I hate everything.

I used to really love technology. And I guess I still do, but I hate what a lot of tech, especially software, has become. It used to be either an app was free or it wasn’t. Usually the free stuff came with some other way to monetize itself (remember the bars that used to be forced on you when you downloaded a Windows app?) The paid stuff, you paid for and that was it. Maybe legally you didn’t own it (EULAs were a bitch even back then), but you didn’t really have to worry about too much since you had a honest-to-God-CD you could use to re-install with if something fucked up.

Now? Well there are no CDs. You download everything online, and there is no free vs paid anymore, at least not like before. Now it’s free (with enough ads to choke a donkey) or subscription based.

Even things that should not be subscription based, HAVE A FUCKING SUBSCRIPTION. There’s a new BlueSky app for Mac (no I am not linking it, because fuck them), and you know what? It’s not free, and you can’t just pay for it, you have to pay per month or $15 bucks a year.

The RSS feed reader I was using on Android? It took features away from users and put them behind a $5/year paywall.

It’s not that these amounts are insane, but regular applications that don’t provide a recurring service, don’t need subscriptions. If the developer isn’t providing you with something each month (like storage or backups), then there is no need to give them recurring money. I’ll happily pay $15 for a stupid Bluesky app. But I’m not going to pay that every year. I’m not getting more value from the app as time goes on.

I sound like an old man, but I can’t afford this shit. None of us can. Developers are going to price themselves out of a ton of users by simply being too greedy. Choose a price, let me pay it, and we can both move on. If you want more money from me, come out with a new version like they used to do, and I can decide if I want to pay again.

I want to pay for software that I enjoy. I’m odd like that. I want the developers who work on the software I enjoy to be able to keep making those apps.

I know it’s hypocritical for someone who gets supported via Patreon (a subscription service) to complain about subscriptions. I provide way less value than a developer. But my content is free, and will always be free. I provide some perks for my supporters, but the main stuff is free to all. If that was the way developers worked, I’d have nothing to complain about. Instead, they force the subscription life on us, and that is just unsustainable for most people. Because it’s not just one or two apps that want to do things this way. It’s every app on the damn appstore. There’s hardly a single app out there anymore that doesn’t offer some subscription. I even saw a fart app (remember those?) that had a 99cent/year subscription. WTF?

This is out of hand, and we need to decide together that enough is enough. Because enough is enough.

Okay, I’ve ranted enough. Needless to say, I didn’t download the Bluesky app. And I replaced my RSS feed reader with a FOSS app. I’ll probably send them some money, but that will be my choice, as it should be.