this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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Lots of words and lots of assumptions. You can improve a product and release another version with a paid upgrade, while the old version remains completely functional. If your works have made the software substantially better, people will be happy to pay for a new version. If you aren't adding real value, having the last version should not be necessary.
Updates can both add real value, but not be worth piecemealing out as separate purchases.
Your biggest assumption is that you don't have the drive to better a product if you don't have a subscription model. It's simply not true. You can and in fact must work to better your product if you want to stay relevant in the market and drive your customer to pay for a new version of your software.
Then, you proceed by describing the positives of a subscription model. While you're not wrong about those points, you are leaving out the negatives and forgetting that every business model would have symmetrical points to be made.
There are some context in which subscription model are suited for or in fact even necessary, but the harsh reality is that now every software is turning into a subscription model only for two reason: you can extract 10x 100x more money for your customer, and you can lock-in them in order to keep them paying. This has proven to be detrimental for the quality of the softwares too: software loose interoperability and compatibility, updates are so frequent and gimmicky that they can be a problem, etc etc.
Totally fair if you don’t like the subscription model.
But I am genuinely curious what you think I’m making assumptions about.