Drafts 5 for iOS goes subscription

Posted by Graham Rhind
Apr 21, 2018 at 07:40 AM

For or against subscriptions, I think it’s important to compare like with like and to recognise that there are variations on this particular theme. A subscription for a continuous service, such as for an internet connection or for cloud synchronisation; or one where you get a new product every n time periods, such as a magazine subscription, aren’t really comparable to subscriptions to working products that may, or may not, be updated during the subscription period. I’ll pay for the first two types. The latter type I now avoid.

It is oft quoted that subscriptions provide the financial foundation for developers to produce better software and more updates. There’s a flip side: when the money is already there the developers don’t have the motivation or requirement any longer to produce new versions.

Obviously it depends on the developer, so it’s always a risk, but, like Paul, my experience has universally been that development stops when software (without extra services such as cloud synchronisation) moves to a subscription basis. In all cases they have been mature applications. One, which used to produce updates every few months, didn’t produce a single update during the year I subscribed to it, or since. Another promised a new version 2 months into the subscription. 18 months later we’re all still waiting.

I stick to the old adage - buy software for what it does now, not for what is claims it will do in the future.