> So I learned early on that people unreasonably expect support for no additional cost. Or they believe the amount they paid is for support in the future, not work done in the past.
If I buy a piece of software, it's not unreasonable to expect it to work for some period of time after the purchase. This is especially true on the Windows side, where Microsoft has gone to great lengths to keep old APIs around and support most (but not all) old software within reason. I have engineering software programs that are a decade old that still run fine on my Windows 10 machine.
macOS has been less shy about deprecating old APIs and forcing software updates. I probably spend $500-1000 every year just upgrading a certain few software packages that charge for a new version every time a new macOS comes out, and I hate it. I don't mind paying for new versions of software, but it's becoming saddening to watch all of my macOS software rapidly decay away with each macOS upgrade unless I buy the newest version.
> it's not unreasonable to expect it to work for some period of time after the purchase.
"it works" and "the developer gives me support" are two different things. In this case, I'm sure the shareware he wrote still "worked," but clearly they thought they were entitled to perpetual updates or the ability to chat to the developer any time they like.
As far as I'm concerned, the SLA of $10 shareware I volunteered to pay for is "whatever the developer is willing and able to provide." It's $10. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Fwiw, 1Password isn't nuking 1P7 or existing local vaults. Those users are free to keep using v7 for as long as Apple or Microsoft allow the app to be installed on the OS. (And I do agree, macOS and iOS are both quite abrupt about cutting off support and I commend Windows for going to great lengths to avoid it)
If I buy a piece of software, it's not unreasonable to expect it to work for some period of time after the purchase. This is especially true on the Windows side, where Microsoft has gone to great lengths to keep old APIs around and support most (but not all) old software within reason. I have engineering software programs that are a decade old that still run fine on my Windows 10 machine.
macOS has been less shy about deprecating old APIs and forcing software updates. I probably spend $500-1000 every year just upgrading a certain few software packages that charge for a new version every time a new macOS comes out, and I hate it. I don't mind paying for new versions of software, but it's becoming saddening to watch all of my macOS software rapidly decay away with each macOS upgrade unless I buy the newest version.