This could potentionally be a really big deal for a lot of research labs... I know quite a few who have whole workflows that revolve around conda.
What's even more troubling is that according to their pricing page, there are only "per user per month" subscriptions... That's is going to be really expensive.
That said, the article does mention that it will remain free for coursework.
It appears that if you just use conda and the packages from conda-forge (ie. non-commercial packages), then that will remain free:
conda, the software program for package and environment management, is free to use by anyone. > It’s open source, too.
The conda-compatible packages in conda-forge, Bioconda, and almost all other publicly accessible channels are free to use by any one.
That said, this is dated Aug 29, 2023, so who knows if that still applies?
Can anybody explain what conda provides over python + pip or python + poetry? I've never needed conda in all my years writing python for various purposes - except data science, but pip install numpy and pip install pandas had me up and running in <1 minute for some test projects.
Do you use venv? Conda gives you that capability (which is absolutely critical with the state of interconnected and complex package relationships) plus a package manager. I’m not sure what conveniences conda may provide over pip/virtualenvs but I imagine there is something that conda gives as an advantage for package publishers. I’d be curious about that myself having not pushed any packages to pypi or a conda repo.