I can not stand subscription based software as it ALWAYS means I have to pay more and it also means that as soon as you stop paying you lose the use of all you files. It's a shame we live in a time when business can do whatever they wish and the customer is f'd.
I've been a Photoshop user since 2002 and have typically purchased the upgrades about every 2nd version or about every 3rd year. At a nominal $190 for 36 months that's $5.28/month. The subscription plan starts at $9.99/month - -nearly double what I've been paying and there's no guarantee the price will stay at $9.99. A year or two down the road the price is likely to be $14.99/month and, once again, when you stop paying all your images are worthless.
There's a name for this -- extortion!
Brian
It doesn't always mean you have to pay more. It depends what software you're using.
I just moved two companies to subscription based versions of Office, AutoCAD, and Quickbooks. They are saving thousands of dollars and getting MUCH better service and features.
Office 365 support is seriously the best support model I've ever seen. I can submit a ticket and get a real, working solution delivered to me via email with a follow-up phone call in 24 hours or less. Every user can also install office on up to 5 computers plus use the extensive set of apps on iOS, Android, etc. that integrate very well with the 25GB/user of free cloud storage. It's incredible and all of that comes at a price of $12/mo per head. Exchange email is really the only kind of email service that isn't pure shit if you need anything other than email and even then it's not as robust, so most companies use exchange in some capacity. The cheapest you can get that is usually $5/mo, so we're paying $7/mo for Office, Lync, Sharepoint, Onedrive, etc. The payoff period just to match a single copy of Office is roughly 2 years. This is all completely trivial in terms of absolute dollars compared to the support and efficiency gains.
AutoDesk 360 support isn't as good, but it still saved a ton of money and moved everyone to the newest version.
Quickbooks online saved a ton of money, but it was a huge step backward in terms of support and reliability (for now - it will improve). Regardless, everyone is still happy with all three moves.
I'm not saying it's always the right solution. Sometimes, though, it is.