If a program costs $200 but is something that is used very infrequently and doesn't worth $200 to me - then it's poorly priced or best sold (or re-sold) as a service rather than a program. Subscription here is just a service fee in disguise, so why not make things straight? Let me pay $20 one-time to process whatever I want it to, and be done with it.
And if something works for me today and I don't foresee any need for updates then what exactly I'm paying for? Developers will to continue development, that I may or may not need and may or may not care about? Doesn't sound right to me, unless I feel benevolent and charitable for some reason. I get the subscription model if something needs active regular maintenance. Drivers do (heck, I'd buy that rather than seeing companies "we no longer support shit, go buy our new hardware instead"), financial software does, a weather app does. But, say, a camera or note-taking app would certainly continue to work without any maintenance until I upgrade phone, or OS, or want some new features (and then I can buy an upgrade or figure out how to fix it on my own), so I won't buy a subscription (or very much hate doing so if it's my only option besides simply not having something I need at all).
Comments
From a consumer perspective, I disagree.
If a program costs $200 but is something that is used very infrequently and doesn't worth $200 to me - then it's poorly priced or best sold (or re-sold) as a service rather than a program. Subscription here is just a service fee in disguise, so why not make things straight? Let me pay $20 one-time to process whatever I want it to, and be done with it.
And if something works for me today and I don't foresee any need for updates then what exactly I'm paying for? Developers will to continue development, that I may or may not need and may or may not care about? Doesn't sound right to me, unless I feel benevolent and charitable for some reason. I get the subscription model if something needs active regular maintenance. Drivers do (heck, I'd buy that rather than seeing companies "we no longer support shit, go buy our new hardware instead"), financial software does, a weather app does. But, say, a camera or note-taking app would certainly continue to work without any maintenance until I upgrade phone, or OS, or want some new features (and then I can buy an upgrade or figure out how to fix it on my own), so I won't buy a subscription (or very much hate doing so if it's my only option besides simply not having something I need at all).