by pixeloution on 6/26/18, 3:33 PM with 9 comments
by pixeloution on 6/26/18, 4:04 PM
If I'm unsure on how long before there will be a worthwhile upgrade, am I paying $80 for this app, or $400? Its a bit like being told that you can buy an item but won't know its real cost upfront.
I understand subscription models where they offer something that's ongoing (remove disk, sync, whatever) but I find this model annoying and its forced me to change software I use quite a bit in the last few years (most recently moving off 1password).
Charge me more if you have to, but stop this "keep paying forever" madness.
by mistersquid on 6/27/18, 5:00 AM
According to Julian Rothkamp of Fournova, Git Tower is moving to "standard subscription: you’ll have access to Tower as long as your subscription is active. Access to Tower ends when a subscription expires", [0] which in my opinion is not an appropriate model for software that leverages open source technology such as Git.
I think a more reasonable model would be what Drew McCormack calls the "cash cow" subscription model where users pay for a 12-month subscription and will
> get new features and bug fixes for one year, but after that you are on your own again until you make a new purchase. You won’t get any new features, or even bug fixes, but you can keep using the last copy of the app that you downloaded. [1]
With the "cash cow" model users pay only after they've decided from themselves that the developer has provided enough value to justify the cost of another yearly subscription. Instead, Fournova has chosen a pay-to-play subscription model which means that after the first year, users simply have to trust that another year's subscription fee will be worth it.
Additionally, pay-to-play turns Git Tower's users' workflow familiarity into a financial dependency/liability and this seems ill-advised in a world where software and platforms can shift with little to no predictability.
For my part, I am going to wait 12-18 months before even trying Git Tower 3 because I don't want to become dependent on the new features with no recourse except to pony up US $69 in 12 short months. As a side-note, I think this would not be as much an issue if Git Tower's annual pay-to-play price was closer to US $30.
[0] https://www.producthunt.com/posts/tower-3-0
[1] https://medium.com/@drewmccormack/a-cash-cow-is-on-the-agend...
EDIT: Remove first sentence. Add comma to second sentence. Move first citation marker.
by tristanpemble on 6/27/18, 12:43 AM
I will not be purchasing a subscription for Tower. This model does not make sense for this application.
by j_chodorowicz on 6/27/18, 9:53 AM
by nsuinteger on 6/27/18, 1:10 AM
r.i.p standalone software licenses
by iluzone on 6/27/18, 7:52 PM