All the talks from the local-first conference are now up!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4isNRKAwz2O9FxP97_EbOivIWWwSWt5j
For a very short summary, there's a 90-second "vibes" video with a few soundbites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLuX0AFNJzQ
@martin hey, I enjoyed your talk a lot.
What do you see in terms of compatible business models for startups in local-first software? Subscriptions for the syncing services makes sense, but not as clear how app devs could have recurring revenue while app is in use. A licence-locked app would violate your definition of local-first, right? Are we back to "lifetime" licences, like buying software before the SaaS era?
@martin Yeah. If licence validation would involve a developer-provided server (like for getting a public key or something), a failure to communicate could effectively unlock the app.
And I agree, this shouldn't be prescriptive. I'm just curious of what pathways you can see right now. People might come up with other hybrids or entirely new approaches to funding these projects.
@owi Good question! I think we’ll have to experiment to see what works. Maybe license-locked software with a subscription model is okay if the software vendor promises to unlock everybody’s apps it they go out of business (perhaps even putting an unlock code in escrow). Maybe going back to lifetime licenses and paying for major version upgrades (with optional support contracts) is actually fine. I wouldn’t want to be too prescriptive about this.