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You have a perpetual right to use the product you bought. You don’t have a right to upgrades in perpetuity.

People like to criticize subscription models, but this is why you actually want them. It's easier to keep everything mostly up-to-date than do a big migration every decade, and if the pricing is set right (it usually isn't), it works out to the same amount in the end.

This is why we should have options. I would rather do the occasional migration than have software I rely on constantly changing. Even worse is when that software auto-updates and I can't even decide when the change will happen.

Your point is valid as well. There's no reason both of our preferences shouldn't be accommodated.

People criticize "Subscribe or nothing" models.

Sketch (the prototyping app) did the right thing and offered both. One-time fee for lifetime use with 1 year of upgrades, with an annual payment option for continuous updates. I bought a license in 2019, have never needed to upgrade.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com