[tlb]

Yes, people who can't pay will keep renewing the free trial indefinitely. Since you weren't going to get any money out of them anyway, there's no loss. More people using your sw costs you nothing, and has various benefits, including:

- if those people someday move to a big company that can afford it, they'll be familiar with your sw

- they may blog about it or publish results from it, giving you free advertising

- reduces the market for a lower-cost version of your product, making new competitors less likely to form

[ROTMetro]

Add then they can unfairly compete with the people that DO pay for your software because their very not having to fairly compensate for the benefits of your labour yet still gain from it puts them ahead of some 'sucker' who pays. I would rather that people willing to steal from me don't compete with my paying customers. Even though their usage doesn't make you less 'whole' it does impact the ecosystem your business operates within.