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I thought the JetBrains subscription was actually a good example of a subscription - when you buy an annual subscription, you get a 'perpetual fallback license' for the version at the time of purchase - i.e. you can continue to use that version forever without further payment.

Isn't that basically a traditional (90's style) software purchase?

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The JetBrains subscription model is excellent.

But not only that, they went through a couple revisions with the customer to determine what the right model is.

The software that JB produces as has massive value, but it is also fragile in that it needs to be kept up to date as the ecosystem evolves. That value is fragile in the face of constant change unless you pin yourself to a snapshot of the language and all its dependencies. The JB subscription model allows for this while also enabling constant upgrades.

The way that JB handled the outcry about the original subscription model is the real innovation.

Not to mention the yearly price breaks for continuing to subscribe to their services. I think I pay less than $15 USD a month for their All Products pack, and it's worth every penny. Much more economical than buying every release of Visual Studio.

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