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by openlowcode 1275 days ago
One big negative aspect is that everything tends to cost around $10/month, from a verified Twitter account to an app to teach English to my children.

Now, it may be small change for single people with Silicon Valley salaries, but I have a family to feed on my French experienced engineer salary, and I basically have around $150-$200/month left for entertainment for the whole family.

I cannot buy 10 internet services, whereas I could perfectly afford buying, say, a dozen or so $50 software a year.
2 comments
jimkleiber 1275 days ago
Hmm, I'm debating a lot of this now for my work. What if they said $10/month or $50/year? Or would you prefer a software you could buy for $50 until it falls apart? (I built an app and didn't update it as Android and iOS changed and it doesn't work anymore)

Edit: ok not falls apart but maybe doesn't stay updated and becomes obsolete, or has bugs that don't get fixed, etc.

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phrom 1275 days ago
Look at what Jetbrains does. When you complete a 1 year subscription, you get a permanent license to a version of the software you're subscribed to, that is 1 year older than the latest.

It is at the same time a subscription to the latest updates, and a one time purchase of an older version that will still be able to open your files, if you drop the subscription. Or the company disappears.

I think that is the best option for a subscription. If you go the one off purchase route though, consider also adding a "grace period" where users get free upgrades to the next version or at least a good discount. For example, if I buy your $50 dollars software, and the next week you show up with a new version with really cool features for the same $50 dollars, I would feel scammed, especially if you hadn't made any announcements that the new version was about to come out. Try to either have a release schedule where you announce a month or two before they're out, or to offer a month or two or free upgrades if you someone buys a version right before a new one comes out.

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WhiteBlueSkies 1275 days ago
Maybe your employer is lowballing you. 200 disposable income as senior dev is too low.
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benhurmarcel 1275 days ago
He's in France. Tech salaries aren't nearly as high as the US there.
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