Let’s talk about something near and dear to you: your pocketbook. When Windows Home Server was released to the computing world, a small group of adventurous souls started writing add-ins for WHS. Those souls generally fell into 1 of 3 categories:
- Individuals who wrote perpetual-in-beta free add-ins.
- Individuals who wrote commercial add-ins that required payment to use, some (most) after a trial period.
- Corporations that wrote commercial add-ins that required payment to use, some (most) after a trial period.
Over the past few months, I have noticed a change in the way “free” WHS add-ins are being promoted in the marketplace. Some are transitioning from free (beta) versions to some form of commercial paid version. Some are being released from the get-go as some form of commercial paid version. Is this a good thing for the end user? Or a bad thing? Or perhaps do you see a benefit (new or perceived) from your favorite add-in requiring a payment for updated/new versions? That is what we are here to discuss today.
Perspective: User
I am going to present just a couple of thoughts from a User perspective. I am sure there are as many thoughts about this subject as there are individuals out there. If I do not include yours, that is what the comment section at the end of the article is for. As I am a User, hopefully I have a few thoughts of my own that might be similar to your ideas.
Thought 1: If it is digital, why should I pay for it?
First, I must present the Jim Clark version of history. In the “old” days (before the Digital Age), we had analog data. Specifically, we had vinyl records and 8-track tapes. We had the movie theaters and eventually we had VHS tapes. From records, one could make cassette copies of those records. One could make a VHS copy of a VHS tape.
The problem with those “free” copies was that the copy was normally not as good as the original. An analog copy of an analog source just was not as good. But it was free. There might have even been a few enterprising souls out there turning the crank to make cheap profits.
I made cassette tapes of my records so that I could play them in my car. I made cassette tapes of my records so that I could take them to parties and not have my favorite album destroyed. We call it a back-up copy these days…
The analog age transitioned to the digital age with the introduction of CD’s and PC’s. I have no idea when someone first made a copy of a CD, but I am sure that it was probably the day after the CD met PC. The really cool thing was that copy was *identical* in quality to the original. The rest is history in that the CD is on it’s deathbed and has been replaced by mp3’s and iTunes. Which is nice in that there is now a pay-for-it-model in the form of iTunes and others (Napster, oh my!). I was in on the hey-day of the “real” Napster and I have to admit my digital library of music blossomed there. Hey, why pay for it when you can get it free?
Ahem, get your mind out the gutter!
I do not think that was the only incentive, as I was also buying CD’s like crazy during this time. I bought 95% of mine as used CD’s, which I found quite palatable vs. the cost of new CD’s. I felt I was getting value at used prices and felt ripped off with new CD prices.
So where are we now? There is that segment of the population that will always feel entitled to getting something (everything?) for nothing. And there is that segment of the population that does not mind paying for something of value, as long as they feel they are getting good value for their money.
The RIAA and member companies did not get the message that CD’s did not contain enough value and that the consumer felt ripped off. Or perhaps because it was too easy to get for free??? If that were so (free), why are the alternative digital stores (i.e. iTunes store) doing quite well? Value of product, perhaps?
The main gist of all this is:
- a digital copy is identical to the original.
- a digital copy is quite easy to make.
- I truly believe that people will pay for a product if they perceive value in it.
Although there does seem to be a very dedicated anti-corporate segment of the population who feel they have a right to get everything for free. “Why pay for it when I can rip it off?”
Thought 2: It used to be free, why should I pay for it now?
That is a very valid thought. What has changed? Perhaps a little, perhaps a lot. Am I getting more value when I pay for this software now? This is just food for thought here, as I really wish to pursue this question when I present the other side.
So, think about it from your perspective. Perhaps I will answer this question satisfactorily in a bit, perhaps not.
Leave a comment.
Thought 3: ?
You tell me, as in:
Leave a comment.
Perspective: Software Author
My story
Let me just say this. A looooong time ago, I wrote a piece of software called shareware. It was written in Turbo Pascal (anyone remember Borland?). It was written for DOS. What did it do? It gathered the contents from a diskette, and allowed you to produce labels and inserts for 3-1/2” and 5-1/4” diskettes. I think I asked $15 for it. I had even written hooks into the program to allow one to read data from disk cataloging programs and print labels from them.
IMHO, it was a pretty cool and full-featured program. It was called DLS and the only thing one had to suffer through was a slight delay at the beginning and end of the program. If I remember correctly, I think I had ~100 people pay me for a registration number. For each of those 100 people, there were probably a 500 users who did not pay for it. Which was OK. I wrote the program because I needed a program to do what this one did. I originally wrote it for me!
At some point, HP started making laser printers (nasty print language to format!) and Microsoft came out with this operating system called Windows 3.0.
DLS ceased development soon after that. Why?
I really did not want to learn C, which is what was the “in” computer language to learn at that point. I really did not want to rewrite the complete program from scratch to work in Windows. I really did not want to figure out all the printer codes to work with laser printers. I was most definitely not going to invest in a laser printer.
But mainly, I had better things to do with my life besides invest all the time, energy and money into producing a program with little return on that investment. Time-wise or cost-wise.
Perhaps those people who have no problem getting something for free have never worked long hours on something that defined just a bit who they were and what they could do. Free is free, no matter how it got to be free.
In the end, I was truly thankful of the people who supported me. I did not mind those users who did not pay for it. I did have a beef with one person who sent me a check. It was written from a closed account. Which meant that not only was I out the registration fee (no big deal), but I had to cough up the bad check fee. Needless to say, my next version had a bit of code to exit the program if that serial number was used.
The Windows Home Server Coders
Some time ago, I emailed several add-in authors (individuals) who are either transitioning to a commercial model or have always been in the commercial arena. I wanted to know their thoughts on why they charge money for their software. I wanted to give them an opportunity to present their reasons to you.
So, without further ado, here are some of their thoughts.
