when utility or productivity tools are offered at a fairly steep price point as 1password was people usually have a reasonable expectation to receive long-term upgrades.
It's not ridiculous at all because it generally is the norm.
Someone who purchased 1Password 3 when it was first released on the Mac App Store in 2012 has already received six years of free updates to versions 4, 5, and 6.
As far as I'm concerned, AgileBits has gone well above and beyond what is reasonably expected in terms of providing long-term upgrades to existing users. For those people to now turn around and complain that they aren't also getting version 7 for free... frankly comes across as entitled and ridiculous.
I spent around 45-50 dollars in 2013 for the Windows+Mac Bundle and iOS apps. 1Password 7 is the first paid in my experience using the software, which is vital to me every day.
Roughly 10 dollars a year for a critical utility software isn't "fairly steep," and I also fail to understand how so many years of free updates imply any type of "reasonable" expectation of long term updates.
Better security and better user experience to start with.
Unlike most of competing products, 1Password encrypts pretty much all information, including vault names, item titles, URLs, tags. It is easier to list what's not encrypted. It is also probably the only product using SRP.
Now check out what information is sent in plaintext or base64-encoded in other products.
1Password service has completed SOC 2 type 1 and 2 certification as well. It is more about internal company processes and how they are followed than encryption.
"Hey your data is safe just because we have SOC 2 certification" -- that's not want you want to hear.
It's not ridiculous at all because it generally is the norm.