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by DanielBMarkham
6773 days ago
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This is an excellent point.
The market needs pay-for-software because without it, there's no way to have the software industry make things the users want. Sure you can count eyeballs, but simply because I'm willing to surf over somewhere doesn't mean that I assign the place value -- I surf all kinds of places. In fact, the places I surf are kind of a herd mentality thing. The software I buy is based on my careful analysis of what I need and what it's worth to me. Free software is worth nothing -- even if it has a lot of users. This is the difference between just looking at a pretty girl from afar and actually getting a date -- both experiences may feel good, but one has a lot more significance than the other.
It's also interesting to note that there is a gap between free, nada, el zilco -- and paying money. Ten bucks a year is probably too close to zero. Something like 20 bucks or more sounds like more of a commitment. That's just a guess, though. |
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This is the problem with all the people that embrace open source or free software. The developers price themselves out of existence. Sure you have to hand out the source code, but you can still charge for the software.