[wfleming]

The trouble is the justification of a subscription is evaluated differently by businesses and customers, and both perspectives are rational. If you’ve got servers to pay for, subscriptions are a very appealing model since it makes the “is this business sustainable” math very easy (and less charitably lots of businesses are after that sweet sweet subscription revenue because it tends to be sticky). As a customer, I think it’s also very reasonable to get annoyed that “everything is becoming a subscription” and say “why would I pay this much for something I might need once in a blue moon.”