The idea is that there's no trust required: My app handholds people through the process of setting up on AWS/Azure, then it uploads to their account via their API key. So if i close up shop, they wouldn't even notice (although they might notice a lack of new features after a while).

So yes they'd be paying me and the server. However the server fees would be cents a month. I would aim to present this as a strength to the user: you get billed direct by AWS/Azure because you're not at ransom to me - you hold the keys to the kingdom.

I suspect you're right though: Technical people will DIY, and nontechnical won't care, and will simply use Wordpress (it's the IBM of blogging: "nobody got fired for buying Wordpress")

> Wouldn't this mean that you just become another blogging service to trust?

Indeed.

At some point the desktop app will need updates too. If the developer stops updating it it will be as good as dead.

You're spot on right, especially with the pace of change in macOS. I was thinking that i could angle this as a good reason to charge for the product: "If you want this app to stick around for the long term, paying will ensure that". Combined with some sort of code escrow perhaps, plus a hugo or jekyll export as an 'offramp', i think it could be presented as reasonably 'safe-enough'.

> especially with the pace of change in macOS

Exactly. Windows and Android apps last forever. Not so much in Apple land.

It's not only that though. For example, something could be deprecated in the AWS SDK. If the app has to deploy somewhere it will be coupled to that too.