>borrowed the software

>it was a friend's license

>didn't pay for a copy of Blender

just for the record, everyone can download, for free, Blender from https://www.blender.org/download/ for Win, MacOS or Linux

Are you confusing Blender with some other software? Blender is free and open source software. People donate to it because they 1) want to support the project and 2) have the money. If you don't have the money you just don't donate.

> A monthly thing makes no sense; just letting hobbyists dabble until they are in a place to pay used to be a lot more normal. They ought to make the entry for paying a bit less heartburn-inducing, though.

Thats exactly what they do. They dont charge at all even if they do make loads of money.

You must be thinking of some other software, Blender is free, and has been for a long time.

You must be thinking about a different software.