Re:Subscription Hell
by dgudkov on Sunday May 06, 2018 @05:18PM
(#17008601)
Many economical models (including working 9 to 5, btw) came from the times of physical labor. At that time the part of labor was relatively small in the cost structure, and the part of materials was big. And since materials is a one-time expense, it was natural to have one-time pricing.
In the knowledge-based industry such as software the cost of labor has the biggest share in cost structure. And unlike materials, the labor itself is a subscription. Social policies that make firing hard make it even more so. No wonder that revenue structure also tends to shift towards subscription-based models.
Re:Subscription Hell
by AlexandrB on Monday May 07, 2018 @07:48AM
(#17011984)
A less charitable analysis is that the software industry has failed to deliver reliable software so spectacularly that it requires constant upkeep from a team of professionals to maintain a text editor like Ulysses.
In the knowledge-based industry such as software the cost of labor has the biggest share in cost structure. And unlike materials, the labor itself is a subscription. Social policies that make firing hard make it even more so. No wonder that revenue structure also tends to shift towards subscription-based models.