A decade ago, buying software usually meant paying once and getting on with your work. Today, productivity apps increasingly work the other way around: pay every month or lose access to the features you rely on. I’ve gradually gotten used to that model, but I still notice the difference when I use something I bought years ago. One of those purchases was Plex Lifetime Pass. I paid for it once, and a decade later, I’m still using it. Looking back at that purchase has made me think about how dramatically software pricing has changed, and whether subscriptions really make more sense for products I expect to use for years.