I was recently looking at some Black Friday deals where there was this one software by a company called Topaz Labs which seemed kind of good for a picture and video restoration software. It seemed like a buy it once and own it for life license which is a lot better than paying annual fees which a lot of companies are going towards nowadays. However, apparently there is a clause where for their cheaper version you can only use it under a limited commercial capacity which seems to be defined as a business that makes less than one million dollars annually. If one goes over that threshold they would need an annual commercial license.
To me personally that almost feels like a company trying to capitalize on the success of others where in the event one of their client is financially well off then they should be able to pay them more. I personally don’t like that direction as it’s like saying a car will cost one price and if you happen to make a lot of money then all of a sudden you need to pay a commercial premium for it.
I don’t doubt it works too in regards to bringing in more revenue and granted it doesn’t affect the mass majority of consumers. But you have to question the business ethics of doing this. Especially if a company changes say their terms of service suddenly and then justifying it by saying it won’t change anything for most people. It makes me weary personally in having to rely on too many of the company’s products for important items.