50 - Software without the subscription?

Episode notes

Jason Fried (37Signals) recently published an open challenge to the software subscription model—their stance is that customers should once again be able to buy and own software products. To pay for them once and own the source code. We discuss both models' pros and cons and speculate why Jason and the 37Signals teams introduced this strategy and manifesto. Here are some of our key takeaways: In the last few years, many software companies were able to get away with neglecting the second “s” in SaaS (service). But given the state of the tech industry, that’s now sometimes a determinant factor in whether or not someone continues using a product. We talk more about this in episode 44. Whether you sell software in a subscription model or through one-time version purchases or pay-per-update, there will almost always be a need for product innovation and support—to help customers succeed with the product and to maintain compatibility with hardware and browser changes.