TreeSize won't renew perpetual-license support unless users subscribe

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JAM Software has been migrating TreeSize to subscription models since 2025. As perpetual license maintenance periods expire, customers discover that accessing updates and support requires subscribing—even for software they hold perpetual use rights to. Today, perpetual licenses are sold only for TreeSize Personal, including 12 months of support. The core controversy is JAM Software's refusal to provide backup installation files or license keys once maintenance periods end. Product manager Hendrik Christ told Ars Technica that distributing outdated software versions indefinitely poses security risks to customers, particularly in enterprise environments. The company notifies customers by email before maintenance ends and advises them to back up their own installers. A Reddit user who shared the notification captured the frustration: "Honestly, it feels quite low to strip paying customers of the ability to simply download the installer for a software version they already paid for." Christ cited "current economic conditions" as the driver for the mandatory subscription transition. This is not an AI-specific story, but it reflects a software industry licensing pattern that increasingly affects AI tooling vendors as well.