Well, I can still use my old polycarbonate MacBook from 2008 with the old version of Aperture I bought indefinitely, at least until the hardware breaks and is no longer repairable.
If Apple decides to stop supporting the subscription based Logic Pro, I'd no longer be able to continue using it.
But why would Apple stop supporting a subscription product that brings in revenue?
You've unintentionally alluded to the reason why single-purchase software is such a flawed business model. If I buy a piece of software from a company that's using a one-time purchase business model, I basically have to expect them to go out of business or constantly be on life support because their only revenue comes from new customers. Once their market is saturated, they're done.
Persistent licenses are really still licenses, not truly buy it and keep it forever product. The time scale is just longer. Aperture was discontinued, so now it's a matter of "good luck finding a machine that still runs it." While it's great that you got to keep the software forever, that doesn't guarantee the software has value anymore.
Almost all of the purchased objects in our life degrade in some way, whether it's fast or slow.
Also, I think that Apple's persistent license professional suite was priced well below cost to attract users to the Mac platform. In contrast, these are applications that are intending to turn a profit on their own.
> now it's a matter of "good luck finding a machine that still runs it." While it's great that you got to keep the software forever, that doesn't guarantee the software has value anymore.
On a system that can be virtualized the software may very well run forever.
I can virtualize Disk Defragmenter on a Windows 98 VM, but what value does that have?
I can virtualize Visual Studio ‘97, but what value does that have?
The examples of old pay-once software that has no value to today is basically endless. Even the ones that still have value eventually get an open source competitor that surpasses them.
For example, Gimp is certainly better than some very old versions of Photoshop, and a modern Linux distribution is better than an old version of Windows (even if you believe Windows 11 to be the best OS currently available).
It's probably a bold assumption that you wouldn't be able to continue using it, Apple likely realizes that this would screw people who bought the device specifically for that purpose; should just be as simple as changing a sub expiry date to a thousand years from now if the shit does hit the fan.
Furthermore, if it shares the same codebase as the macOS version, why would it cease development now that they share a common architecture? If anything, that would likely mean Apple had gone tits-up.
I don't think Apple is comparable to any other corp, they're in a unique position of making the only hardware that officially runs the software they make and they also make industry leading software.
I'm not even an Apple user. I'm just calling it as I see it.
All corporations have things in common, at the very least legally, and more.
Nvidia, for example, meets the requirements too.
Why you would trust a company not to increase prices because they make their own hardware I am not sure.
I remember a bus company undercut by a new train service. The train was very affordable until the private bus service disappeared. Then, the price gouging started.
If we can compare that service with a SaaS I don‘t see why apple would be any different.
They're not much different, they just run on a different time scale.
Even if your same application continues to work forever, one of the following will happen:
- Complementary software evolves. E.g.: My old photo editor doesn't support new image compression formats
- Alternatives become more attractive. E.g.: I paid for a copy of Sublime Text but now I prefer VSCode because of its additional functionality, my old copy of Photoshop CS2 works fine but the new one will save me time during XYZ workflow compared to the old version.
- The utility of the application is exhausted. E.g.: I already played this single player game 10 times and it's not fun anymore, my copy of Final Cut Pro 6 can't produce 4K HDR movies that my customers demand.
I have versions of Paint Shop Pro from the 90s that can open JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, etc. files.
I have used versions of After Effects of similar vintage. Premier and AE were doing 4K back then because that’s what Hollywood needed for their productions. Illustrator and Photoshop are mostly functional.
Likewise, my Nikon camera from 2011 doesn’t stop working just because it’s old. The tools in my garage are no less effective because home additive manufacturing exists.
