An Argument For Micro-Subscriptions

Why should the new trend for subscription services — content, software, you name it — stop at monthly billing cycles?

We’ve probably all heard the story where back in the old days (I’ll let you figure out how far back that is), software delivered to users was in its final form, more or less perfect or at least following what the software writers wanted you to have. It was expensive to distribute software, as back then, you had to distribute them through floppy disks (and later on, CD-ROMs). Also, most computers were offline so there was no chance of doing the now-obiquitous software updates if a bug was found. Shipping software was a do-or-die thing — either it shipped perfectly and people happily used it, or there was a bug and people stopped using it.

Another thing that surfaced after software became even more dependent on an online connection (aside from software updates), was a shift in pricing. Previously, I had to shell out 200 bucks to get the most recent Office for Mac package (yes, it was 200 bucks as I couldn’t buy it online and had to buy it at one of those Apple Authorised Resellers at a premium), but now, I can ‘simply’ subscribe to Office 365 for as low as 7 bucks a month. I haven’t tried 365 yet as I’m quite happy with my current Office for Mac (which is at least 3 years old, gosh!) and I do have the installer, which for all intents and purposes, belongs to me (unless I missed something in the EULA which nobody ever reads).

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