[kuzimoto]

There are several perks to paid software that is typically missing from just free software:

* Guaranteed updates/bug fixes

* Better support

* More polished product

There are free alternatives to basically everything, but people still pay for stuff.

[NullPrefix]

>Guaranteed updates/bug fixes

Such a bold statement. Numerous times paid software produced errors, which went unfixed until the product was discontinued and then you had to buy a new version.

[kuzimoto]

I think "Guaranteed" was a bad choice, but I'm sure it's still better on average than the majority of free/OSS projects.

Unfortunately there will always be a small number of companies using scummy tactics like that, but not most of them.

[Crinus]

Also documentation, when it exists (not all apps have or need it) tend to actually be useful instead of a half-assed, incomplete wiki.

(though some paid software in the recent years also have half-assed, incomplete wikis for documentation... my guess is that the proliferation of open source software made a lot of newer developers think that this is how software is supposed to be documented)

[kuzimoto]

Definitely. As someone that helps write wiki content for a open source project it's quite a bit of work, for little-to-no recognition, so I can understand why that happens. Plus you don't know if anyone even ends up reading it.

I still do it because of passion for the project, but it would certainly be easier to be paid for it!