[bobblywobbles]

Skimmed over the responses here to make sure what I want to say wasn't already covered.

I think there are a lot of reasons: - Many do hobby projects and aren't looking for money. Users use these hobby projects and expect all software to be free. - Software is non-tangible, so it's hard to make the value connection to it. It's not material, so why do I have to pay? - The costs are hidden. It's hard to say software is $x because it took 3 months for feature y. Those are internal implementation details that users don't see or don't understand. - It is hard to justify need. Tool z might also solve your problem, so might as well use that. It's not as straightforward as I'm hungry, I need food. Software can solve a problem in one way, but only if you see it in that way. (Generality)