Proprietary Software is a Trap
Date: 2026-03-30
It's a trap!!!
Woot! It's A Trap! Shirt design
RapidWeaver used to be a one-time purchase. Now it's a subscription. I could keep using the version I "owned" forever without updates, until eventually macOS changes break it. This is the same trap FileMaker uses: perpetual licenses disappear, and if you want updates or compatibility, you pay endlessly.
FileMaker did the same thing. Perpetual licenses gave way to annual contracts. Runtime distribution? Deprecated. WebDirect? Extra cost. The platform I built my career on keeps moving the goalposts, extracting more money for less freedom.
This is the trap: You invest years learning a tool, building your business around it, creating irreplaceable work. Then the vendor changes the terms: "I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further." —Darth Vader. And you're stuck. Either pay up or lose everything.
The pattern is clear:
- Buy today, subscribe tomorrow
- Features you rely on get deprecated or paywalled
- Your data gets locked in proprietary formats
- The cost only goes up, never down
- You're renting your own productivity
So I escaped. I built Xanadu on PHP/MySQL. Open source (but not free). Source code included. Standard frameworks that won't disappear. $100/month flat for most apps - not per-user, not per-feature, no surprise price hikes. (Large disk, databases, or high user volumes may need additional resources.)
Then I used those same principles to rebuild campsoftware.com. The Xanadu philosophy of open standards, code you actually own, and freedom from vendor lock-in became the foundation of our new website. No licensing games. No rug pulls. No traps.
Because developers deserve tools they can trust won't be weaponized against them tomorrow.
Check out the new Xanadu product page: https://campsoftware.com/products/xanadu/
Questions? Reach out.