Gone are the days of going into a Personal Computer shop and simply buying a program you want there and then and owning it outright how you please. Nowadays you can rent the same programs but you have to keep paying a subscription to borrow them.
Even buying houses nowadays on new modern estates are being sold the same way. You can buy the house but the land it comes with is leasehold so you never own the land, just rent it.
I'm old school, like to buy something outright and own it. Don't wish to rent something and pay forever to use it. Mortgage paid, debt free and like to remain that way being forced to budget for expenses to obtain what I want, when I want without worrying about debt by being cautious with money . That's how old school people are where as new kids on the block, pile up the debt, worry about it tomorrow and never lay foundations for a long term plan to get where they aim to achieve.
Completely disagree.
The problem with one-off purchases is that there is no ongoing income stream for the developer, therefore no money to maintain, improve, update the product.
This was exactly the problem with that excellent windows program, Window Cleaner Pro. Superb software, way ahead of its time, long before cleaner planner. But it was a one-off payment and it first stopped being supported, then lapsed into obscurity. Much of its code depreciated and there was no funding (or motivation) by the developer to update it.
I’m more than happy to pay a monthly fee for good software. IMO it’s the only way to keep it reliable and working.