some of my software lifetime license key purchases I did several years ago (usually more expensive) are starting to pay off since most stuff moving to subscriptions or 4-5x time more expensive. Was just recommending a software to a friend, I paied 19€ in 2016, it now costs 99€ + 19/year for updates. Luckily either many companies honour the free updates or Windows is stable enough with retro-compatibility.

I think this is how AI companies will start getting our data for “feeding AI”, by providing cheaper cloud storage alternatives. Not that existing ones won’t probably do it, but I’d be a bit worried about new entries to the space with “too good of a deal”