[crazygringo]

Exactly.

If you used to need to use software for a weeklong project, you'd have to pirate it because there was no way to justify the cost.

Now you just sign up for a month and then cancel.

It's a huge improvement in flexibility and paying for what you use. Not to mention the software is always updated, so you don't need to worry about whether your image editor you purchased 7 years ago supports the RAW format of the camera that came out 2 years ago.

[nirvdrum]

> It's a huge improvement in flexibility and paying for what you use. Not to mention the software is always updated, so you don't need to worry about whether your image editor you purchased 7 years ago supports the RAW format of the camera that came out 2 years ago.

I see this the other way. I don't want to be forced to upgrade. If you add valuable features, I'll pay for them. Otherwise, I'm happy to stick with what I have. Oftentimes the upgrades come with a new UX to learn, are slower, and remove functionality I relied on all to add new stuff I have no need for.

I think JetBrains hits an interesting middle ground. I can run whatever version of the IDE I want (as far as I can tell) but pay to have access to the full suite.

[BXlnt2EachOther]

I'm not a huge fan of subscriptions but like the way JetBrains handled a few things:

- if you're subscribed for 12 months, you get a perpetual license for the version at the start of that period (unfortunately not the end, but better than most subscriptions)

- fairly significant discounts for second and third+ years.

- they had a price increase either 2022 that was in line or below inflation, which they announced it clearly three months in advance -- no "beware of the leopard" -- and gave users an opportunity to prepurchase three years at the old rates in advance.

[nirvdrum]

I was apprehensive about the JetBrains one at first, but they sold me on having the perpetual license. It may have even just been a mental block. I was paying almost annually to upgrade IntelliJ IDEA (and sometimes RubyMine) as it was. The package that includes all of the IDEs was more than what I was paying just for IDEA, but cheaper than paying for upgrades on two products. I've dutifully subscribed since and enjoy access to all of the IDEs.

I may never use the perpetual license, but it made me feel better about the whole thing. I don't have to worry about what happens if my fortunes change and I can't afford one year. Or, I don't have to worry about vendor lock-in and a huge price increase. I don't want to invest time into a tool when the future of it is uncertain or where I could be cut off on a whim. This is a rare situation where I think everyone wins.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

> Now you just sign up for a month and then cancel.

Or you sign up and then Adobe does everything in its power to stop you from cancelling, including lying to your face: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10930079 (https://web.archive.org/web/20170324161306/http://www.geek.c...). Just because subscriptions can work out well doesn't mean they don't get abused by companies.

[crazygringo]

I mean, that's one customer service rep who was being difficult (not necessarily representative of Adobe policy at all), and the user was trying to cancel a yearly subscription on the 365th day when it was already being charged for autorenewal that day.

That's not even remotely representative of someone who signs up for a monthly subscription and then cancels it before the month is up. But yes, obviously you have to put it in your calendar to remember to cancel it. It's not that hard.

[whelp_24]

There are complaints all over the internet about this, it's not particularly isolated.

[crazygringo]

There are complaints about everything all over the internet.

In my experience, I've never once had a problem cancelling SaaS. There will always be bad actors out there, and maybe Adobe has been one, and maybe they still are, but on the whole I haven't found SaaS to be any worse than anything else.

And it's not really where the economic incentives lie -- someone who is cancelling is someone who is likely to sign up again in the future, so it's generally not in a business's best interests to piss them off.