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Subscription Hell

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Re: Subscription Hell

#91

Post by 3pt14159 »

always_good wrote: post #58
techsupporter wrote: post #33

At the time of this writing, all of the comments here are focused on content, but I want to touch on the author's bit about software: > It’s not just Bloomberg and media — it’s software too. I used to write everything in Ulysses, a syncing Markdown editor for OS X and iOS. I paid $70 to buy the apps, but then the company switched to a $40 a year annual subscription, and as the dozens of angry reviews and comments ill…

One-time payments for software amount to a pyramid scheme where you benefit from the money of future users. That's not without its downsides either, where your userbase grows indefinitely yet doesn't pay for its own support-email rent. There's obviously a middle ground, like being able to at least use the version you paid for indefinitely but having to pay a smaller price to upgrade. But which direction a pricing str…

The middle ground doesn't work. See MS Windows update hell.

The way things should work is like this: Subscription for when you want to use the software and open format data files that you're always easily able to export and download.

If a company goes out of business or does something stupid then another one will pop up to handle your needs. This aligns incentives correctly while still allows a healthy dose of competition.

Re: Subscription Hell

#92

Post by 3pt14159 »

RandomBookmarks wrote: post #69
flanbiscuit wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edit: disregard my comment below, as others have reminded me, the yearly charge is for updates and will not stop you from using it completely if you decide not to renew it, you just don't get any more updates. So this isn't the best example > I have noticed this as well, that a not-small number of software programs have turned from "give us one money for this version" to "give us slightly smaller amount of one money…

But the website says: Your license comes with a year’s worth of updates. Once that year is up, you can keep using the last version of Sketch you downloaded, forever. That sounds ok to me.

What happens if there is a security hole in your version?

Re: Subscription Hell

#94

Post by Someone »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #18

I am not sure why it is so fundamentally difficult for publications to understand what people want. The issue many people, myself included, have with subscriptions are that you pay $x / month whether or not you read that month's product. And whether or not you read every article or just one. So for me, as a consumer, my "price per article" goes from small to literally infinity (pay but read zero articles). Now the pa…

”I am not sure why it is so fundamentally difficult for publications to understand what people want”

Why do you think they don’t understand? AFAIK, Blendle’s business model (even at those prices you think are too high) hasn’t proven viable yet.

Re: Subscription Hell

#95

Post by carapace »

always_good wrote: post #62
carapace wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that "micropayments" weren't even mentioned in this article leads me to dismiss it. There still doesn't seem to be a "Twitter of Micropayments" yet. Gratipay shut down, (RIP) https://gratipay.news/the-end-cbfba8f50981?gi=54bc4ed25327 Patreon takes a percentage, which, to me, seems unjustifiable.

You suggest that the lack of even mentioning micropayments leads you to dismiss the article. But then you point out that there is no viable micropayments platform. Doesn't seem like there's much to mention beyond "yup, still doesn't exist."

> You suggest that the lack of even mentioning micropayments leads you to dismiss the article.

I didn't suggest, I stated it baldly.

> But then you point out that there is no viable micropayments platform.

No I didn't. I mentioned one that is defunct, and one that is popular but that I have a problem with personally. The article I linked to about Gratipay references Liberapay (https://liberapay.com/) and Open Collective (https://opencollective.com/) but I didn't want to mention them because I haven't checked them out myself. There are probably others.

> Doesn't seem like there's much to mention beyond "yup, still doesn't exist."

And yet this low bar is unsurmounted?

Wrote a whole article about "Subscription Hell" yet won't step over to the watercooler full of lemonade.

Good day sir.

Re: Subscription Hell

#96

Post by xab9 »

Bishonen88 wrote: post #87
xab9 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like Webstorm? I do feel that I get value for my money and with the yearly fee I get all the updates (which are important in the ever changing world of web development), but sometimes it still feels like protection racket.

no, not like webstorm. Webstorm is pretty similar to sublime text. You pay a price for a perpetual license. After one year of use, you can decide whether you keep on using the 'old' version, or if you pay again to have the newest one with all the updates. I think the comment you were referring to was thinking about stuff like adobe, where if you don't pay, you don't get anything.

Indeed, you're right. Don't Adobe give you some "cloud storage" thing though? Fortunately now that we're using Figma I don't have to deal with the hundred pound gorilla called Photoshop.

Re: Subscription Hell

#97

Post by ada1981 »

techsupporter wrote: post #33

At the time of this writing, all of the comments here are focused on content, but I want to touch on the author's bit about software: > It’s not just Bloomberg and media — it’s software too. I used to write everything in Ulysses, a syncing Markdown editor for OS X and iOS. I paid $70 to buy the apps, but then the company switched to a $40 a year annual subscription, and as the dozens of angry reviews and comments ill…

I’ve been really stoked with Adobes offering around this, full access to all their products for $30 a month or so.

Re: Subscription Hell

#98

Post by flanbiscuit »

RandomBookmarks wrote: post #69
flanbiscuit wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edit: disregard my comment below, as others have reminded me, the yearly charge is for updates and will not stop you from using it completely if you decide not to renew it, you just don't get any more updates. So this isn't the best example > I have noticed this as well, that a not-small number of software programs have turned from "give us one money for this version" to "give us slightly smaller amount of one money…

But the website says: Your license comes with a year’s worth of updates. Once that year is up, you can keep using the last version of Sketch you downloaded, forever. That sounds ok to me.

Ah yes I completely forgot about that and you're right, that does sound ok to me

Re: Subscription Hell

#99

Post by gergles »

techsupporter wrote: post #45
baxtr wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. A subscription to Office 365 comes down to 99 Euros per years. Of course you’d pay maybe 150 every three years or so for a new version back in the days, but still that’s double. Also, I wonder whether this will lead to a slower development of the software. Before you’d have to create a leap forward to impress people to buy the new version, if the old version was still good enough.

I like that you mentioned Office 365 because I see that as "subscription done right." You can still buy perpetual licenses for the components of Office, you can easily store the data you created with those components locally, and if you stop paying for Office-as-a-subscription the same programs still let you view (but not edit) your data. Carrot Weather App is another good one. Pay $5 once to get a really polished we…

Conversely, I find Carrot Weather ridiculous when Dark Sky is $4 one time and uses the exact same data source. They (DS) don't try to gouge you for Apple Watch features, which I interpret as "they're probably rich so why not?"

$4 a year (or $10, if you don't dismiss the 'ultrapremium club' popup and buy that by mistake) plus the $5 one time is not remotely what I would consider worth paying for a weather app unless Carrot was out in the wild building weather stations.

You'll also note that Carrot's website nor App Store description even mention the existence of this buy-up (except on the support page - but why would I look at the support page for an app I was thinking about buying?) or the pricing. They also deceptively show a photo of the Apple Watch showing weather, which is technically correct (the best kind of correct) - but the Apple Watch doesn't update in the background (or give you weather notifications) unless you pay for a subscription. Because weather apps that don't update are really useful.

Also, it doesn't "cost the dev more" to send updates to a watch instead of the phone (they're going through the phone anyway,) so I don't buy your justification for paying more for it. It's just a way to market segment and try to scam more money from people who have already paid above market for a weather app. You get Weather Underground data with the 'cheap' sub... but only on the phone. If you want it on the watch, you have to get the expensive sub. This also makes no sense. There's no way in hell wxug is charging extra based on the target device.

Re: Subscription Hell

#100

Post by Something1234 »

3pt14159 wrote: post #92
RandomBookmarks wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the website says: Your license comes with a year’s worth of updates. Once that year is up, you can keep using the last version of Sketch you downloaded, forever. That sounds ok to me.

What happens if there is a security hole in your version?

Air gap it.
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