Is subscription software a good thing or not?

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Posted by Paul Korm
Jun 10, 2016 at 01:02 AM

Apple is making changes to subscription pricing for software—all app types in the App Stores can now be sold as auto-renewing subscriptions, with geographic variances in pricing and more discrete pricing tiers, and a bigger cut of revenue for developers in years 2 and beyond—i.e., when the subscription is renewed

https://www.macstories.net/news/major-app-store-changes-announced/

Good thing or bad thing? My automatic reaction is “bad” in most cases. I buy a lot of software, and can think of no application for which I would pay the same price two years in a row—or longer. I’ll admit that my reaction is of the “never been this way, why change?” variety. It remains to be seen how developers make pricing decisions now. If an app was $25 (actually, $24.99) before auto-renewed subscriptions, will that developer price it at $24.99 annually, or $12.99 annually, or something else.

If software has an ongoing value, it’s perhaps difficult to argue that the developer shouldn’t enjoy ongoing rents. But the thing that will make that palatable is whether the developer will make an ongoing effort to enhance and improve the software.

Anyway, it’s a new world and it will be interesting to see if this pricing expands to other markets (and OS’s) outside the App Store.

What do you think?

Posted by shatteredmindofbob
Jun 10, 2016 at 03:03 AM

Personally, I hate this move towards subscription-based software.

In a world where subscription-based apps are the norm, won’t it also be the norm to completely lose the ability to use a piece of software if the business doesn’t work out? I understand developers are trying to bring in more money, but personally, I’d rather just pay a bit more upfront.

There’s also the issue of finding the sweet spot for pricing. I think Adobe has set a high bar with their subscription pricing for Photoshop. That’s a formerly $650 piece of software that’s now available via subscription for $10/month. So the question now becomes—if you’re charging $10/month, would your software be worth $650 without the subscription?

But even going with a lower price, there’s still subscription fatigue and feeling like I’m being nickel and dimed to death when I have to pay a few bucks a month for each piece of software I’m using and that adds up.

I already have several subscriptions and they have good reasons for that pricing model. Like my rented VPS where I accept that I’m renting the use of someone else’s computer. I don’t feel like I should be renting a text editor.

Finally, and this is the big one for me, I don’t make a lot of money. So, I don’t really feel like I can use a mission-critical piece of software on a subscription basis. If I have a bad month financially, it’s not a huge deal to me if I then have to go a month without Netflix. But having to go a month or two without access to say, my notes database? That’s just not a risk I can take.

Posted by Andy Brice
Jun 10, 2016 at 08:31 AM

Subscriptions make sense for software where the vendor has ongoing fees (e.g. server costs). It is also good for the vendor as they have a smoother and more predictable cash flow compared to one-time purchase.

Prices in the Apple app store are unsustainably low, so allowing to vendors to extract a bit more value from customers over the long term seems like a good thing. The alternatives being less and less software in the app stores or ever more intrusive ads.

However I plan to stick to my one-time fee pricing for my desktop software, Hyper Plan. It is simple to explain and simple to administer. If I ever add a server component (e.g. to allow multi-user concurrent editing) then I might charge for that on a subscription basis.

Posted by Hugh
Jun 10, 2016 at 08:35 PM

I tend to agree with the views that Mac blogger David Sparks expresses here: http://macsparky.com/blog/2016/6/on-subscription-fatigue

Posted by Jeffery Smith
Jun 10, 2016 at 10:09 PM

It hasn’t been a good thing for me. My Microsoft 365 subscription has a very bad habit of locking my out, refusing my password, and then waiting 3-4 weeks to get to my problem. As I result, I moved over completely to LibreOffice. My Adobe subscription is a bit pricey since I primarily use Adobe Audition rather than most of the other apps. I do use Photoshop about 5 times a year. After paying for a lifetime subscription to Novamind, there have been virtually no updates other than tweaking a bug, something that a user should not have to pay for. And paying a hefty annual subscription to Eastgate Tinderbox hasn’t been cost effective because the software has such a steep learning curve, I never get to the point that I use one of the new improvements. Waves audio plugins drain me of several hundred dollars a year in subscription costs.

If there is a personality flaw that I have above all others, it is trying to make my life easier with software I like. I spent over $1,000 just to get an alternative to Adobe Audition but haven’t found a better alternative. I had much of my world placed in Circus Ponies Notebook files. I’m steadily getting it converted over to OPML and then to Noteshare and OmniOutliner 4. I’m moving my free-form database to DevonThink format. I’m probably going to move Adobe Audition to TwistedWave.

By the end of this year, I hope to have MS products, Adobe products, and and my defunct programs like Circus Ponies Notebook completely out of my life.

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