I read all your posts..
Let me summarize the sentiment in a way that resonates most with me -- though I know it may not be all the same points you are making.
What I take out of it is this:
There is a large section of the freeware (and free software) community that presents free software as a kind of religion, or at the least as hugely ethically superior to shareware/commercial software.
This movement that says all software should be free of charge, and that paid software is somehow immoral, does the community a disservice. Because it fosters an unsustainable model where the community comes to believe they should never pay for anything. The result of this belief system is an inevitable cycle of freeware authors reaching a breaking point where they often have to do a 180 and either abandon their project or start charging for it in odd ways (bundles, etc.).
A more healthy approach might be to not think of freeware vs shareware in terms of good vs evil. A more healthy approach for all of us might be to think about long term sustainability of software, and that may mean being more open to paying for software.
Personally I'd like to see the ultimate solution to this problem being donationware -- encouraging users to support authors works financially, with amounts of their choosing.
Let me summarize the sentiment in a way that resonates most with me -- though I know it may not be all the same points you are making.
What I take out of it is this:
There is a large section of the freeware (and free software) community that presents free software as a kind of religion, or at the least as hugely ethically superior to shareware/commercial software.
This movement that says all software should be free of charge, and that paid software is somehow immoral, does the community a disservice. Because it fosters an unsustainable model where the community comes to believe they should never pay for anything. The result of this belief system is an inevitable cycle of freeware authors reaching a breaking point where they often have to do a 180 and either abandon their project or start charging for it in odd ways (bundles, etc.).
A more healthy approach might be to not think of freeware vs shareware in terms of good vs evil. A more healthy approach for all of us might be to think about long term sustainability of software, and that may mean being more open to paying for software.
Personally I'd like to see the ultimate solution to this problem being donationware -- encouraging users to support authors works financially, with amounts of their choosing.
