Hi Nico,
Am Dienstag, 24. Oktober 2023, 08:28:26 CET schrieb Nico Rikken:
What do you think? Is there are a trend towards subscription models?
yes there is. :) Of course software vendors will have to maintain the software and a subscription model could match that cost curve. However with proprietary software, the problem is that your data is kept captive and if you had just wanted to use the software for a year (let us say for your studies) and then you need to subscribe forever just to fully access your thesis documents.
How does that affect user freedom?
A bit. Like you I believe it is a bad development if used for proprietary software. I can be a good one, if used for Free Software.
Like even if you have a long enduring licence for a proprietary product, you probably need to buy a new one if they move to a new major version or you to a new operating system or device.
So the key is using an open standard dataformat, for where there will be several applications that could handle your data in the future.
Does the planned CRA encourage the trend towards subscription models?
No, it will have other chilling effects on Free Software development and software development in general, I think, because the responsibility can still be shifted to the producer of components too easily (which usually is not the big comany that policy makers wanted to get to take responsibility).
Best Regards, Bernhard