You Guys Are Millionaires Right?
Shouldn’t all software be free? How can you live with yourself for charging for it? No. Very few bits of software ever written were not funded by someone. People have to eat, they have to sleep somewhere and feed their families. Take Android for example: it’s free, and open-source, yet every Google engineer working on it is paid, likely far higher than you are. They are able to not charge you, because they make all their money in search & advertising. Notice that they don’t open-source any of their search code, for good reason: that’s their core business, Android isn’t. To me truly free, open-source software is a religious myth, in much the same way that [pick a religion you don’t agree with] is. It comes with it’s own proselytes, zealots and ideologies, but it’s ultimately a lie.
Further to the above, what’s so offensive about charging for software? When was the last time you walked into a shop, saw a great product you really needed, and just stole it? When was the last time you debated with a shop-keeper about how this product you wanted should really be free? Software costs money to make, real money. Charging for it is how that money is recovered. Don’t let all the VC funded startups that give out everything for free fool you, paid software is often how you get great software. Since great people are able to make great things, without having to worry about how they are going to feed and clothe themselves.
I really believe in software that is funded directly; i.e. by paying directly for a piece of software, vs. ads or a large company funding projects with other cash cows. That way, good software is supported directly by the user action instead of using sneaky ways to make money or perhaps other ulterior motives.
