I wouldn’t mind renting software, if only subscription-based software was such that you only paid the money for the subscription. It would be a fine way of using something for a short term, and a fine way to get some sort of guarantee that the software is maintained.
But you’ll also end up paying with your data that they sell out.
Yes, and I feel pretty privileged that I can make a living with stuff like that instead of making money for some heartless corporation that doesn’t ultimately care about anything except for money.
No, but I also don’t expect that as a user. It is also fine if the developer makes version 2.0 and I can decide to buy the new version or not. Before the internet this was pretty much how it worked, a new version came on a new floppy or disc you’d buy in a store.
Then again, application software wasn’t cheap. Given inflation, would you pay a thousand bucks for a lifetime license of a piece of software that didn’t get any updates ever?
I was too young to really buy software but the most expensive game I bought as a kid was 40 guilders. If use and inflation correction calculator and convert to euros that game in 1995 would be 36 euros in todays money, about 40 dollars. This was a gameboy game.
A pc game back then was between 50 and 60 dollars (converted with inflation).
But this was all in a physical store, where you would get an actual box, book, cartridge or disc, etc.
I wouldn’t mind renting software, if only subscription-based software was such that you only paid the money for the subscription. It would be a fine way of using something for a short term, and a fine way to get some sort of guarantee that the software is maintained.
But you’ll also end up paying with your data that they sell out.
Maybe for the short term, but there is software you use every day, for years. Some android apps I have been using since 2014.
Reverse question: would you maintain a program that you wrote 11 years ago if it wasn’t making you money?
I do that, so I can say “yes” with conviction.
Open source, I assume? Extremely laudable and I hope you don’t have to make big financial compromises for that.
Yes, and I feel pretty privileged that I can make a living with stuff like that instead of making money for some heartless corporation that doesn’t ultimately care about anything except for money.
No, but I also don’t expect that as a user. It is also fine if the developer makes version 2.0 and I can decide to buy the new version or not. Before the internet this was pretty much how it worked, a new version came on a new floppy or disc you’d buy in a store.
Then again, application software wasn’t cheap. Given inflation, would you pay a thousand bucks for a lifetime license of a piece of software that didn’t get any updates ever?
I was too young to really buy software but the most expensive game I bought as a kid was 40 guilders. If use and inflation correction calculator and convert to euros that game in 1995 would be 36 euros in todays money, about 40 dollars. This was a gameboy game.
A pc game back then was between 50 and 60 dollars (converted with inflation).
But this was all in a physical store, where you would get an actual box, book, cartridge or disc, etc.