Why we must resist Office for iPad

What is happening, will continue, and I don't think there is anyway to stop it.

The most likely cause for it is that development methodologies have changed, continuous integrations, continual deployments basically mean that people can get the benefit straight away. Why not then should the payment be made straight away as well. The subscription model is basically just the best fit current solution to the problem.

We will likely see newer takes eventually, I suspect someone will create some form of prepay/pay as you go credit solution soon.

In other words, software development is moving towards becoming a service industry opposed to a production based industry. Most economies / markets / industries go through this transition, and its been coming for a long time.