If there weren't pieces of software that people were willing to pay a subscription for, then software quality would be horrible. The reason why 1Password is so good is that the developers are paid to work on it, and some business needs (such as having really good quality stuff so you can get recommended to more potential customers, and so that your existing customers don't leave) push you towards higher quality software. When working on OSS for free, the need to survive pushes you to work at a job, and your OSS work is done in your spare time, often to get things you want done, but not to make an amazingly polished and very user-friendly work.

Subscriptions allow developers to keep improving their software. If you just pay for software once and keep using an older version, developers miss out on money that could keep them working and improving things. OSS is great, but money is important for developers to deliver quality and updates.

I don't remember software quality being a ton worse before software subscriptions became common. Operating systems and certain development practices (maybe, less certain about that one) have led to some noticeable improvements, but that mostly happened before the shift.

I really really don't like software subscriptions, but for a password manager there is obvious ongoing work just to keep it functioning.

It's one thing to use a standalone app like MS Money for 20 years with various hacks and compatibility modes to keep it working. Over the time I've used a password manager I've seen OS and browser updates break parts like plugins or syncing. I've transitioned to using passwords more on my phone (and phone APIs have changed).

The major difference you may be overlooking is that now everything is connected and online, and as a result the software we use day-to-day needs much more active maintenance than before.

When you had a computer sitting in your home that connected to the Internet via modem for 2 hours a day, your OS or apps could be riddled with hidden bugs and holes and it didn't matter as much.

Now we are constantly operating in insecure-by-default environments, and (responsible) companies have to spend much more to monitor, improve and maintain their applications over time, as devices change, underlying operating systems change, new threats are detected and published, etc..

Hence subscriptions..

Software quality was a lot higher before the Internet was a thing. What you shipped had to work, as shipping patches was non-trivial and expensive.

Most such software wasn't subscription based either.

*Citation needed