Its not the price, it is that if I write some software in an IDE, I want the capability to push a bug fix out two years later without having to &quot;subscribe&quot; again. This will just further contribute to bitrot.<p>&gt;taxi drivers invest more money than software developers<p>Citation needed.<p>&gt;software developers make quite a bit more money than taxi drivers.<p>You are assuming that everyone who develops software is employed as a software developer. There is fine work done by hobbyists and independents.