These apps will often differentiate themselves with added functionality that Apple simply doesn’t do in their app, and often that’s great! We’ve covered a lot of these apps here on The Sweet Setup, and our current pick for the best third-party email app has a ton of things that Apple’s app doesn’t.īut what if you generally like Apple Mail, you just wished it was more reliable, faster, and was a little more customizable? If you’re a Gmail user on the Mac, then Mimestream may very well be the app you’ve been waiting for. If they stopped improving, I'd probably stop paying, but I wouldn't be trapped, I could still use the last version of the tools for what they were designed to do.There are a million email apps out there for Apple devices, and each of these apps needs to convince people that they should use them instead of Apple’s built-in (and free) Mail app. It has worked so well, I can still handle the cost for now, and they've continued innovating, haven't gone stale, so I keep paying them. If your budget is tight this year, you don't have to pay, but you won't get the next update however, your current version still works and you can keep doing your job using that last version of the software. You pay a subscription for as long as you want regular updates. They have what I think is a fair licensing model that is a compromise that satisfies their need for stable income and my need for control of my budget and upgrade schedule. I've found one company that I've been willing to pay a subscription to for tools. Not exactly exciting content that we're all on the edge of our seat anticipating the next email. In the case of an email app, the content is, ugh, email. Though I doubt we'll see rapid improvements and innovations of the apps that deliver that content, the bulk of the subscription we pay goes to the content creators (at least I hope it does). Streaming services are a perfect example. And, where subscriptions fit best are when new content is being created for them. There are of course tools that are much more sophisticated, so this isn't a perfect analogy to hardware innovations. Sure, we've seen better balanced hammers created, which are more ergonomic, and production efficiencies, but ultimately it's still a hammer to hammer things. ![]() To compare to a hammer, what more can you do to it to improve it. And of course with simple tools like email clients, you quickly plateau on what the tool should actually do. Subscriptions stabilize the income between cycles. That said, I can see it from the business owners' perspective as well. ![]() And developers and business owners alike were highly motivated to innovate, and it pushed an iterative development cycle that included those innovations. The longer they use the product, the more stuck they become.Ĭlick to expand.Perpetual license. And if the business owners are really clever, as they often are, they design the product so that they trap their customers. They give all of that control to the company. For consumers, they lose complete control of their upgrade schedule and budget.Ultimately the founders and especially the company that they sell to will want to reduce cost of maintenance to zero, maximize profits again, while also steadily easing their customer base to higher and higher prices. To use a simple analogy to hardware tools again, consumers are paying forever for a fresh coat of paint on their hammer every year or so (whether they needed or wanted a new color). And, the bad part for consumers, is the innovation slows to a crawl, updates, and features trickle out if at all, but often they are just superficial revisions made to give the illusion of modernization.This sucks because you pour your heart, soul, life into building something awesome, and then you're cut out before any big payday happens. Oust that team of developers to maximize profit margins and hand off maintenance to a smaller and much lower cost team.Nothing wrong with that, but that step is the death knell for the original developers. All great software development processes. They push them hard to stabilize the product, setup various processes to automate and simplify maintenance. ![]() Founders, owners, or investors hire the best developers they can find, and that team builds a great product.It's a common strategy that I've experienced on the wrong end: So, we consumers get better products.įrom my perspective, subscription based tools create the wrong incentives. Somehow this has worked for decades upon decades and still does. How does any hardware tool manufacturer stay in business? They innovate. Click to expand.I ask the same questions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |