best outliner you use? (2018)

Posted by Dr Andus
May 7, 2018 at 10:19 AM

MadaboutDana wrote:
>I have grave doubts about the subscription model, I must say. The big
>companies in particular (Adobe, Microsoft) seem to feel that once you’re
>a subscriber, they can modify their software in any way they want to
>(usually with a strategic objective in mind, like getting you to store
>all your data in their respective Clouds), without consulting you or
>balancing these changes against user input (OneNote is a good example).

Not only that. They can raise the price whenever they feel like it, abusing the captive audience. Adobe hiked up the monthly subscription for the Creative Cloud from GBP15 to GBP 25 this year, which is a crazy increase.

>As for subscriptions to outliner software - well, colour me
>disillusioned, but I’m not convinced by that model, either. Let’s face
>it, it’s inherently anti-CRIMP

It will inevitably reduce competition because it limits consumers’ willingness to try out new things. Once you’ve reached the limit of subscriptions you can personally afford, it acts as a disincentive to looking at new stuff. I could see this leading to monopolies and killing of innovation.

Unfortunately subscriptions are attractive to providers because it is in human nature that people forget about their subscriptions or lose oversight about their real cost.

I have at least two subscriptions in the family that I need to cancel but I’ve been too busy to get around to it, as it involves some work, such as moving data off those services, finding alternatives, and keeping track of renewal dates to pick the best moment to cancel. In the meantime I keep paying, like a mug.

At the same time it’s preventing me from considering other purchases or subscriptions. So the industry is shooting itself in the foot to some extent. There will have to be a moment when the market reached saturation, when everyone has maxed out on the subscriptions they can afford. What then? Small providers, startups etc. will struggle to find customers, once Adobe, MS, Dropbox, Evernote etc. mopped up most of that disposable income.