate Adobe software because there was no way I was going to pay 1500k or whatever Photoshop was. Adobe got $0 from me. Now I subscribe to get access to Photoshop. Adobe now gets £100 from me a year.…

they are way way more expensive now. I only upgraded every other version so $199 every 4 years or $50 a year. current Photoshop subscriptions is $239 a year or nearly 5x the price

Re: Subscription Hell

#390

Post by lajhsdfkl »

wott wrote: post #383
lajhsdfkl wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Honestly, I don't think it would be a great loss to forgo most of the advertising funded content. Since you clearly haven't put much thought into this comment let's just start listing things that are funded by ads - News - content creators on youtube - music - twitch - search - blogs - websites with tutorials - a thousand different things which I have missed and then facebook, snapchat, instagram, and twitter which…

- News Best TV and radio channels across the globe are government channels, funded by tax. - content creators on youtube & twitch 99,99% dispensable trash. - music Music funded by ads??? - search The only point that holds in your list. Could perfectly be funded by ISPs as part of our Internet subscription. - blogs & websites with tutorials No need for funding. Cost to setup is zero (provided by ISP) or close to zero…

>- content creators on youtube & twitch

>99,99% dispensable trash.

Yes, the thousands of tutorials/guides and content that people enjoy watching is trash. Everything that I don't find agreeable is trash.

>No need for funding. Cost to setup is zero (provided by ISP) or close to zero (basic hosting or domain name registering).

Yes, no need to give people money for work they do.

Do you have any respect for the work that goes into the content you read and or watch every day? Or do you think people should just be content volunteering their effort for no reward?

>The only point that holds in your list. Could perfectly be funded by ISPs as part of our Internet subscription.

Yes. Perfectly. Let's just tack on another $50 a month. Or are you actually suggesting that ISPs should just do it out of their good will?

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