[quote=Sandeep]How does everyone feel about being forced into subscription models across the board?
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Before I get into the bulk of my rant, I'd like to talk a little bit about the terminology.
Cloud Computing - "The use of computing resources that are delivered as a service over a network."-Wikipedia article on cloud computing. examples of applications/services that make use of cloud computing include MS Office 365, Google Drive, Practice Fusion, Netflix
subscription - the periodic selling of a service or product over a defined or non-defined term-period. examples of subscription products/services include an Economist subscription, MS Office 365, Netflix.
In today's software world, subscription-based software often requires the use of cloud computing. (Correct me if I'm wrong about that.)
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The subscription, cloud software trend makes me upset. Two reasons:
1. Pricing. Subscription for essential services/products shifts the consumer-corporation power balance in further favor of large corporations/organizations. This shift is a result of the stripping away of the consumer's right to use a product indefinitely. To illustrate the importance of 'right to use indefinitely,' take the following example. If a doctor's office becomes becomes heavily dependent on a subscription-based software to conduct certain day-to-day operations, then the producer of said software has undue leverage in pricing; in the short-term, intermittent increases in price may be deemed less expensive than the cost (time, effort, money) associated with switching to another software that can fulfill the same role.
I think subscription is fine for non-essential services/products.
2. Privacy. I assert that cloud applications are incompatible with Privacy. Cloud applications necessarily keep a log of your activities. I'd prefer if no one, government nor corporation, know what I do during the day if they don't have to know. I realize that there are privacy protocols in place for cloud computing, but I find no reason to guard my faith in them.
Unfortunately, I don't see an end to the software-subscription/cloud trend.
