I feel like I'm suffering from Deja Vu suddenly when I see members on here moaning about subscription models. I literally just wrote a post on this topic on another thread.
Here's the full article, but below is a summary of what I said:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...tures-and-complications.2365350/post-31617006
People have a very narrow-minded view of subscriptions and simply bemoan them without thinking about why companies are taking this approach. Times have changed people.
It was a very different world in software development before subscription models existed. Only Windows and Mac versions existed. Sometimes it was just the one. There were fewer updates. You didn't expect the developers to support a cloud platform. You also had lower support expectations as you didn't expect a reply within the day.
With a sub-model, you are supporting your favourite software. You are supporting the development and future of the product, and you are paying for the ongoing costs.
So before whining about subscription models, how about you look at why the economics of products have changed? You want cloud features. You want constant updates. You want 24/7 support. You want it across all your devices.
A one-time fee simply doesn't provide the necessary income to support this. A subscription model does, plus it allows users always to receive the latest version of the software.
Cloud data needs to be stored somewhere and this has costs yet we want more and more storage. Who pays for this? Who pays for the developers constantly delivering updates? Who pays for their business costs? Who pays for their marketing, research and more? Do you think it's all free?
Finally, many moan about subscription costs yet everyone is completely oblivious to the fact that we all laughed at the iPhones launch price of $600, yet nobody bats an eyelid today spending $1600 on today's 13 Pro Max....(double the cost if you were to value it in today's money).
I'm not saying all software should be subscription based. Small utilities and accessories don't deserve this, but full-fledged packages (even from the likes of Microsoft and Adobe), are well-suited to subscription models.