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Just Pay the Subscription

uncommonapps.nyc

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Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#91

Post by dabluck »

erelong wrote: post #59

Interesting article, I guess it may come off as a reflection of being of a different mindset than an older style of open source software and culture? I thought the idea was, software is created with an open source and open license to it - so people know what the software is, and are able to make copies of it freely, and so that becomes hard to monetize. If you are trying to sell software and make it proprietary with…

Yes open source is a whole different animal, I had a paragraph addressing open source but decided it really needs its own essay, so stay tuned for 'open source is a scam'

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#92

Post by dabluck »

angiolillo wrote: post #89

At least in my case, when I lament the fact that everything is becoming a subscription I'm not judging independent developers who charge a subscription for their mobile or web apps. They need to stay abreast of an endless treadmill of bugs, security issues, and API changes and may have servers to maintain as well, and all of that costs money. But I do pine for the days when I could buy all the software I needed in a…

Yes, it's fine to nudge the world in the direction you want it to be, but it's also worth reconciling yourself to the world as it exists

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#94

Post by dabluck »

spwa4 wrote: post #83

First, a big part of subscription is the fault of Google and Apple, and that is not given enough credit. There are plenty of non-subscription software models that obviously work. But Apple and Google don't let them work, because of money. Yes, you need infrastructure and you need to keep paying for it ... because Google and Apple make it so. There is no reason apps can't work standalone, they're just making this hard…

It's definitely true that Apple and Google have not allowed enough experimentation here

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#95

Post by spwa4 »

dabluck wrote: post #90
spwa4 wrote: post #84

Is this REALLY a software developer making robocalling software complaining about intrusive ads? REALLY? Yes ... yes it is. I mean is there any doubt at all what companies will use this software for? (and of course, zero attention given to the fact that robocalling is illegal in most places. For good reason. Using this software is a crime. Which means scummy salespeople and scammers are the only ones going to use it)

I don't know what you're referring to but I own a podcast app and have nothing to do with robocalling

This is the app you're defending: https://cal.com/ai

First: this is obviously a robocalling application. It's probably illegal in half the world. And being against ads, but helping companies with robocalling ... that's not a very consistent attitude.

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#96

Post by Brendinooo »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #88
Brendinooo wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You pre-pay for some allotment of resources but get nothing back for unused resources. I dunno. This just doesn't quite compute to me as some universal principle. I paid $30 for a year of Strong (an iOS fitness app), for example. What do you see as the "allotment of resources" there? They're delivering maintenance upgrades and feature releases periodically that I'll use any time I log a workout; the app runs on a ph…

Why does a fitness tracker need continuous development? How on earth is something whose main competition is a $5 notebook and a $1 pen worth $50/yr? A fitness tracker is exactly the sort of software I would expect to pay once for. It doesn't need some compute-heavy backend. It shouldn't need any backend at all. The entire application is window dressing for a SQLite database.

Like I said, I'm paying $30 a year, not $50.

A pen and notebook do not provide a database of exercises with video instructions; they don't organize/aggregate my data to show records, chart progress over time, and do the 1RM math for me. They don't track my heart rate (via my watch, which live syncs to my phone when desired) and report health data to a service where I like to see it all aggregated. They don't run timers and they don't operate on a platform that can play music, which means they must be an extra thing I carry around and keep track of.

If you think a pen and notebook are the best solution for how you want to track workouts...great! And if you think you could match those features for a lesser cost, post it up and hopefully I'll find it! What I have is certainly not an essential good; one can definitely lift without it. But it provides services that I find worth the cost.

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#97

Post by Archit3ch »

As a developer, subscriptions come with a few problems:

- Users cannot open their old projects unless they pay the subscription.

- Lower uptake in general, which affects viral adoption ("my friends use this software, so will I"). This is important if you rely on word-of-mouth instead of ad spend.

- Need to keep shipping features to justify the subscription cost. There is less focus on stability/maintenance.

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#98

Post by Brendinooo »

JohnFen wrote: post #86
Brendinooo wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said in a different thread[0], the fact that some subscriptions are predatory doesn't mean subscriptions are necessarily predatory. > If you have a subscription for something, and you like it, it will change under your feet. It will get worse, and in effect, it will be taken from you. Then I can move on and find something else. If I really think I can't, then it's probably providing me with something I find valu…

> Then I can move on and find something else. This is a highly suboptimal solution to a problem that doesn't have to exist. If the application as it exists meets my needs, but an update makes it worse, I should be able to keep using the good one. If I just buy the application rather than license it, it won't change unless I choose for it to by buying the next version. That is ideal. There are a number of reasons why…

I agree that this would be a more ideal world to live in (at least as a consumer, dunno about as the kind of smaller-time developer the article is talking about), but I don't see it as something I can practically choose in 2026 given my mix of computing devices, my priorities, and the computing ecosystem writ large.

I have a couple of apps that I bought in the early days of the App Store that I can no longer use because I didn't think it worthwhile to keep an old iPod Touch running iOS 6 or whatever. I think my Adobe CS license stopped being viable...can't remember actually, if it was the switch to 64-bit or the switch off of Intel that killed it for good.

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#99

Post by angiolillo »

FatherOfCurses wrote: post #39

Every other business has figured out a way to operate on a single transaction model where I give them money and they give me a product and that is the end of our relationship until I need something else that they make. Somehow we have managed to operate in this manner for hundreds of years. Why is software development any different?

As evidenced by Rent-a-Center, automobile leases, and rental properties there are plenty of non-software businesses that cater to customers who prefer a subscription to a larger one-time transaction.

> Why is software development any different?

I think it's a combination of price-sensitivity and desire for internet-connected features. For example, MS Office 2010 Home was $150 in 2010 (which is ~$230 today due to inflation) and it looks like you can buy subscription-less MS Office 2024 Home for $180. But despite the price coming down in real terms, many people opt for the Microsoft 365 subscription for ~$10/month.

Re: Just Pay the Subscription

#100

Post by angiolillo »

dabluck wrote: post #92
angiolillo wrote: post #89

At least in my case, when I lament the fact that everything is becoming a subscription I'm not judging independent developers who charge a subscription for their mobile or web apps. They need to stay abreast of an endless treadmill of bugs, security issues, and API changes and may have servers to maintain as well, and all of that costs money. But I do pine for the days when I could buy all the software I needed in a…

Yes, it's fine to nudge the world in the direction you want it to be, but it's also worth reconciling yourself to the world as it exists

To be honest it's also a little bit of rose-colored glasses. In the 2000s I probably spent the equivalent of thousands of dollars purchasing one-time commercial software licenses and I appreciate not having to save up for that any more.
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