For any well run company, the more the users are paying, the better the product is likely to be. With a once off purchase, any future improvements are based on a Ponzi scheme requiring constant new users which is unsustainable.
For any well run company, the more the users are paying, the better the product is likely to be. With a once off purchase, any future improvements are based on a Ponzi scheme requiring constant new users which is unsustainable.
What do you mean by this exactly? There are always new customers to sell to, so of course you can make money by updating your product.
Will the buyer continue to receive free software updates forever? No, probably not. Eventually they may have to pay an upgrade fee. But the great part about upgrade fees compared to subscription is that the choice and timing of whether or not to upgrade is in the buyer's hands. Whereas with a subscription, it's a forced update, with the timing determined by the software developer, not the buyer. You pay yearly, or the software stops working now.
Yes, we aren't forced to buy from the exact same brands like in a subscription model. Practically, we end up buying the same products in a predictable schedule, to keep the wheel spinning.
Physical products wear out eventually, but they can last for many years. They're not necessarily perishable.
Cleaning products, washing powder, fabric softener, bleach, fuel, windshield wiper fluid, tires, batteries.
Books, sure, they seem to be maintenance-free. I guess glasses too.
Businesses are working year-round — manufacturers are manufacturing new products, software developers are writing software updates — and also selling year-round. If you run out of customers, that's of course a problem, but that's not a unique problem to software.
As a software developer, I sell new copies year-round, every day, and also release updates year-round. If I run out of new customers I'll let you know, but last month was actually my best sales month ever.
What do you mean exactly by "constant growth"? You need constant sales, yes. You don't necessarily need a constant increase in sales, if sales are at a sustainable level.
This is the trade-off, as far as I'm concerned. By paying one time, I get the product … once. It might be a bad purchase that I regret; that happens. But, if it's great, I want that product; I don't want the developer's new and greatest idea of how they think I want to use their product. Too many products that were once great ‘evolved’ away from being useful for me. For the software that I own (and that runs on a supported platform), I can just keep using it. For subscription software … well, too many developers don't care that they're leaving a dedicated base behind if they open up a new (and fickle) base.