The problem with the subscription model is that it disproportionally benefits those who could survive without it, while disproportionally burdens those who could’ve benefitted from it.
As have been widely pointed out, the subscription model is a commitment to a software’s long-term evolution and a flexible payment plan for once-in-a-while needs. Ironically, most of the air on the field of subscription is siphoned by incumbent, clumsy “professional” softwares that are carelessly maintained — Office, Adobe Suite, etc. Their adoption of the subscription pricing is but a way to tax people who are obliged to use them because they are “standards.”
Unfortunately, the more subscription money goes to the big techs’ pockets, the less money people are lefted with to pay indie developers who genuinely care about their software and need the stable income to make real their roadmaps. And when humbly switch to the subscription model for survival, they become the principal – if not sole — outlet for people’s malice toward the big techs’ abuse of the model.
Please be advised that this post was written or last updated a while ago and may therefore contain outdated information or opinions I no longer hold.
请知悉本文自写作或上次更新已届相当时限，或包含过时信息及观点。