I don’t really see the problem here? Like, ok, maybe you can be a bit upset that the app now asks you to upgrade, perhaps they should have used a less permanent reminder about that. But you can literally download every version of Sublime Text ever from the website, so if you don’t like the latest one with that you can just go back a version?
I'm not a SublimeText user (so I have no skin in this game), but from reading the discussion, it seems to me like the problem is as follows:
1. You bought a license to use SublimeText 3 in perpetuity
2. Later ST3 offers a routine update that doesn't communicate the fact that it is actually an upgrade to a product with a different licensing scheme. This comes as an unpleasant surprise to you.
2a. Additionally, applying a small update constitutes a small interruption to whatever you were doing (update, restart, continue editing).
3. Once started, ST4's very clear messaging is that you need a new license.
4. Because of #3, the minor interruption turned into a large interruption. Yes, people can go and downgrade, but _they shouldn't need to do that_.
In my opinion, it's not OK for this to be the default behavior of an app, just like it's not OK for you to buy an economy seat on a flight, get reassigned automatically to business class and then be asked to pay a higher price for the same flight because you're now flying in business class.
I think #2 was a mistake on ST team's part (which they acknowledge) and it makes them look unprofessional in this one instance.
It is a frustrating experience, and it's OK and normal for users of SublimeText to feel frustrated. I want to make sure this is recognized, because saying "oh oops it was a bug" explains the root cause, but doesn't acknowledge the frustration it causes. I see this in software all the time. Software is for humans - we, as software developers, need to own the human consequences of these bugs as well, not just the technical side-effects.
I'm not SublimeText user neither. IMO the problem was really #2 and #3.
It's perfectly fine to switch the license model between major versions, and it might even be fine between minor updates as long as the committed maintenance period elapsed. Doesn't matter which method was chosen, at least prompt the user before installing the update that a new license is required to continue installation. If the user opt to not continuing, then the upgrade should be cancelled, auto-update should be disabled permanently and no changes should be make to the users system.
Sublime's behavior was deceptive and invasive, their users have all the reasons to grudge.
I’m a free user, and because of it my “don’t check for updates” setting is ignored. Apparently you have to pay in order to disable the https request and the popup on each minor point release.
I waited to upgrade to v4, which I've done now, and I'm still a happy ST user even though I had to pay.
The upgrade dialog (in v3) nagged incessantly, and frequently. It produced a dialog on macOS eating keyboard input, and was really annoying. It wasn't obvious how to turn it off. And it could be more honest about requiring a license upgrade up front.
Ah, I see. I guess I didn’t really experience that because I upgraded early. I had assumed it would just show the prompt once and then go away, but if it kept coming popping up yeah it isn’t great.
The key issue is that the upgrade is essentially forced with no indication that it’s a major version upgrade or will invalidate the license.
Going back to previous versions is a possibility but will require either permanently disabling updates or dealing with deceptive update pop ups. It’s also not obvious this is an option.
This is why I've made an effort to move away from Sublime. It's not so much the money, but this was just a real dark pattern and it made me question the integrity of the developers.
Kate is really great these days. And then ZeroBrane for Lua and Rider for C#.
if we want integrity and fairness in our field we need to apply it everywhere. giving passes isn't going to get us anywhere. the issue at stake is the use of dark patterns.
The new update dialog that includes version numbers and a notice for when your license is not valid for a new version has shipped since the 26th of October in build 4121. If customers wish to stay on Sublime Text 3 we have documentation on that here: https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/previous_versions.html including a setting for disabling the update dialog.
Sorry, this is super shady. So this will only help with your new license model if you’ve already upgraded to v4.
If a vulnerability is found in v3, will there be a security patch? If so, how will you notify users that you’ve now encouraged to entirely disable updates?
I used to use Sublime heavily but VSCode is just as good or better for nearly everything. Performance is the only area Sublime still wins. Even then, for 99% of what I imagine most people do, the performance is just fine. The only time I use Sublime now is if I have to open a ridiculously large file.
You say this like that's some minor detail. It doesn't just "win", Sublime absolutely wipes the floor with VS Code, and for my development style at least, I feel that every minute of every hour of every day. I do like the look of VS Code but unless they can improve its performance such that I don't feel like I'm using a 286, I'll continue with Sublime as my main editor.
Because it’s still an issue. Dev alludes to a fix, but the update pop up still persists. Seems like it’s either low priority or working as intended.
The issue isn’t the cost. I’ve gotten my value out of Sublime Text and would happily pay more. The issue is that the update is pushed on users with no indication that it will then require payment.
Sublime still works pretty well. It's very fast. I've tried VS Code and ended up going back to Sublime. That's a personal preference though, and I can totally understand using VS Code instead.
Sublime is still miles ahead of VS Code. Text editors are definitely a business model, I’ve yet to find a better alternative to Sublime and it is a critical piece of software for my workflow.
I can definitely see why people are upset by this. That said people (who use sublime as their main text editor) not purchasing sublime licenses is funny to me. It’s such a critical piece to your day to day work (as a dev at least) that I am surprised more people aren’t happy to support a great text editor.
Because people are so hesitant to paying for a license, it has become one of my go-to gifts to friends and co-workers who use sumblime but haven’t purchased a license yet.
I would expect that a workplace could pay this license out of the "petty" fund. It's a pretty good editor, all things considered, even tho it is somewhat "outclassed" by VSCode imho - but if you don't need that level of IDE-esque capability, sublime is great. I use it to analyze multi-gig log files and it opens it without a hitch!
It's a dark pattern but I could give a fuck. ST authors, all.. 3 of them these days? Deserve more money than they ask for.
I just wish they'd implement VS Code plugin compatibility rather than try to go head-to-head. I realise that would be an obscene amount of engineering, but if anyone can do it.. It's them.
This just reminded me to uninstall Sublime Text 3 (paid license). I haven't used it in a very long time. Happy paying JetBrains annually for their tools.
Not doing this out of spite for the ST4 licensing nag --even though I didn't like it. By doing this they made me think whether or not I needed their product enough to pay for it again. The decision was clearly "no".
I'm posting this just as a note/through that might be useful to other software providers. Sometimes you force customers to re-evaluate if continuing to pay for your tools is worth their money.
I had a similar experience with Altium Designer this year. They sent me repeated emails as the $2000 annual maintenance fee due date approached. With this they forced me to take another look at KiCAD --something I had been looking at-- and realized it easily covers 95% or more of the designs we are doing. Paying for multiple AD licenses, in this context, makes no sense. We still get to use the last 2021 version and get to switch to KiCAD this year. And, yes, we will be donating to the KiCAD project on an annual basis. I believe in paying for good software when you want quality and continuing development (JetBrains being another example of this).
Now I am on the hunt for a good alternative for flow/thermal simulation for Solidworks. Anyone have any suggestions? It doesn't have to be free, just not the cost of a small car and lock you into ridiculous annual maintenance fees. We have FloWorks, which dates back a few years, and works fine. If we can upgrade to a better tool for a reasonable per-seat license I'd go for it.
I don’t really see the problem here? Like, ok, maybe you can be a bit upset that the app now asks you to upgrade, perhaps they should have used a less permanent reminder about that. But you can literally download every version of Sublime Text ever from the website, so if you don’t like the latest one with that you can just go back a version?