Positive practices

This page aims to provide an outline of what types of products to invest in, in hopes of avoiding the pains potentially experienced by companies enacting poor consumer behaviors. While the main goal of this wiki is to articulate all instances where this doesn't happen, this page assists as an escape that may benefit you (the reader) and the overarching goal. The companies making anti-consumer decisions are primarily driven by the goal of capital and financial gain, so by re-allocating investments away from them to better options the incentive to enact those negative policies lessens.

Things to watch out for

One-time purchase vs. subscription plan

Subscription plans are usually cost-efficient in the short term, benefiting consumers who are unsure on a product and want to try it out. Many services exist exclusively under a subscription model and operate sensibly. One-time purchases are typically designed to operate cleanly and effectively for an extended period of time.

Considerations for subscription plans

• Does this service update frequently or at least within the subscription timeframe?
• How long will I be needing this service, and will it be compatible with me for that amount of time?

Considerations for one-time purchases

• Will I need this for more than a single month (or subscription period)?
• How soon will this product become redundant or outdated? Is it an annual subscription in disguise?

Offline product vs. online services for digital goods

Services that run exclusively online innately have more control over how their product operates and are received. This control can lead to changes in the product that can be improved, but can also introduce incompatibilities. Digital goods that are completely operational offline allow the consumer to decide how long those goods will be used. As long as the downloaded product can be stored and correctly rendered, it has no expiration.

Considersations for online services

• Is this product made for online connectivity and interaction?
  • Example: Online social games such as World of Warcraft
• Is this product more secure online?
• How likely am I to maintain an internet connection to this service?
• Can this service alter itself into an incompatible state? Can this service remove functionality that I need?

Considerations for offline products

• Will I be able to effectively download and store this?
• Does it have any dependencies, and can those dependencies become redundant?
  • Example: Products designed for a limited set of operating systems that may become outdated

Source availability

Oftentimes companies will not provide or actively obscure details about how a product works. This exacerbates the potential pitfalls mentioned above, but when information is provided it can eliminate many of them.

Considerations for physical goods

• Does the product provide schematics?
• Are parts available?
  • This helps product longevity by making repair easier, regardless of who does it.
• Are there anti-repair measures in place?

Considerations for digital goods

• Is the source code available?
  • This can allow patches if unwanted updates are pushed or support is dropped.
• Are there DRM measures in place?