Choosing tools that outlive their vendor
Software companies get acquired, change pricing and shut down. The tools that survive that are the ones whose files you can still open and whose installed copy keeps working. Here is a short test to apply before you commit years of work to one.
Every tool you depend on is made by a company, and companies change. They are acquired, pivot, raise prices, move to subscriptions, drop platforms or close. None of that is unusual. Over five or ten years, it is close to certain for at least some of your software.
The question worth asking before you commit to a tool is not "will this company last?" — nobody can answer that — but "what happens to my work if it does not?"
The five questions
1. Where does my work live?
If your documents are files on your own disk, you have them regardless of what happens to the vendor. If they live only on the vendor's server, your access depends on that server staying up and your account staying in good standing.
Cloud storage is not the problem. Cloud storage as the only copy, in a format only that service can read, is.
2. Can I read my files without this app?
The strongest guarantee is a format other software can open:
- documents as plain text, Markdown, PDF, or standard office formats,
- images as PNG, JPEG or TIFF,
- video as MP4 or MOV,
- contacts as vCard, calendars as ICS, tables as CSV.
When an app uses its own format — often for good reasons, such as keeping layers or edit history — check what it can export to, and whether the export is complete.
3. Does the installed copy keep working on its own?
Some software checks a licence server every time it starts, or every few days. If the server disappears, the software stops. Other software, once installed and paid for, runs until an operating system change breaks it.
Look for how the licence is verified. A purchase through a platform store, or a licence key checked locally, generally survives the vendor better than an account login required at every launch.
4. What happens when I stop paying?
For subscriptions: does the app become read-only, stop opening files entirely, or keep working without updates? The answer is usually on the pricing page, in small print, and it matters more than the price.
For one-time purchases: this question mostly does not arise, which is part of their appeal.
5. How hard is it to leave?
Try exporting everything once, early, while you have little invested. If leaving takes an afternoon today, it will take a week in three years. If it is impossible today, it will stay impossible.
The trade-offs are real
Tools that fail this test are not necessarily bad choices. Collaborative, cloud-first tools make things possible that local files cannot — simultaneous editing, shared state, access from any device. For team work, those benefits can outweigh the risk.
The point is to take the risk knowingly: keep regular exports, know where the exit is, and do not put the only copy of something irreplaceable in a place you cannot leave.
Habits that protect you anyway
- Export on a schedule. Once a quarter, export anything important to an open format and store it somewhere else.
- Keep finished work in final formats. The layered project is for editing; the PNG, PDF or MP4 is what you keep forever.
- Keep installers and licences. A purchased app you can reinstall is worth more than one you cannot.
- Watch for acquisition announcements. They are the most common start of pricing and policy changes.
How we try to pass our own test
We apply these questions to what we make, and it is fair to say where we pass and where we do not.
Work lives on your Mac. None of our Mac apps store your work on our servers — we do not run servers for them. Compact Contacts uses the macOS Contacts database; RenameDeck and Ziploom work on ordinary files in ordinary folders.
Outputs are standard formats. Garfi exports MOV and MP4. Miyu Paint exports PNG and JPEG, with more formats in full access. Compact Contacts exports vCard and CSV. Ziploom creates ZIP and 7Z.
Project files are our own formats. Garfi's .gvideo and Miyu Paint's .mpaint projects keep editing state — timelines, layers — and only our apps open them. That is a genuine dependency. The mitigation is that the finished work always exports to a standard format, that Garfi keeps opening and saving projects without a purchase, and that Miyu Paint keeps layered drafts when a trial ends.
The installed app keeps working. Purchases go through the App Store, and there is no licence server of ours to check. If we stopped updating an app, the copy on your Mac would keep working until a macOS change broke it.
Leaving is cheap. Stop using RenameDeck and your files keep their names. Stop using Compact Contacts and your contacts are exactly where macOS keeps them.
We would rather you chose our tools because they are good at their jobs than because leaving them is hard.