How do you want to amortize those security updates? By paying the dividend discount price of the updates up front and risk having the product abandoned in a few years (cheating you out of your ‘dividend’), or by paying directly through a subscription? For another, using open source software would be even harder to do without an intermediary like Red Hat who would be willing to accept tort liability.Īt any rate, your software vendor has no legal responsibility to provide you with security updates. I’m not sure what the tech world would look like if it were - for one thing, software teams would probably need a P.Eng. Security vulnerabilities generally aren’t considers latent defects under warranty laws (at least not in NA). That being said, security updates shouldbe part of the price you already paid, since a security flaw is a flaw in their original software. We do not fix that for them as "part of the price they paid". I understand your idea - but it's the same idea as people who call up my work saying "Hey, the app you made us doesn't work any more, you need to fix it!" and everybody here is like "Who the hell are _they?_ Never even heard of them." and it turns out its a 32 bit iOS app that they paid for in 2013 and we haven't heard from since (and there's only 3 people left in the whole company who were around in '13, and none of them are iOS devs). If everybody who ever charge money fo a piece of software was on the hook forever for all flaws it might have, you'd only ever be able to buy software from Apple or Oracle or Microsoft - there would need to be almost as any lawyers as developers in any software company. If that was how everything worked - our industry would be _very_ different. > That being said, security updates should be part of the price you already paid, since a security flaw is a flaw in their original software. I'm not so sure - it'd be much easier to write the email saying "Sorry, we screwed up and got a critical security but wrong, but here's an update that fixes it." if a significant portion of your users are paying a subscription - compared to writing that same email just as marketing are preparing to try and convince everybody to pay for a new upgrade. > If you are paying for a subscription there isn’t necessarily an incentive to provide security updates even more > After getting burned by this over and over again, I just think it's more sensible to stick to OSS options that will probably exist in some compilable state even in the distant future. If you asked 12 years ago if they would still be around in 10 years, the answer would be yes. > Is AgileBits going to be around in 10 years? They would still be around if they had subscription revenue. > Neither has Q Branch, but they ran out of money and had to shut down. These are all major publishers of podcasts who have a vested interest in keeping PocketCasts a good app, and growing it. The other partners are WNYC, WBEZ, and PRX (helmed by Ira Glass). And they've stated the intent is not to change how PocketCasts works. Of all the entities they could be acquired by, I think NPR is the least offensive of all. > Shifty Jelly has never let me down either, but they got acquired by NPR. If its any consolation, several of my developer friends feel the same way. If there was anything that deserves a subscription, it is your security software. I realized that I was gladly willing to pay $60/year to keep me and my family going while keeping AgileBits running as well. There are always new ways things get attacked and new ways to be more secure. One important statement I make to people is: _the price for security is eternal vigilance_. I pay for Things, Bear, iThoughts, and may other apps that have helped me greatly. I pay for tools that keep me going and return me money because they offer me productivity. I get something that gives me access to all their software versions (Mac, Windows, iOS and Android) for five people, my entire family (if my cat ever decides to get a computer). Then, look at the $5/mo subscription for families. That's $40 over three years for something that I use daily. Turns out I paid about $40 for the Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android clients. I was like, "hey, I paid for this." So, I looked up how much I paid in licenses by looking them up. I was a little irked when I saw the subscription model. During that time, they have consistently improved their product and have been open about issues (as far as I am concerned). I've been using their software daily for over three years. So, I'll join the chorus here by saying that I've picked up the subscription fee.
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