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553 points bookofjoe | 5 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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hliyan ◴[] No.43661165[source]
The phenomenon at work here is: if product being produced by a profit-seeking enterprise can be rented instead of being sold, said enterprise will eventually find a way to do it, then over time, rather than a single bill, it will attempt to rent out individual aspects of the now product-turned-service, followed by cost cutting that degrades the default service level while introducing additional service levels for which the consumer will have to pay additional fees, and finally making switching away to competitors progressively difficult for the consumer. This is a natural outcome of profit-maximization.
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1. illegally ◴[] No.43663200[source]
Single bill for modern software doesn't make sense economically anymore.

Do you want updates? You want new versions? New features? Support?

Single bill it's like buying an IPhone once and then you expect to get a new one for free each year.

replies(4): >>43663551 #>>43664337 #>>43664785 #>>43664971 #
2. jspdown ◴[] No.43663551[source]
All the digital artists I know don't use and want new features in Photophop. And more generally, most non-tech businesses values more stability than having new features.

Single bill makes a lot of sense for many users.

3. valiant55 ◴[] No.43664337[source]
Does a JetBrains style license not address this exactly? You buy the current version and one year of updates. If you want updates after that you have to renew.
4. _Algernon_ ◴[] No.43664785[source]
>Do you want updates? You want new versions? New features? Support?

No. This was a solved problem decades ago. Purchase includes minor version updates, then you keep it for life without updates. Upgrading to the next version is a choice.

Why did we collectively agree that customer choice does not matter?

5. tofof ◴[] No.43664971[source]
It depends, what are you charging for the new features in the update/version? Twenty years ago, you'd put out a new version and I could go find what new features it had and decide for myself whether those were worth the price you ask to get them. If the answer is yes, I pay and I get the new features. If the answer is no, I don't pay and I keep using the program I already bought.

Why do you think the company is automatically entitlted to rent seeking and the removal of user choice just because they tweaked the ui?