Making these available for download indefinitely and without restriction is something we consider a risk to our customers, particularly in business environments. There\u2019s also the technical and organizational overhead of maintaining and supporting old versions and their associated keys indefinitely.<\/p>\n
Although TreeSize says this is a longstanding policy, the backlash highlights the disconnect between what many people expect when buying a perpetual license and what they get when a software vendor shifts its business model toward subscriptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make sure customers aren\u2019t caught off guard, we proactively notify them by email, well before their maintenance ends, to back up their installation file and license key themselves. This is meant to ensure no one loses access to software they\u2019ve already purchased,\u201d Christ said.<\/p>\n
Should this be a subscription?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the question of whether it makes sense to subscribe to a disk space analyzer, especially when there are free alternatives like WinDirStat.<\/p>\n
Christ admitted that the change has been \u201cfrustrating for some customers.\u201d When asked about online requests for refunds, Christ said, \u201csince our customers do receive what was agreed, namely indefinite use of the software version they purchased, we don\u2019t consider a refund to be warranted\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
A free version of TreeSize exists, but it lacks some features, including the ability to search for duplicate files, deduplicate redundant files, and compare disk space usage over time. It is not for business use.<\/p>\n