[Joker_vD]

It absolutely does, but that doesn't change the fact that the "fair price" of an additional copy of that software is still its marginal cost of production, which is zero.

Which is why funding the R&D part of any product of such nature has always been so annoying. Today it seems we've settled on Patreon and the like for the individual-scale projects.

[linster]

Every user isn’t just a zero marginal cost copy of the software, having a user base is taking a gamble on support requests, bugs, FAQs.

There’s a risk with a user base and having a support organization, much like the risk calculation the insurance industry takes.

[kebsup]

A new app on Google play or AppStore needs ads to have any downloads at all (unless you already have an audience), so each download costs the developer 0.5 - 3 USD.

[kepano]

Some software has ongoing costs, such as support, servers, bug fixes, etc. But even in the hypothetical case that a piece of indie software has no ongoing costs, it seems fair that the creator should be at least somewhat rewarded for the value the software creates, regardless of how many copies are sold. Without this incentive we are stuck in a world where the only reason to create independent software is for the pure love of the craft, which is noble but only magnifies the advantages big tech has over indies.