I'm not surprised, R%^&*^^ have over the years, reduced their outlet supply base (presumably to control pricing), increased prices, purchased some electronic repair centres (some repairs cost almost as much as a new unit), bullied people into contracts originally if no contract wait 4 days, before any response, reduce on-line access to knowledge unless you have a contract, increased rates of updates with little backward compatibility meaning unless you have a subscription your stuffed, the list goes on. I have noticed a number of other larger companies seem to be doing the same thing. Yearly contracts for software is ok if you are a large company that regularly update systems.
Microsoft & many other companies have a yearly subscription & again this is ok but like me to purchase all these yearly subscriptions is out of the question. I have office 2010, this does me fine, why upgrade I virtually never use all the features.