[B56b]

That's exactly it. I'm not sure what about software in particular makes people think that it can exist without funding. People have no problem paying for a physical product, but virtual products are hard to justify for some reason.

[Thrymr]

A large part is that the marginal cost per copy approaches zero. It was hard enough to charge for software when it came in a box on a store shelf, now it has to be wrapped in a service.