So, I agree there is some conflation going on, but it's based on the way Apple is doing business in the app store. I didn't cause the issues to become conflated, Apple did.
Given your example:
'A "sharecropper" under Apple, perhaps, but earned my trust, and I'll buy from them again if I have the chance.'
That's the problem. You won't have another chance, unless the developer makes a new product. The store doesn't allow for purchase of upgrades or renewals of service. It is a one-time purchase and the purchase price has been driven down to insanely low levels; which is fine for one-off games, but unsustainable for large applications that need ongoing maintenance, bugfixes, enhancements, etc. to provide a great customer experience.
The ideal experience for both customer and developer for complex software is often one of constantly increasing value, in exchange for fair payment. It doesn't have to be a traditional "upgrade every year" model...it can be a subscription style service, where you pay a fixed, fair, amount, and get updates every couple of months.
And, I'm definitely not campaigning for a return to boxed software in stores, as it has all the problems of the app store, plus many more. That was a tradition imposed by technical limitations. There was no good way to deliver software without boxing it up and shipping it out. That hasn't been the case for well over a decade. Nobody should be delivering software in boxes, today, as far as I'm concerned.
Given your example:
'A "sharecropper" under Apple, perhaps, but earned my trust, and I'll buy from them again if I have the chance.'
That's the problem. You won't have another chance, unless the developer makes a new product. The store doesn't allow for purchase of upgrades or renewals of service. It is a one-time purchase and the purchase price has been driven down to insanely low levels; which is fine for one-off games, but unsustainable for large applications that need ongoing maintenance, bugfixes, enhancements, etc. to provide a great customer experience.
The ideal experience for both customer and developer for complex software is often one of constantly increasing value, in exchange for fair payment. It doesn't have to be a traditional "upgrade every year" model...it can be a subscription style service, where you pay a fixed, fair, amount, and get updates every couple of months.
And, I'm definitely not campaigning for a return to boxed software in stores, as it has all the problems of the app store, plus many more. That was a tradition imposed by technical limitations. There was no good way to deliver software without boxing it up and shipping it out. That hasn't been the case for well over a decade. Nobody should be delivering software in boxes, today, as far as I'm concerned.