Tim Marman complains about NewsGator's subscription model:

I don't see a lot of value in a separate service manages just a small part of the problem. If you are going to a subscription model, you have to offer something beyond the software itself; you have to offer a service. In this case, I'm not so sure that the service is compelling enough.

I'd invite him to sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and sketch out how many copies those guys would have to sell at the non-subscription price point every year in order to stay in business. Then maybe he'll fully understand why so many software companies are moving towards subscription models: either they do that, or they go under.

So at the end user level, the question you want to ask yourself is, do I want to see my vendor stay in business or not?