Indeed. And software developers have largely enjoyed a free ride where they haven't been pursued under consumer protection laws for providing defective products because of the good will built by providing updates to fix defects for a reasonably long time after purchase. If the latter stops, why shouldn't the former?

I think it is also one of the rare industries where the price of the good is so vastly under-priced (often zero!) for the value it provides -- especially if you use the "sell once, update forever" model people claim to desire. Few people would want to pay for it that way though, I would assume.

Especially considering that so many people get extremely high quality software for free (open source, free software, apple style "comes with hardware purchase", etc) these days.