Maybe you did, but I’d much rather have things like the Nest camera or text-to-speech as my own software. However, it’s impossible to get the same quality for the same amount spent this way, since vendors prefer the service business model.

Edited, made it clear I was talking about companies.

But for most consumers, the same applies. Most people don't want to own records, or even own music. They want to listen to music.

They don't want to own cars, they want to get to places.

> However, it’s impossible to get the same quality for the same amount spent this way, since vendors prefer the service business model.

Not just a matter of preference, but economies of scale. Most consumers don't want to install and run their own local CCTV service, so the market left for those who want is too small to achieve the same economies of scale as the service market.

The machines used to be the thing of value, but now it's the software.

> The machines used to be the thing of value, but now it's the software.

Not exactly. The machines were never the value per se, the work they could do was the value.

If you can buy the work without buying the machine, it is significantly better.

Yes, but if you could get it for free that would be even better. It's a fantastic business model to charge premium for something that cost almost nothing.

> Yes, but if you could get it for free that would be even better. It's a fantastic business model to charge premium for something that cost almost nothing.

Cost almost nothing? How much do you think was invested in research and development?

But hey, feel free to open a company, invest billions of your own money in research and then give everything away for free with no revenue whatsoever. Sounds like a great business model!

It does not cost me anything if someone else runs my software. I can still charge for it. The research and development is already paid for. The business plan goes something like this: 1) Buy software 2) Sell copies of it ... But it will not work good if other people start to make copies of it, so you make it a SaaS instead, having the software run in "the cloud" where only you can copy it.

> The research and development is already paid for.

That doesn't even make any sense. They aren't paid for, they are investments with an expectation of future profits. Paid for with shareholder's money.

Investors will be happy as long as the marginal cost to sell one additional copy is above zero. eg. you make a profit. How much they are willing to invest depend of how large the market is.