A main point of 40hz which i think is important is:
"most people don't seem to care all that much."
Part of the problem for DonationCoder and Fairware too i suspect, is that there are two groups of people we would like to request support from.
- The first group is the small core group of people who really do care, want to be involved, and provide the most important thing -- spiritual support, camaraderie, encouragement, and often generous financial support.
- The second group is many orders of magnitude larger -- and that's the group of people who use the software, and who are open to making a financial payment. But for these people, most of them are like 40hz users -- they do not want to hear all about ethics and new financing models, etc. In fact all this stuff just makes them want to leave and find someone they can make a normal purchase from. The more you try to do something unusual the more these people will not want to waste the mental energy to deal with you.
Which brings me back to an idea i had a couple of years ago, which would be to make simple but distinct paths for users..
- So imagine a software page where it had a fixed price on it: $29.95 which you click to buy like normal software purchase.
- But also a button saying: Show me alternatives to paying this.
- If they click on that button they have choices like: I want to choose how much to donate; I cannot afford to pay anything now; I am not willing to pay anything but I would still like to use the software; etc.
This isn't really a major change to the functional way things are done.. it's more of an attempt to make a path that is easier and more familiar for
"people who don't care".
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