This is not even remotely correct. Historically, Microsoft's biggest problem with Office was having to convince people to buy the new versions since the basic feature set was fairly complete. The file format upgrade in 2007 was the only real forced upgrade since you had to have it in order to read other people's files. I have a copy of Office 2010 that still works just fine and can read files produced by up-to-date Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

The same goes for many other pieces of software. People (especially home users) would buy software once and then keep using it until something justified an upgrade. Software subscriptions were historically a B2B thing and IIRC usually came with support packages to help justify the ongoing cost -- especially important in the pre-internet and early internet eras.

>You can't keep and use the old version anymore

What do you mean? My Office 97 cd still works, the product key still works, and Clippy is still there. It's old, but no less functional than it was in '97.

Indeed, some professional software is now cheaper and more accessible to the individual consumer. Before Adobe went to the subscription model, I only had access through school programs and later through my newspaper's office. When Adobe inevitably released a new Photoshop version, my employer could easily swallow the price tag. It seems quaint thinking about how I drove across town to access software.