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You own that monitor. Would you pay $20/month to rent that monitor with the potential for price increases and ads popping up on it occasionally?

There's something to "owning" a thing. You can resell it and rent it out, etc. It's an asset. SaaS is not an asset. It's a service.



I pay more than that for electricity and fuel. It's not strictly renting and there are no ad pop-ups, but it's a recurring expenditure and prices can (and did) increase. Once I use it, it's gone - I can't resell or rent it either.

It still makes sense for me to pay because I get more value compared to if I didn't.


I would gladly pay $20/mo for a high quality monitor service that randomly stopped by and improved the display on my desk periodically.

Reminds me of the Built to Spill lyric. “It's barely yours on loan What you think you own”


He/She owns the monitor. But the resale is instantly 10-20% of the purchase price once opened. So we're sinking money very fast either way - through owning or "renting".




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