All cloud features remained free for people who owned the device before they implemented the subscription model as far as I know, it's not a bait and switch.
This is true for now. As someone who bought the original ~3-4 years ago, I feel very nervous that the way I use my $500 device is not aligned with the company’s long term road map. Add the fact that I recommended this device to a bunch of friends and family (the v1 is a great product) and I am personally on the hook for figuring out how to get half a dozen annoyed friends/family to get ssh access. The cost of them changing this is high for me personally and I really don’t have a lot of faith that they will not discontinue this subscription waiver at some point in the future.
This is the true difficulty with clawing back features in order to charge for them: you break trust.
Businesses income in aggregate is not immediately affected by choices that break trust (in fact, the short-term balance sheet might even show increased profits) but it’s very hard to un-sour people once you’ve broken trust.
