And I went on their page to subscribe for a lifetime membership, and they wanted 20 bucks, which I was okay with, but it does not include Major Updates! I guess I’ll buy it and just click the do not check for updates button but that seemed kind of, I don’t know.
I still think they’re pretty cool for not hassling you more than they do.
Am I wrong that this bothered me?
That’s just how software licensing work before subscription, right? You’ll get a permanent license key that valid for that version, then if you want to upgrade to the latest version later down the line, you’ll buy a license upgrade (usually at discount).
Thanks for being the only person in this thread to actually respond to the question instead of blabbering about different software.
Yeah this is pretty standard for software licensing. Free upgrades indefinitely is an unsustainable business model.
But unlimited free trial isn’t?
Hahaha true! Maybe they were going for a similar model to what VMware used to do: Provide ESXi for free for usage in homelabs, so that people get hooked and buy licenses for business use.
That’s precisely the model. They don’t care that much as long as people end up with plenty of RAR files, and when you need it as a business most of them will make sure everything is properly licensed to avoid any legal liabilities.
And by making the trial keep working forever, not many end up cracking it either, so you keep nagging them and some people probably end up paying.
It was an important model in the 90s and early 2000s. It helped that ever more computer users came online at the time many of whom wanted very similar utilities and that those shareware companies often basically consisted of a guy in a basement converting Diet Coke into code.