I still use Office 2000
It works (as well as any version of Office), it doesn't nag about licensing if I move it to a new PC and I don't have to pay it rent.
While it might well be an advantage to businesses to have a subscription model for their IT services (assuming that the benefit of being able to plan expenditure isn't undermined by continual creative changes to pricing structures), I really can't see how this is going to help the personal and SOHO user. Fine if you're earning a reasonable income and you're getting real value from your subscription. But if you're retired or have an unpredictable income, being able to rely on the availability of software you purchased when you had the money to do it is important.
It's all part of a trend towards a centralisation of capital - if you rent your books and movies rather than buy them, rent your software and, of course, increasingly, rent your home you simply become the modern equivalent of a serf.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
