[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Do you miss one time payment software licenses?
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       Ask HN: Do you miss one time payment software licenses?
        
       Author : devrob
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2022-10-21 21:37 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | Yes. I have had one time payment software licenses before with
       | hundreds of apps.
       | 
       | Instead, most of them have replaced that with a subscription
       | rent-seeking grift by overcharging each month and just offering
       | the basics of functionality and unnecessarily creating an account
       | for that purpose.
       | 
       | Want to cancel? You lose access to the software you once 'paid
       | for'. A certain entity once said and still foresights a dystopian
       | future:
       | 
       | It's 2030, you own nothing, there is no privacy, can't use the
       | digital software / game(s) offline, always connected online for
       | license checks 24/7 if you paid for it and life has never been
       | better!
        
       | codpiece wrote:
       | Very much so. I am perfectly willing to pay hundreds of dollars
       | for a perpetual license. I run many machines and can refer back
       | to a project years later. Not so with a subscription, generally.
       | 
       | I do like the new model where you pay for a perpetual license and
       | have the option to subscribe to annual updates. That's a win-win.
       | I do want developers to make a good living. I also want to be
       | able to access my files from 1997 if I choose.
        
       | yshavit wrote:
       | I know lots of people hate on them, but honestly I usually don't
       | mind too much. It does change the mental model for pricing:
       | instead of being based on dev costs, it's based on value. If I
       | use the software for a long time, then it's presumably more
       | valuable, and therefore it makes sense for it to cost more
       | overall (if you assume a value-based pricing model).
        
         | lapcat wrote:
         | > instead of being based on dev costs, it's based on value
         | 
         | Was it ever based on dev costs? What does that mean exactly?
         | 
         | I price my software to try to maximize revenue, i.e, the cost
         | per unit times number of units. The trick is finding that sweet
         | spot.
        
       | haunter wrote:
       | The majority of video games are still using this
        
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       (page generated 2022-10-21 23:02 UTC)