I’ve long been a proponent of paying for software. If something is usable enough for me to need it, I should need it enough to pay for it. Fair enough.
I’ve also long been allergic to spending money foolishly. I also resent people who try to take advantage of other people.
So, while I pay for software, I find that I’m very stingy. While I pay for software, I have to think about it long and hard.
I was going through my old MacUpdate account today, looking at what was locked up therein. Many years of programs, and many purchases. I didn’t take the time to total it up, but it was quite a bit.
Admittedly, a lot of it was bought “on the cheap”. Bundles, discounts – I looked for them all. But I also spent and spent and spent.
What was the outcome? Program discontinued. Upgrade to continue using. Not compatible with your version of the OS. Etcetera.
This is beside the changes that have overtaken the Mac. The newest Mac I own is from 2010. I’m not particularly interested in what they’ve made since then. Intrusive software, obstructive security. No, I’m not interested in that. So, what did Apple do for people like me who were happy to continue using software that “just worked”? They stopped making security updates and releasing certificate updates. Now, instead of being in Apple’s walled garden, my Mac is in my own walled garden, walled off from the Internet to keep it safe from the wolves that roam there.
And the software I bought? Well, I noticed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the list. Yeah, without a number after it. That was a good game. I enjoyed playing that game. I’d like to play that game again. But, even though I “bought” it, I can’t play it. The DRM of that age has locked the software up, even from my 2010 Mac. If I want to play it again, I’ll need to buy it again.
I understand that software updates take work. I understand that companies have to keep their doors open in order to support customers who paid more than a decade ago, but have since been satisfied with the status quo. But I don’t feel like “renting” software. I don’t want to feel that I’m wasting money if I’m not using it every day/week/month/year/whatever makes sense for what it is and what I paid. I don’t want to have to pay again to play that game that I last used a decade ago, or that utility program.
I don’t even mind the idea of paying again for a Linux version. But I’m wary of paying for software unless I know I’m going to be using it heavily in the near future. I want to be satisfied with my purchase long before the necessary servers are shut down.
And now we get to the “ship now, debug later” stage of this drama. By the time the software is nearly stable, the company will have closed, or been sold. Any arrangement I thought I had with them is passé. I am (sometimes) offered a discount to get their latest version, which may or may not have any relationship to the code used for the old version, may or may not have the same features, and may be more or less bug-ridden than the version that I quietly shelved waiting for bug fixes.
So these days I mostly use FOSS. That’s Free, Open Source Software. It’s free, so I’m not feeling like a sucker when the company sells out to Google, who will discontinue the product. It’s open source, so someone else may pick it up and keep it going. Perhaps, with the assistance of Claude, even I could keep it going, at least for myself.
It’s a shame. I think we should pay for software. I think the laborer is worthy of his pay, and I think some of these laborers have created absolutely amazing things.