At some point they should admit they totally screwed up their pricing structure instead of saying that security is an optional add-on.
Of course there's many costs, datacenters aren't free. The point is what a normal consumer psyche is going through during the purchasing moment.
But if you are feeling a need to lay out excuses to justify yourself, that is just pathetic to witness. Just say you aren't paying for software rather than claiming programming isn't valuable work.
As for normal consumers, they just pay up and go about their day: A fair price for good software that satisfies their needs and desires. There are more people out there buying Windows and Office than there are people freeloading off of Linux and LibreOffice (and much less people who "pay" for Linux and LibreOffice by contributing back).
In one example, the Government of Quebec was successfully sued because of how it preferentially used Microsoft products _without allowing alternatives_ in their contract bidding process [0]
Leaning on "free software users are cheapskate freeloaders" and framing it like Linux is lower quality than Windows because of money spent is a reductive view - it depends entirely on what you use your computer for.
0: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/quebec-government-sued-for-b...
>Bits in a screen that someone just comfortably typed and then pressed a button to ship is not as valuable.
This is a guy who argues that programming is not valuable work compared to a cup of coffee, as justification for his refusal to pay for software.
That, as far as I'm concerned, is a cheapskate and a pathetic one at that.
Programming is valuable work and some programmers want to be compensated in coin for their work. Not all users will want to compensate in coin or even compensate at all. These are both fine. Devaluing the former to justify the latter is not fine, and is what I am attacking.
Of course, I agree a lot of techies and especially the audience here (who aren't normal people for conversations like this) don't like buying software, nor selling them for that matter. Actually, sometimes I get the impression they hate the very concept of money, but I digress.
I pay $70 annually for Microsoft 365 (read: Microsoft Office), that's ~19 cents per day. That's practically nothing.
Commercial licenses are more expensive, but businesses will have bigger budgets to match.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: At some point you'll come off better just admitting you're a cheapskate who doesn't want to pay for software.