[pembrook]

Most consumers don’t pay for software at all, though. That’s why all the “pay once for this software-in-a-box” companies basically died except for TurboTax. Saas started in B2B and is still largely a B2B phenomenon.

Consumers buy content subscriptions like Netflix or Spotify, and hardware like phones and laptops, but they largely do not (and will not) pay for software tools. Google/Facebook/Microsoft/etc has trained them this way. And no, HN readers are not normal people, so just because you do, doesn’t mean most people do.

For business customers, a monthly subscription is highly advantageous due to it turning capex into opex on the balance sheet. It reduces the need for onsite IT staff, offloads data security onto an expert 3rd party, and allows for cloud based collaboration and continuous updates—-which “buy it once and use it locally” products never could do.

Saas is a model designed around the needs of B2B, and most big Saas companies make the consumer version free, so I wouldn’t count on consumers caring enough to push back.

[joezydeco]

I always thought TurboTax was worse.

It's an application you use precisely once and then it's no good upon the next tax cycle.