Why I build things you own

Somewhere along the way, software stopped being something you bought and became something you rent. Your editor, your storage, your music, even the AI you talk to — metered, subscribed, and gone the day you stop paying. That's not a law of nature. It's a business model somebody chose, and I don't think it's the only one that works.

So I build the other kind. One-time price, or free, and then it's actually yours — no subscription clock running in the background, no feature getting pulled because a pricing tier changed upstream.

Physics Sandbox is the clearest example. It's a 2D physics simulator, free with everything unlocked on Android, and if you want the extras on the web version it's nine dollars once at physics.stacklis.com — not nine dollars a month. You pay for it or you don't, and either way nobody can take it back.

Pro Se Docs is the same idea applied somewhere it actually matters. It's a document generator for people representing themselves in court — nine cases types, no lawyer, no monthly legal-service fee. On September 4th, a stranger used it to generate a debt-defense Answer and paid the nine dollars. I don't know their case and I'm not going to pretend the app is legal advice — it isn't, and it never will claim to be. What it is: a tool that turned an intimidating blank page into a filled-out document, once, for less than a fast-food meal, and then that document was theirs to file.

That's the whole thesis. Small tools, honestly priced, that you actually own when you're done paying for them. Not a bundle, not a platform, not a growth strategy dressed up as a product — just software that works the way software used to work, before someone figured out renting it back to you was more profitable.

More of these are coming. Same rule every time: you own it, or it's free.