Nice! I will think about use cases for this 🙂 Good luck with the pro version, it would be great to make Reveal dev self-sustaining. I guess I need to really start using Reveal so that I can eventually upgrade to Pro 🙂

Thanks! Some Forms use cases are listed on the Reveal Pro page. Another use case I have in mind for the future is extending Forms to support json schema. That way you'll be able to explore and build Vega views interactively (see what's possible today: https://vlaaad.github.io/vega-in-reveal)

Also extending to some API schemas like swagger/openapi/graphql so you can build and run queries from Reveal

As one bit of anecdata, I'd be a lot more likely to invest in this if I could buy it once and be done -- I just won't use software that insists on a recurring charge. Maybe worth considering that as at least an alternate option? Either way, cool stuff!

Adding to the anecdata, I froze http://Tower.app at version 2 the day version 3 came out and became recurring. I prefer using a fixed version (even if 'outdated') and not adding another charge to the pile of recurring stuff. Maybe as a middle ground you can offer a choice between a fixed product with 1y bugfix support or a constantly-updated product billed monthly. Either way, best wishes ✌️

Counter-anecdata: I subscribed to Cognitect's Patreon ($3/month) for REBL for every month that they collected patronage (they stopped when they bundled REBL with Datomic Free). I pay multiple (annual) subscriptions for software (a couple of Skype-related ones, Office 365, and a few other things -- I pay annually because it saves money over monthly subscriptions). I would say that anyone who is sponsoring other developers on GitHub is essentially paying a recurring monthly subscription. Lots of people are comfortable with a recurring model.

I use Reveal day-in, day-out but I'm happy with the current feature set in the free version -- but I'll be keeping an eye on Reveal Pro and if it adds features I want to use, I'd be happy switching up to the recurring subscription.

I wonder if subscription burn-out is a thing personally at some point I felt like I was sponsoring the internet 🙃

more anecdata: developers are a really tough demographic to build products for. The trouble is that they generally don't want to pay for software regardless of how generous your offering is. You're probably also not charging enough.

Cursive is an awesome success story btw

> I would say that anyone who is sponsoring other developers on GitHub is essentially paying a recurring monthly subscription. > For me personally, that feels different. I don't feel as locked into it; I can stop if I choose without losing access to something. > developers...generally don't want to pay for software regardless of how generous your offering is. > Sadly true, although there are certainly some out there that are happy to pay for good software 🙂

> For me personally, that feels different. I don't feel as locked into it; I can stop if I choose without losing access to something. It's weird what we value, I guess. For example, on Patreon, you get access to different stuff at each patronage tier, so if you go from $10/month to $5/month you "lose access to something" but I think we (software developers) don't value art/writing/music the same way we value software...

I'd love a model where the features available in a software tool are directly related to how much you choose to pay a month, so you could drop down to a more basic tool for a while if you wanted, then push back up to the premier version for a month if you wanted.

Replying in #off-topic so as not to hijack the thread (sorry @U47G49KHQ!)

No problem, and thanks for a very interesting discussion! My POV is that I want to be able to spend more time developing Reveal because I have many ideas and not enough time, and some recurring revenue might eventually allow me to spend more time on it. Given how niche is this product, I don't see one-time purchases as a viable model that allows me to spend more time developing Reveal.