Third, "supporting the developers" also means "supporting the company that makes the product I like". My subscription is giving the business money to continue writing salary checks to the people who work there. I'm not a moron, I don't think that there is an exact 1:1 ratio of my dollars to employee paychecks. Second, if the business isn’t making money, the employees don’t get paid and keep jobs. It’s a profitable bootstraped venture that has never taken outside money (according to their website), and Jesse Mecham is the owner. They're just recognizing long-term changes in the application development process, and adjusting accordingly.įirst, YNAB doesn’t have investors. I don't think indies are suddenly becoming more greedy. Even indie companies like 1Password are transitioning towards subscription models. The longterm cost of building an app has shifted away from the initial creation and towards the subsequent updates. I don't think you could've done that in the early 2000s. I could start building a calculator app right now and submit it to an app store before bed, because the app creation process is now usually very streamlined and fast. If you don't update your app, it becomes buggier and more outdated over time, and your users turn on you.Īt the same time, building an app in the first place is easier than ever. For iOS for example, every September brings new compatibility issues with existing apps and iOS, new features like Touch ID, peek and pop, enhanced multitasking, etc. Now, operating systems and devices are changing every year, and developers have to keep writing updates to keep up with the changes. Back then, you could make an application, release it, and it will work for years. Microsoft Office can also still be bought with a one-time payment.įor other software, I can tell you as a software developer myself that the software world has changed dramatically since the early 2000s. Windows, whether 95 or 10, is not sold as a subscription. It also means if they make a massive change to functionality, look, whatever you are stuck using the new version that you may not want or you have to cancel your account where as if you could do a one time buy you could just not update and stay with the old version (this point is more generic software, I don't use/know ynab so I don't know if this point holds true since if they are a web app that won't be the case). No longer do you purchase a piece of software that you can use till the cows come home and instead you purchase a subscription where you can only use the software till you stop paying. It's consumers like you who keep falling for this stupid idea of subscriptions so more and more businesses are moving over to it. I've been buying software for the past 20 years and for most of that time no one offered subscription based software and companies made plenty of profit off of that model. If new version came out you could if you wanted buy that new version but if you were happy with 95 then you stayed with 95. You didn't have a subscription to Windows 95, it was a one time buy that came with updates. Here, please treat others with respect, stay on-topic, and avoid self-promotion.Īlways do your own research before acting on any information or advice that you read on Reddit. Get your financial house in order, learn how to better manage your money, and invest for your future. Banking Megathread: FDIC, NCUA, and your cash.Private communication is not safe on Reddit. Scam alert: Ignore any private messages or chat requests.
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