Is 1Password for Families essentially a 1Password for Teams account limited to 5 people?

I understand your feeling about not paying monthly. I'm not happy about paying for Adobe's subscription in order to continue using Lightroom.

Now, I wouldn't call it a "money grab" — not (in the immortal words of Seinfeld) that there's anything wrong with that. I want my software companies to be successful enough to stay in business so I don't have to deal with the colossal headache of transferring data (as I had to when Apple killed Aperture). So I have no problem with software makers, making money, too. I'd note also that $60 a year is cheap, by comparison to just about anything else I've got. Remember, that is for FIVE users (which includes perhaps ten or twelve devices, plus actual downloadable apps).

But aside from that, software as a Service (SaaS) is a very popular approach, used in fact by most of the providers of software that I now rely on (including Google Apps, FileMaker, Adobe and of course AgileBits, not to mention all the websites and other subscriptions I rely on like Weebly, Format, Amazon, Netflix, Acorn TV, and many others). It allows the software makers to guarantee a certain level of money coming in. It allows users to spread out the cost of their software usage (important to businesses, especially) and it allows all users (personal or business) to get updates immediately and for "free" (i.e. paid for already).

You complained that you can't use your old 1Password software the way you used to use it, because of changes to the software. But you didn't have to upgrade. I'm pretty sure the old license would have allowed you to keep using the version of 1Password that you liked (v4 or whatever it was) until you die. Of course, you might not have been able to upgrade your operating system or anything else, because doing so might have broken 1Password and other older software that you didn't want to upgrade. But that should clarify the nature of the problem, which is that software is not like cookware. I've got a number of pieces of All-Clad cookware. Some are relatively new but some I have used for decades, and will use them all until I die or stop cooking; then I'll give them to my daughters. Awesome — the way things used to be with most products (books, typewriters, cash registers, even clothing!) other than edibles. But software just isn't like that. Software really is 'news you can use.' That is, it's constantly changing, evolving, partly because developers find ways to do things better, partly because operating systems and operating environments change and have to be adapted to, and partly because the problems software is designed to sovle keep changing.

Please note that I'm NOT an Agilebits employee or a forum moderator or anything else. I'm just a customer, like you. I don't mean to offend by disagreeing, but if you take anything I've said amiss, please blame me, not Agilebits. I am trying to help.

Best wishes,

Will

@jbguillet - What feature do you think has been removed? To the best of my knowledge, the standalone versions of 1Password continue to function exactly as they always have. No one needs to switch to Families, unless the additional (not replacement) features make it worthwhile. In your case, it sounds like those features aren't worthwhile to you, so just don't sign up for Families.

The standalone applications will continue to be developed. Families and Teams rely on them too, so AgileBits has to keep them up.

Your main worry seems to be

want to be able to have my wife use the computer with her own passwords.

She absolutely can continue to do exactly that, just as she always has been.