SW Subscription (was Re: Editor / Formatter)

[rtenn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (R Tennenbaum)]

On Mon, 08 Jul 1996 11:09:56 +0700 you wrote:

>>Interesting idea. I wonder if enough people would pay to support
>>even that level of service.
>>
>
>  I would. I think "subscribing" to XyWrite's a great idea.
>
>
>Chris Wren
>Madison, Wisconsin
>cgwren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>

Kind of interesting that on the one hand you have someone talking
about free applications, then a few days later we're talking about
subscribing to Xywrite. Personally, I don't see this idea of
subscribing to software having much of a future, and certainly not in
this case, where we seem to be dealing with a company whose dedication
to its product seems suspect at best. The nature of the market
dictates a sort of subscription anyway -- ie, a company brings to
market an updated product every year or so, and we buy it. Or at
least, that's how it's supposed to work.

I think we feel a certain amount of sympathy for software developers,
since it's a peculiar characteristic that hardware vendors will always
be in business, while a software developer who puts out the perfect
product is likely to put himself out of business. On the other hand,
do you want to be tied into a company which bloats its application
semi-annually and trades off users' anxiety lest they don't have the
latest and greatest?

Rafe T.