I am willing to pay a subscription for good software, because there just isn’t enough of it. I want the people making it, to keep making it. That’s one of the places the Mac shines over Windows, there are a lot of Mac software developers who make good stuff. I want to support them.
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Isn’t that what we do with our hardware? 
The yearly depreciation on my MacBook Air, my iPad Pro, my iPhone, and my AirPods Pro is more than I will spend on software & services.
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The yearly depreciation
If we count depreciation as “rent” then we rent nearly everything.
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True. People say they “own” their home. Stop paying your property tax and see what happens. 
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I’d go a little further and say that if there is an ongoing cost to the developer for me to use the app/service, then a subscription is warranted. Otherwise, I too look for a replacement.
Perhaps this is what you mean as well.
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We are of the same mind here.
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Have you considered Capture One? Expensive up front, but in my opinion, it has a far better workflow for file management and much better colour profiles for its supported cameras.
Capture One is a $300 one time purchase with no updates, or a subscription. Whether it actually is better or not is a hot topic in the photography world.
I don’t like the sub, but Lightroom is pretty great. Not that it doesn’t have it’s issues.
I think this attitude, so common in the software purchasing community, is bad for everyone. Software, until it is abandonwear, is an on-going service. Even if no features are added, merely keeping a bit of software running, as hardware and OS’s upgrade, requires work. You have to at least walk just to stay in the same place.
It is in my interest to have indie software developers have a viable economic strategy. I want this community to be vibrant. I think that is to most people’s benefit. This passion to not use subscription based products is harmful, IMO.
The great curse for me is abandonwear. If it is just a matter of having my investment in the product become a right-off, then so be it. Certainly many “actual” objects eventually die. This is normal. My mattress, my bicycle etc. eventually need replacement. Certain software is easy to “replace” if it dies. But other software not so much. The user ends up investing a lot of time and effort to “master” some piece of useful software. If it dies you are screwed.
There are software products that I use that have been around a long-time (BBEdit for example) that survive on a large base of customers willing to pay for upgrades. This is the “alternative” economically viable way to proceed. But I think that nowadays it is harder to get to this “plateau”. Many of these products originally came out in an era when buying multi-hundred dollar products on day one was common. But now people expect software to be cheap. Cheap and no-subscription is very hard to maintain. Sometimes the product will then try and change its model mid-stream which always results in a great deal of wailing.
I think that subscriptions make the most sense. I would hope that more and more people will feel comfortable with this. If we want new indie software for our platform, I think we have to accept this.
There are problems in my worldview as well. One is the always increasing subscription price. Another is the tardy announcement that you have upped for another year “after the fact”. Then you start feeling gouged. I support people who diligently watch their subscription costs and don’t just “forget about it”. It is easy to be spending money on things that are no longer worth it because you have lost track of the fact you are subscribing. This is, for me, a burden that subscriptions impose. One feature of buying through the Apples stores is that the “behavior” of notification for renewals is uniform.
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@rlivingston, you make a compelling and graciously offered case for the subscription model. I get it. Many agree with you. I even agree with you at the macro level. You almost make me feel guilty for not subscribing to more apps. 
At the consumer level, however, my responsibility as the steward of my family’s finances is to minimize cost and increase ROI. It is not my responsibility to keep indie developers in business any more than it is my job to keep my local bike shop in business. My responsibility is to be a good steward of my financial resources and, therefore, to be effective in my work at the lowest possible cost. Developers are responsible for finding the price equilibrium point at which demand and profit are maximized.
This means I have to balance the cost of the tools of my trade against their effectiveness in meeting my needs. If I can get my work done effectively and efficiently without paying a subscription, it makes sense for me to do so. If I cannot find a suitable non-subscription alternative, I pay the subscription. This is why I still subscribe to 1PW and Backblaze. However, if and when I find suitable non-subscription options, I will switch to save money.
I calculate the cost of subscriptions on a three to five-year horizon, not monthly or yearly. Approaching subscriptions this way gives me a better sense of the cost. For example, Fantastical is $171 over three years versus the free Apple Calendar. Evernote is $390 over three years versus the free Apple Notes. Ulysses is $120 over three years versus free Apple Pages or $60 for the one-time purchase of Scrivener. Carrot Weather is $90 over three years versus the free Weather app.
Using my example selection of apps (obviously, a different selection of applications could be used which would decrease or increase these totals), if one decides to subscribe to these apps to keep the developers in business, the cost over three years is $771 versus $60. I must ask myself, “Is the desire to keep developers in business and use what are arguably ‘best in class applications’ worth over $700?” For some, the answer is yes. For me, the answer is no. I can put $700 to better use.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. Though I will continue to minimize my subscriptions, others will choose to use best in class applications and pay subscription to use them, in part to support developers. Neither approach is wrong, it is merely a question of priorities.
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I agree. Software that isn’t maintained eventually becomes useless. This has happened to a number of programs I used to use, even one from Apple.
Some speculate that one possible future of AI is the elimination of many/most apps. If so, then our devices may not even function without a subscription.
Then why do you use Apple products? You could do what you do on much cheaper hardware and could do the same things on Windows/Linux/Android/Chrome, etc. for significantly cheaper.
Apple hardware makes my work effective and efficient, which, as I stated above, is my criterion, “If I can get my work done effectively and efficiently.” I can use iWork, Google, and MS apps on a Mac or iPad, but I can’t use Apple’s apps on Windows, Linux, or Android. That limits my options.
I did not say the cost was my only criterion; I said high ROI was my criterion. I believe the longevity and flexibility of Apple’s hardware combined with the free office applications, the fact that the same company supports its OS and hardware, and the fact that I have access to the Apple Store combined to provide a higher ROI for my needs than alternatives.
For the record, I have used Windows for over 20 years, which gives me a good basis for comparison. I’m not trying to convince anyone else what he or she should do; I’m merely sharing why I strive to limit subscriptions.
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I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer on whether subscription or not, but definitely we can’t either all in subscribe or free/one-time purchase. I have paid a lot of effort to reduce enormous subscription.
My previous subscription included:
- Evernote (2011-2020)
- Bear (2020-2021, afterwards paid for a month or two to have additional trials)
- Paper for WeTransfer (around 2012-2016)
- VSCO
- 1Password (around 2018-2020, 2023-2024)
- Craft (paid but requested refund within a year)
- VPN like NordVPN, Mullvad…
Now remains mostly entertainment which can be cancelled easily. Less data lock in:
- Entertainment like Apple Music, MUBI
- Password: 1Password (till Sept 2024 as I am using iCloud Keychain)
- Workout: Strava
I plan to introduce my own Substack so I am thinking Bear. However as I concentrate more on my needs and development of my own workflow, I will find there is less urge to pay/subscribe for better apps. That said, I am able to write on Apple Notes. What’s left may be the better options for export and some grammatical checks. But I can also use iA Writer in which I am having.
The business model of apps is always changing. In the beginning I had to accept to pay an expensive price for apps (at that time around $10). After I embraced it, they asked me for subscription, again I was convinced it was just a coffee every month, however it resulted in many coffees and ended up one more devices after adding up to a few years. Now app developers no longer say it’s just a cup of coffee because it’s become a fast food meal deal. Who knows when it will be a cinema, an amusement park entrance fee and even, you name it someday.
But different decisions by different customers shouldn’t be a bad thing. If all people are not willing to pay, everything can’t survive. If everyone embraces subscriptions, all the app developers will abuse us by surging prices. Now because they don’t know whether customers will be supportive enough, they need to experiment which one works and have to bear in mind costumers’ opinions.
I still choose Apple because the OS system is secure enough. Devices are still stable even it’s over 5 years. I am happy to upgrade eventually because of its performance and reliability. I am also paying for not only hardwares, but also the stock apps which are becoming more and more useful.
But all of those things are true of Windows machines, or even a Chromebook. Granted the really cheap PCs won’t last as long. But MS supports their OS for well over a decade in most cases. A good PC is just as reliable as any Mac, and for half the cost.
I get it though, I like Apple hardware/software too.
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Apple stock apps may not be the most powerful like other apps. It just works so that I won’t have to spend more unnecessary time on it. Especially Apple Notes most of the time I just have to briefly write some words while I won’t make it as a digital filling cabinet too much. Their apps are not too minimal that I have to sacrifice other important features as well.
I am not totally a knowledge worker but am just working towards an illustrator or artist. Apple apps strive a very right balance after trying different good apps in the market.
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But it is not. Windows will not run any of Apple’s apps. With Apple, I can use Pages but also Word; I can use Numbers but also Excel; I can use Keynote but also PowerPoint; I can use OneNote but also Apple Notes. I should point out that my employer pays for MS Office, which I suspect is the case for most non-self-employed individuals. If that ever changes, I’ll stop using MS Office entirely as I don’t need it for my workflow; I can work around it. I’m only discussing the cost I pay. My point is for my needs, I have a higher ROI than alternatives. Everyone’s mileage will vary.
This probably deserves its own thread, but I think it’s only a hot topic among those who haven’t tried Capture One. The big agencies all use C1 thanks to tethering. A lot of the pro Sony shooters all us C1 because Lightroom stopped updating their Sony colour profiles when the A7II came out (yes, seriously).
There are a lot of Lightroom users, sure, but I know a lot of folks who prefer C1, and I find that those who try it don’t go back.
FWIW, I have Lightroom too thanks to CC being a requirement for a lot of my work. Apart from its layer-based Photoshop integration, I find Lightroom Classic is far and away worse than C1 these days at the things that matter. If you prefer to group photos by project (which I do at this point), rather than have them all sitting in a giant catalogue, C1 is the only game in town.
Plus, again, its colours are much better. Lightroom’s colour profiles all have serious issues with reds and magentas, and they have a hard time differentiating between blue and cyan. Their yellows are seriously out of whack. Adobe’s claim is that their colour sliders are accurate to absolute colour values, not perceptual colour values, but that’s a problem because the human eye sees perceptual colours, not absolute colours. (One pro photographer told me once, when I was having difficulty with images from a forest shoot, to use the yellow sliders to adjust the leafy green colour. And that worked, and continues to work every time.)
I know I’m harping on Adobe a lot here. But when it comes to editing your photos, accurate colour representation is perhaps the most important thing they could get right.
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You could use Googles products. MS also has its own apps in most of those categories. There are also countless free apps on Windows. Apple’s stuff is definitely more polished though.
Edit: actually I would say Googles stuff might be better than Apples. I would take Sheets any day over Numbers.
Yes, I know. 
But, like I said above, with Apple I can use apps from all three companies (MS, Google, and MS). With Windows, I can use Google and MS but not Apple’s apps. With Google, I can use Google’s apps and to a limited and frustrating extent, MS apps, but not Apple’s. With Apple, I can have nearly the “best” of all worlds. I can have my cake and eat it too.
Ok, I’ve stated my case, I’ll leave it at that.
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