For software, the subscription model makes sense to me. It costs money to develop a working product, then it costs money to maintain it, and, in the case of cloud-hosted software, it costs money to serve it.

The subscription model benefits the consumer because it incentivizes use of the software. For example, suppose I want to learn web design. If I subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, I am now committed to use it because if I do not I am wasting money.

The subscription model benefits the consumer by reducing the up-front cost to use software. For example, Adobe Photoshop used to cost hundreds of dollars before use, and now it costs $20 (per month).

I suggest that we, as consumers, may need to reconcile with the cost of labor.