Contributed by John Heveron
Starting with the 2022 version, QuickBooks is being sold by annual subscription only. They still have a local version as well as QuickBooks Online (which is what QuickBooks prefers to sell).
If you choose to purchase the 2022 local version of QuickBooks, it connects to the Internet and any upgrades are automatic. Presumably it also checks whether your subscription has expired.
According to a QuickBooks representative, if you buy the 2022 subscription you will also get 2023 for free, but if you wait until 2023, you will only get that one year subscription.
Quicken went to a subscription model a while ago, and when the subscription is up, you no longer have access to the program without an additional subscription.
QuickBooks states that they are doing this to help assure that the program is up-to-date and secure, and so their support team will not be working with versions that they are not familiar with. They did not say anything about the obvious boost to their revenue that this will mean.
Older local versions through 2021 presumably will continue to operate as in the past. However, QuickBooks drops a version of the program from its support each year. 2018 is no longer supported, 2019 is next.