Part of the ethos of local-first is permanent ownership of software over subscription services. Sure, it's not technically in the name, but it's very much part of the background for TFA.
Why would one sell permanent ownership of a networked product? I've been seeing the rise of "lifetime" subscription levels (pay once) for SaaS products, but I'm curious as to what the actual long-term economics of it are.
If your cost of operations is not a one-time cost per user, I don't see how you can avoid a subscription model.
> Why would one sell permanent ownership of a networked product?
You wouldn't. Maybe TFA has an extreme interpretation of local-first, but the entire point of the article is eliminating the last vendor-controlled server from certain kinds of apps so that the user can own the software forever.
Obviously this doesn't work for all apps, and it sounds like OP may have one that needs some form of network component. In that case what you propose would work very well.
You can charge the user once upfront, possibly after a free trial. 37 signals are trying it out with once.com. As a developer, you are in control of how local-first your application should be.
Why would one sell permanent ownership of a networked product? I've been seeing the rise of "lifetime" subscription levels (pay once) for SaaS products, but I'm curious as to what the actual long-term economics of it are.
If your cost of operations is not a one-time cost per user, I don't see how you can avoid a subscription model.