Pete Prodoehl 🍕Mar 3
Hey kids, in the olden days you bought (instead of “rented”) software and it came in a box with a disc and it was yours to use forever!
Show threadPete Prodoehl 🍕Mar 3

Well, the “forever” part was tricky because it might break due to OS upgrades or computer architecture/chip changes.

But making a one-time purchase and using software 5 or 10 years was not unheard of.

I think I paid $500 for Photoshop and it came out to under $9 per month if I do the math right… that’s for 10 years of use.

If it’s still $20 per month for a subscription and you do 10 years that’s $2,400.

Show threadWesDym

@rasterweb My own sense is that how, why, and how often essential support software or hardware is upgraded has been accelerating. I'm not qualified to say if that's how it should or must be, but that seems to be how it is. Consequently, application software must also upgrade more frequently, and sometimes radically. Since those upgrades cost money for the company providing them, someone else must pay for them.

Again, I agree that this relationship can be and often is exploitative.

/2

Mar 3 at 2:44pmWeb