Software as a Service (SaaS) is the direction in which the software industry wants to move so that everyone is required to pay a recurring fee (every month or every year) to keep using their software.
One friend recently told me he thought this was a good idea because it kept his software up to date with all the latest features, and found the fee reasonable.
There is no right or wrong position here, and everyone should be allowed to choose what is best for them. Some people want to buy a new car every year; some who can afford it do buy a new car every year, while others keep their old models so long as they still run. The East Texas neighborhood where I grew up was a microcosm of different approaches to automobile ownership.
Neighbor Mr. Owen was said to drive downtown every September for the auto dealer “open houses” to see the new models, and often drove home in a different car. I am not sure it was every year after the time his new car caught fire the first night it was in his garage leaving a charred carcass with five miles on the odometer. Buying the latest technology does have its appeal though. The Kennedys had a 1957 Ford Skyliner that had practically no trunk because the space was taken up with a retractable hardtop and the many electric motors, solenoids, and hundreds of feet of wiring required to make it work. On my way to and from elementary school I would ride my bicycle by their house hoping for the occasional chance to see that car’s hard top disappear.
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