Subscription introduction

[hockeymikey]

I think the new subscription model is really scummy and I am not a fan of the change. After exploring a bit, it seems you introduced these changes last June of 2024 (which is conflicted in: #559 which I doubt). Look I get wanting to make some cash from a project, but this bait and switch of an open source project is crap. Its deceptive and is a bad show of your character as a person. The open source model is tricky to monetize and there is greater discussion to be had there but the way you are doing it is wrong. I don't even like the "lifetime" license as a model since you're just selling short term profit and the down the line you will be in need of more funding as the time investment in the software never goes away.
It screws over smaller users like the guy in the issue linked or myself who are using it for school. I'm not spending $30 to access my school vpn once in awhile and I definitely won't be spending it on a baited closed source project.

[yuezk]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I totally understand why this change can feel frustrating, especially for students or occasional users. I want to clarify a bit of context around the decision, so it’s at least transparent, even if you still disagree with it.

The paywall for the GUI client was announced in late January 2024, and it has been public since then:
995d121

This CLI part has always been open source, but open source doesn’t necessarily mean “free forever with no monetization”. Maintaining the GUI client takes a lot of ongoing time and effort, and like many open-source maintainers, I tried to find a model that could make the work at least somewhat sustainable. Different people value software differently; those who find the GUI useful can choose to support it, and those who don’t want to pay still have options.

Nothing has been taken away from the community:

• The CLI client remains completely free and open source.
• Users who don’t want to pay are not locked out of functionality — only the convenience layer is paid.

If anything, the real frustration should probably be directed toward the fact that the official GlobalProtect client experience is so poor that community tools like this even need to exist in the first place.

I appreciate that you shared your perspective, even if we don’t fully agree. Criticism is fair, and I hope this at least explains the reasoning behind the decision.

[MagiShira]

I second @hockeymikey's thoughts. I have created an alternative binary for the UI that you are welcome to use at https://github.com/MagiShira/globalprotect-openconnect-openui.