Both businesses and developers benefit from subscriptions because it's easily estimated costs, and easily estimated income where you keep contact with the customer.
The ones who don't benefit is individuals. I wish more products had one time costs for hobbyists (individuals with zero revenue) while having subscriptions for businesses and commercial. Lots of products have loopholes for education/OSS/etc so adding "hobbyist" doesn't seem like a big difference. And I think it would drive sales. If I use a product at home I'm likely to lobby for buying subscriptions at work.
The ones who don't benefit is individuals. I wish more products had one time costs for hobbyists (individuals with zero revenue) while having subscriptions for businesses and commercial. Lots of products have loopholes for education/OSS/etc so adding "hobbyist" doesn't seem like a big difference. And I think it would drive sales. If I use a product at home I'm likely to lobby for buying subscriptions at work.