Consider the same freelancer, new to their profession with limited start up capital unable to purchase the adobe suite he trained on in college so he has a choice, try and learn a whole new tool and hope there's a FOSS or cheaper equivalent or pirate the software and buy a licence when the money rolls in.

how much was adobe to buy outright? CS6 master collection was what, $7,000

I for one could never upfront that, but $70 a month for 100 months, including all updates in that time and new products as they release? sure, im game.