From time immemorial people have sold things they owned, transferring ownership. People have also rented what they owned, allowing someone else to use it for a time, for a price. Today people rent cars and apartments and TVs and all sorts of things. Businesses have come into existence with the sole purpose of renting items to people. Some places, as the name indicates, will allow you to rent-to-own.
Subscriptions are different than owning or renting. If you subscribe to a magazine, you get this weeks copy and you own it, but if you want next weeks copy, you have to buy that also. A regularly scheduled payment for ongoing delivery of something is called a subscription. People subscribe to magazines and newspapers, which are a physical thing they can own. People also subscribe to cable TV which is paying for access. If a person stops paying, the access to the TV channels go away. This is called a subscription because it is a regularly scheduled payment for access, even though nothing is owned. People subscribe to insurance, although we say that we are “buying” insurance even though it is a regularly scheduled payment.
Lately, software developers have decided that subscribing to their software is a good idea. Back at the dawn of computers, software was owned. A programmer would be hired, they would write the software, then give it to the one who hired them. Then Bill Gates came along. He said that companies could write a piece of software and sell it dozens or millions of times. The user of the software has a “license” to use it and owns nothing. However, their was usually a one time payment to use the software as long as needed.
Subscribing to software is different still. The developer of the software writes one program and “sells” it millions of times (hopefully) but now, users must pay a fee to keep the software operating. If the regular fee is not paid, the software sill stop working or be limited in functionality in some way. Developers have realized that selling each version of a program for $19.00 is hard work and produces inconsistent revenue. This is because some people will use the older version for a long time because it does what they want. So developers are adopting subscriptions for their software, because the revenue is predicable and regular. This is due to the fact that many, or even most people do not know what they are subscribed to. They just put it on a credit card and an extra $9 a month is never noticed, and the developer gets a regular income. The difficultly with this is that developers need to deliver regular updates and improvements to be ethical. To just sign people up for a software subscription and then let development stall is not moral.
So as this type off software payments are growing and as new companies, like SetApp have come into being where you pay them $9 a month and get access to over 70 programs. Stop paying and the software stops working. Time will tell if companies can keep customer’s happy by charging a regular fee and delivering truly useful, regular updates. Time will tell if software subscriptions are the future of “buying” software.
TextExpander tried to move to a subscription models and their users revolted
Here is the story
#Thoughts on Renting and Subscribing#
Subscriptions are different than owning or renting. If you subscribe to a magazine, you get this weeks copy and you own it, but if you want next weeks copy, you have to buy that also. A regularly scheduled payment for ongoing delivery of something is called a subscription. People subscribe to magazines and newspapers, which are a physical thing they can own. People also subscribe to cable TV which is paying for access. If a person stops paying, the access to the TV channels go away. This is called a subscription because it is a regularly scheduled payment for access, even though nothing is owned. People subscribe to insurance, although we say that we are “buying” insurance even though it is a regularly scheduled payment.
Lately, software developers have decided that subscribing to their software is a good idea. Back at the dawn of computers, software was owned. A programmer would be hired, they would write the software, then give it to the one who hired them. Then Bill Gates came along. He said that companies could write a piece of software and sell it dozens or millions of times. The user of the software has a “license” to use it and owns nothing. However, their was usually a one time payment to use the software as long as needed.
Subscribing to software is different still. The developer of the software writes one program and “sells” it millions of times (hopefully) but now, users must pay a fee to keep the software operating. If the regular fee is not paid, the software sill stop working or be limited in functionality in some way. Developers have realized that selling each version of a program for $19.00 is hard work and produces inconsistent revenue. This is because some people will use the older version for a long time because it does what they want. So developers are adopting subscriptions for their software, because the revenue is predicable and regular. This is due to the fact that many, or even most people do not know what they are subscribed to. They just put it on a credit card and an extra $9 a month is never noticed, and the developer gets a regular income. The difficultly with this is that developers need to deliver regular updates and improvements to be ethical. To just sign people up for a software subscription and then let development stall is not moral.
So as this type off software payments are growing and as new companies, like SetApp have come into being where you pay them $9 a month and get access to over 70 programs. Stop paying and the software stops working. Time will tell if companies can keep customer’s happy by charging a regular fee and delivering truly useful, regular updates. Time will tell if software subscriptions are the future of “buying” software.
TextExpander tried to move to a subscription models and their users revolted
Here is the story
#Thoughts on Renting and Subscribing#
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