The fact that both developers and users thought that a lifetime deal was possible just speak to how much our field doesn't understand how to do business.
The idea that mIRC has been around that long and is still being used, let alone still updated, is in many ways shocking.
This is in stark contrast to the other major players in the field that charge a similar amount to upgrade to the next major version.
I think in the case of mIRC the lifetime model may have continued to work had IRC continued to grow, but it didn’t and the users went elsewhere.
Now the mirc developer is claiming he updates the software so much he needs all the people who already paid him to pay him again, meanwhile slack and discord remain free (ish).
So backward.
Discord is funded by VC money and the users they've managed to convince to pay for emoji. How much of column A vs column B is unclear at this point
You generally need low maintenance and support costs, but if you setup an investment to generate consistent returns for minimal dev/support costs or have a recurring stream of new customers it is possible, or charge for new features and add ons.
Do you really think that Adobe Photoshop CS purchases or video game purchases don't generate enough revenue to cover the costs and the only solution is recurring revenue?
And now they are charging extra for colours people already had (Pantone fiasco).