Pages and pages of dark patterns with the sole purpose of misleading people into buying some "plan" that nobody could possibly want at prices more expensive than the entire Microsoft Office suite.
The Foxit PDF Editor product page is one example (not the worst by far). It suggests prominently that you have to buy an annual subscription ($109 to $159 p.a unless you can live with the cloud option for $59 p.a). Microsoft Office 365 Personal is $69.99 p.a including 1TB cloud storage.
But it says "for Windows" and at the top of the page, there's a promotion saying "Get up to 1 year subscription - free when you switch to Nitro". So there is a subscription after all?
If you keep scrolling down to the FAQ and there's a question asking:
"Is Nitro available as a subscription or a one-time purchase?
Nitro Pro, ideal for individuals and small to medium sized teams, is available as an annual subscription."
No mention of a one-time purchase option. So which is it? I'm confused. Is this "one-time purchase" a perpetual license or does it stop working after a year?
These are certainly not the most egregious examples of pricing shenanigans. But given the recent history of companies going subscription-only, this is enough uncertainty for me not to buy.
What shenanigans? On one computer, we have a 15 year old version of Foxit running as good as new, no further licensing needed.