
Ask HN: What software do you pay for personally? - leerob
- Spotify<p>- NordVPN<p>- 1Password<p>- iCloud Storage<p>- Netflix
======
rl3
In order of happiness/perceived value for the money:

Bvckup2 ([https://bvckup2.com/](https://bvckup2.com/))

Houdini Indie

Redshift3D

Spotify

Windows 10

Jetbrains Complete Pack

Steam games (almost universally when discounted during sales)

Netflix

Adobe Creative Cloud

I suppose it isn't Jetbrains' fault I've switched to native vim, otherwise
their suite is fantastic value.

~~~
tomjen3
Mind pontificating on what is so amazing about the backup software? Doesn't
seem to come with any cloud storage and seems to do basically what rsync does.

~~~
rl3
With pleasure: It's basically rsync or robocopy for Windows, but wrapped up in
a nice GUI with additional features.

I've used both and still use rsync on a daily basis, and one thing I don't
miss is meticulously sifting through command line syntax in order to ensure
all my data isn't accidentally destroyed.

More to the point, the amazing part is the ethos and quality to which Bvckup2
is built. It's one of those rare gems that's essentially software excellence.
It's fast, it's lean, it's very narrow in scope, and it has a mirror-shine
polish. Software like that is a thing of beauty these days.

It's made my backup situation on Windows an absolute pleasure to deal with, so
that's why I recommend it.

------
safeplanet-fesa
NordVPN is a data mining fraud, that is inadequately aggressively advertised
from every corner, that owns many websites with VPN rankings, that lies about
being in Panama, that decreases your privacy much by retaining logs. The only
valid reason to use it would be to avoid geo-blocking. If you use NordVPN for
any other reason (such as, for privacy), you have been fooled, unfortunately.
If you find this comment helpful, help others by informing them.

Besides that, try to read some writes about why you should not to use any VPN
services. It's easy to find promotional articles of various VPN providers
about how they enhance your privacy, but instead try to look for arguments
against. Only if you live in an very oppressive country and trust someone
without name your exit point more, than your ISP (not sarcasm), or if you want
to bypass geo-blocking, it makes sense to use VPN providers. Otherwise, you
are harming your privacy and paying for an overpriced service to someone who
does nothing but resells bandwidth and studies your traffic.

~~~
hitsurume
A little confused about what you're trying to say: Is NordVPN not a trust
worthy VPN provider, or is VPN technology itself not trust worthy at all?

~~~
testing6666
I'm confused about this too. I don't use a VPN, have been wanting to purchase
a subscription to one for sometime but I haven't been sure which to get since
I don't trust any of those rating sites.

~~~
safeplanet-fesa
It's wise of you not to trust the ratings. Practically all VPN provider rating
websites give those score based purely of their affiliate fees [0]. I would
recommend not to purchase any subscriptions. This whole "VPN for privacy"
thing more and more looks like a meme created by the industry of useless
entities that resell bandwidth. It's a very profitable industry because they
do nothing but receive money, they don't protect you legally either; those who
lie about their no-logs policy, without hesitation give your data away to the
law enforcement agencies.

[0] [http://vpnscam.com/is-purevpn-legit-proof-that-purevpn-
bough...](http://vpnscam.com/is-purevpn-legit-proof-that-purevpn-bought-every-
vpn-review/)

------
simonblack
Very, very little. If I do pay for anything, it's because I may choose to help
a particular developer rather than actually having to.

Everything necessary is free. I write some software and that allows me to
donate back to the community in return.

------
karmakaze
In order of importance to me:

    
    
      - Spotify
      - Cloud VMs for hobby projects
      - Fastmail
      - KGS Go Client for Android
      - JetBrains IDEs
      - Windows 10 (bundled with Surface Go)
      - Desktop productivity utilities from time to time
      - Games that I support but hardly ever play
      - Netflix (I think about cancelling all the time)
    

Edit: I forgot about how I get one (Gran Turismo) or two (usually DLC) games
for each PlayStation but then don't buy any more games.

------
13415
Useful:

\- Crashplan for Small Business (unlimited backups)

\- Kerish Doctor (affordable Windows maintenance that works)

\- a German email provider that I use since the 90s

\- Netflix

Not really needed, but they were on sale and almost free anyway:

\- several cheap & insecure VPNs for watching geographically locked content

\- a not very well-known anti-virus

For fun / entertainment:

\- lots and lots of games - I barely ever play them

\- lots and lots of VST audio plugins I don't really need

~~~
huhtenberg
> _Kerish Doctor_

Ouch... This looks like a classic snake oil optimizer, straight out of the
late 90s.

~~~
jonathanstrange
Works perfectly fine. It's one of the few I would recommend.

------
ploika
1Password is my only software subscription, and over the years I've bought the
paid versions of a couple of Android apps that I get a kick out of.

I have online subscriptions to a couple of newspapers too, which I suppose I
should count if other people are counting Netflix.

------
bevax
* as donation to KDE (100€/year) * occasional steam game (native Linux only)

------
jedicode
Spotify (music)

Sync (cloud storage)

Adobe Creative Cloud

I'm currently looking for privacy focused personal email suggestions if anyone
has one. Protonmail looks promising

~~~
4d66ba06
Main downside of Protonmail is you can search email contents or use normal
email clients without adapter software. I know its not encrypted but I like
Fastmail.

~~~
4d66ba06
typo fix: *can't search email contents

------
thojest
What is so great about 1Password? Why do you not use open source alternatives
like e.g. keepassXC?

~~~
thojest
Furthermore:
[https://support.1password.com/pbkdf2/](https://support.1password.com/pbkdf2/)

Isn't PBKDF2 outdated in 2019? I thought today you should use scrypt or
Argon2?

------
Shorel
SublimeText 3. pCloud.

In the past I paid for Spotify and Netflix.

And as an Steam user, more games than I remember.

------
davchana
Domains (no choice)

Google One (free 6 months from Local Guide, after that yearly)

Nova Launcher app

Texpander Pro app

------
alireza94
\- 1Password

\- Ulysses

\- iCloud storage

\- BetterTouchTool (Single purchase but best software purchase of my life)

------
eb0la
\- Office365 \- Sublime Text \- Designer tools \- Video editors

------
rolph
I have never in my life paid for software

~~~
catacombs
I find that hard to believe.

~~~
rolph
there is a lot of free open source ware and shareware was a big thing, never
paid for windows its always been on a system prior to my gleaning it from the
crappile. It is very easy to not pay for software and remain non criminal if
you eschew the chronic redirections and upgrades that are not functionally
neccesary but make money for someone. Hardware is another thing. Ive rarely
paid for hardware, and definately not full retail price.

The thing is a lot of commercial wares are full of features that are not
needed, or are composites of "more primative" features

~~~
tcbasche
You must be fun at parties

~~~
rolph
thanx

BTW always check any cd drives that come into your possesion, there are often
disks left in them. undeleting files from a hardrive or thumbdrive is another
source of free-for-you stuff.

------
Trias11
Photoshop SmugMug

------
sahinyanlik
\- Windows

\- Netflix

\- Spotify

------
yamrzou
Fastmail

1Password

Dropbox

Mullvad VPN

------
4d66ba06
FastMail

1Password

iCloud Storage

Netflix, Spotify

NYTimes, Apple News +, local newspaper

Backup software

Linode, AWS

------
ybbond
Onivim 2 (Patron)

V language (Patron because curious)

Paste 2

Spotify

iCloud

PS+

PS games

Steam games

good songs on Bandcamp

------
LeonB
\- LinqPad

\- Paint dot net

------
slovette
-Spotify

-Amazon Prime

-Smithsonian Channel

-Plex

-Pandora

-Bitwarden

-iCloud Storage

-Nest

-Digital Ocean

-GSuite

-ForeFlight

-A few flight training MOOCs.

-Notion

-Mailbutler

-Termius

-NYT & WSJ

-Audible

