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I Suppose Software Subscription Is Inevitable...
#49936 09/11/18 01:41 PM
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...but I don’t have to like Apple’s recommendation to developers. Technically and legally we have never “owned” applications rather a license to use it and in a shrinking market developers and user’s need to have a financial model that assures their continuation, but “subscription” sure feels different both psychically and fiscally. This is going to take getting used to.

I just realized that I installed three MacOS and iOS apps this weekend and all three had some form of subscription involved:
  • Suppress in-app advertising
  • access to database server for managing multi-developer projects
  • weekly data updates
Okay so perhaps I am crying over milk that was already spilled and I just hadn't notice it. Now I really don't like this getting passed without my noticing

Last edited by joemikeb; 09/11/18 03:45 PM.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: I Suppose Software Subscription Is Inevitable...
joemikeb #50017 09/23/18 04:36 PM
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I'm not going to shed any tears for anyone in Silicon Valley, least of all Tim Cook, who has given me many reasons to punch him in the stomach.

I have some sympathy for Mac developers. These are the unsung heroes of the Mac world who have always been treated badly by Apple, writing software for a niche market. Truly these people deserve a weepy Ken Burns documentary.

Slowing zooming in...slowing zooming out...

Where would I be without them? In Windows. Or Mint. Or Zorin. But the subscription model isn't going to work for a lot of people. Me for one. I'm not going to subscribe to software. I already subscribe to a couple web sites and Patreon. I subscribe to one magazine, the first one in many years.

It's possible that as another generation passes and a new norm gets established, people won't know any better and will adapt to what is. I'm not at all happy about how Silicon Valley has been softwarizing the world. Now they are trying to eliminate private property.

I've never been a fan of the word "inevitable" because it suggests that events occur not as the result of choice but arbitrarily and helplessly like the weather.

Re: I Suppose Software Subscription Is Inevitable...
deniro #50021 09/23/18 10:16 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
Now they are trying to eliminate private property.

Apparently you are one of those who never reads software license agreements. You almost NEVER actually OWN the software! Instead you purchase a license to USE the software under terms and conditions set by the developer. Even freeware, shareware, and open source software (such as the kernel that undergirds Apple's MacOS, iOS, TVOS, and WatchOS) are used under various public domain licenses that place stringent conditions on their use and resale.

If you want to actually own the software you have on your computer, unless you have several billion dollars you can use to buy Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, etc, about the only avenue available is to write your own and even then you need to watch out for intellectual property laws or you risk violating copyright and patent laws.

Last edited by joemikeb; 09/24/18 08:18 PM. Reason: terminology correction

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: I Suppose Software Subscription Is Inevitable...
joemikeb #50022 09/24/18 12:43 AM
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I learned that some time ago in a curt email from someone at 1Password. I was criticizing their shenanigans, and some Canadian socialist was lecturing me about private property. OK. I own the license. How dare I insist otherwise.

Re: I Suppose Software Subscription Is Inevitable...
deniro #50023 09/24/18 06:52 AM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
OK. I own the license.

But only until next Thursday! frown


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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