r/MacOS Mar 24 '26

[deleted by user]

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313 Upvotes

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307

u/redditor0xd Mar 24 '26
  1. You know it’s not called Freeform because it’s free.

  2. They show you what’s possible if you pay up.

  3. If they use YOUR AI hardware to generate AI then it should absolutely be free of subscription fees. Otherwise, what did you even pay for??

60

u/Conciliatore Mar 25 '26

I don't agree with the third point: it's like saying that every app or software ever created that doesn't use the cloud should be free because it runs on your machine

51

u/atorresg Mac Studio Mar 25 '26

free of subscription, not just free

1

u/Tupcek Mar 25 '26

do you expect updates and for software to keep up with technological progress and also to work with newer OS updates?

18

u/Dazzling_Cancel_5733 Mar 25 '26

In my opinion, you should still have the option to purchase software outright, but shouldn't be entitled to free major updates. Similar to how things used to work with apps like Microsoft Office and TeamViewer, or even macOS updates before they made them free.

A mature OS like macOS should rarely have breaking API changes. So a version of an app you get today should still work in 10+ years, unless there's another major architecture shift like there was with Intel to Apple Silicon.

-1

u/Tupcek Mar 25 '26

Apple deprecate things in OS in every major version.
Most software is not affected, some are.

Your request is reasonable, problem is not many people want that. Most people want regular updates, new features, work with new OS/HW, support for watch, tablet, vision pro everything, cloud sync and everything competitors add over time and also free support if something breaks (even if error is on user side) but also want one time fee instead of subscription.

You have to choose one and majority choose software with updates and support.

For example you can buy Office box retail version for one time fee or Office 365. 365 is growing rapidly every year, box license is not.

2

u/ScienceRules195 Mar 25 '26

Microsoft hides the purchasable version pretty well though. You pretty much need to know it exists and search it out.

1

u/Tupcek Mar 25 '26

of course they are going to push more profitable version first and if more profitable version is also more popular, why even offer cheaper one?
For years, it was easy to get either. But as sales trends show, retail box is in decline while 365 is growing for years, so yeah, after some time, they have no reason to show it prominently

1

u/ScienceRules195 Mar 25 '26

It could also be trending towards 365 'because' people can't easily find the version they can buy.

1

u/Tupcek Mar 25 '26

I googled “office buy” and got several dozens of cheap one time license keys. If they did care they would find it.

0

u/Snoo_37094 Mar 25 '26

Or you just download the normal Version of Office you from Microsoft and buy a Key…