Ok, so it’s not even worth a McDonald’s coffee once a month?
Add up all the app subscriptions of apps you use or would want to use frequently and I bet they won’t cost more than a single person dinner at good restaurant, let alone a family dinner.
Reality is most apps cost the same as before, the subscription cost is simply amortized across the typical upgrade cycle. ~$20/year app would cost ~$60 outright assuming a 3 year before upgrade.
The examples people bring up about $4.99 app that people expect to continuously be updated and now are charging subscription don’t realize how severely miss priced the app was by the developer.
Apps are now consumable and require constant maintenance, development and support.
Is this hypothetical person or person eating at McDonalds, or Alain Ducasse?
Comparisons of software subscription costs to food or coffee, etc., miss the point. There is and cannot be a general rule to determine if “subscriptions are too expensive” or “subscriptions are affordable”, and no one can suggest one. It’s all situational, personal, reflective of one’s own utility function, and irrelevant to someone else.
I think You missed my point, probably because I didn’t express myself well enough. My point is that I make the decision to buy a McDonald’s coffee and not Starbucks because the difference can be applied for a greater return investment elsewhere.
Precisely and nothing I said attempted to generalize to others. I was merely sharing how I approach the issue based on my financial priorities, especially after my nuke and pave, which provided another opportunity to assess what apps I’m using and the cost of using them verses other uses for the same money.
Good point I hadn’t thought of that one. It is keeping up with them is part of the problem. It can, as yu say, mount up fast. I have a cheap sub to NYT this year and I know I might well miss the ‘upgrade’ that will come next year. I can afford it but still. One does neglect the question ‘do I really need this?’
Yes and no. There are many chalk and cheese situations but some things are objective as well I think? Sometimes one wants an answer to a certain problem from someone who has considered it. I often take @Bmosbacker’s ideas on boards actually and apply them to my own situation: with some benefit. There are considerations to be made that are individual and context based regarding, for example, Windows or Mac. However I think objectively in some sense Macs are ‘better’. It is ‘better’ to start and store one’s writing in plain text in my view, objectively, to give another example.
My point is that I make the decision to buy a McDonald’s coffee and not Starbucks because the difference can be applied for a greater return investment elsewhere. 