4 ms·

Free as in cost software is often just simpler. When I "beg off" suggestions like Beyond Compare, it usually comes from the idea that instead of spending time

by Goladus 19y ago

Free as in cost software is often just simpler. When I "beg off" suggestions like Beyond Compare, it usually comes from the idea that instead of spending time rooting around for my credit card and putting my personal information in a whole bunch of forms and submitting it, I could spend time finding an option that wouldn't make me feel burned when it doesn't live up to the hype.

justindz 19y ago
Would a trial period or shareware solve this problem for you?
- angstrom 19y ago
  If that was the solution I doubt we would be having the discussion. Shareware/Trialware is usually only good for enterprise solutions. Places where it makes sense to test it before full deployment. Once an OSS solution moves into a domain the best I think the market can do is offer a free solution that competes with the OSS and a value-added solution that takes it a step higher.
  - justindz 19y ago
    Which seems to be where Eclipse has ended up, I think.
- Goladus 19y ago
  Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's not useless but it doesn't fully solve the problem. A trial period primarily delays the question and often lowers the quality of the software to make it work. You'll still have to deal with the hassle eventually, and you'll have the additional hassle of finding somewhere to inventory a software key or something similar in case you ever need to reinstall. The only way to solve the problem is to make the transaction fair, which usually means making it as fast and painless as possible, it means a fair price, and it means top quality software that doesn't involve built-in limitations. Also, for one-off problems, a trial period might be a great solution for me but not necessarily good if you're trying to sell software.
sanswork 19y ago
Do you really find it that difficult or time consuming to type in your credit card number and billing address? The average time from clicking checkout to finishing paying for the last 5 or so pieces of software I've bought has been less than 3 minutes. How long do you spend finding your alternatives?
- Tichy 19y ago
  Some people also have to bother to earn the money first, before they spend it.
  - sanswork 19y ago
    True, and that is a very valid reason for avoiding commercial software. I was however questioning the suggestion that the reason he doesn't use commercial software is due to the difficulty/time consuming nature of purchasing said software.
    - Tichy 19y ago
      He also mentions feeling burned after paying for worthless stuff, so the worth of money seems to play into his argument.
  - mdemare 19y ago
    But people have no trouble paying for real life stuff. It's just software that people just will not buy if they can at all avoid it. And while that includes me, I cannot come up with a satisfactory explanation.
    - Goladus 19y ago
      I actually have made a conscious effort to avoid buying stuff I don't need, long before PG wrote his essay about it. I will pay for a bed, because I know that I don't want to sleep on the floor and I can't make a bed myself. I won't pay for a chair, because I have a piano bench and a few blankets that work fine, so long as I maintain a good posture. I may pay $1 to download a song from iTunes even though I already have it on a CD somewhere, because it's faster and easier to do that than it is to dig up the CD and rip the mp3. Very often when you're looking for tools such as Beyond Compare, you're looking to solve an immediate problem, in the next 5-10 minutes. For a programmer asking a question like "show me the difference between two text files" you are probably be expecting an immediate solution. If you're using unix, all you may need is a page that tells you to try 'diff -u file1 file2'. For a problem that straightforward, a programmer will tend to be suspicious of someone charging $30.
msg 19y ago
Another level of simplicity is licenses and DRM. I've got multiple computers and OSes (Win, Mac, Linux). I'll have more computers in the future. The words BSD, GPL, and public domain simplify my life enormously. There's a tradeoff when I have to pick which open source implementation is best, but I would much rather do that than read legalese. And unlike proprietary software, I do not pay rents based on operating systems or have to think about how many computers I've installed something on. Ignorance is bliss.
wanorris 19y ago
Especially compared to taking 20 seconds to grab something with Synaptic or apt-get. I'm about 5 times as likely to try something out if I can just grab the packages for it than if I have to install it through some other means. Of course, the most popular closed stuff (Flash, Java, etc.) is in the Ubuntu repositories, but the vast majority isn't.

by Goladus 19y ago

justindz 19y ago

Would a trial period or shareware solve this problem for you?

angstrom 19y ago
If that was the solution I doubt we would be having the discussion. Shareware/Trialware is usually only good for enterprise solutions. Places where it makes sense to test it before full deployment. Once an OSS solution moves into a domain the best I think the market can do is offer a free solution that competes with the OSS and a value-added solution that takes it a step higher.
- justindz 19y ago
  Which seems to be where Eclipse has ended up, I think.
Goladus 19y ago
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's not useless but it doesn't fully solve the problem. A trial period primarily delays the question and often lowers the quality of the software to make it work. You'll still have to deal with the hassle eventually, and you'll have the additional hassle of finding somewhere to inventory a software key or something similar in case you ever need to reinstall. The only way to solve the problem is to make the transaction fair, which usually means making it as fast and painless as possible, it means a fair price, and it means top quality software that doesn't involve built-in limitations. Also, for one-off problems, a trial period might be a great solution for me but not necessarily good if you're trying to sell software.

sanswork 19y ago

Do you really find it that difficult or time consuming to type in your credit card number and billing address? The average time from clicking checkout to finishing paying for the last 5 or so pieces of software I've bought has been less than 3 minutes. How long do you spend finding your alternatives?

Tichy 19y ago
Some people also have to bother to earn the money first, before they spend it.
- sanswork 19y ago
  True, and that is a very valid reason for avoiding commercial software. I was however questioning the suggestion that the reason he doesn't use commercial software is due to the difficulty/time consuming nature of purchasing said software.
  - Tichy 19y ago
    He also mentions feeling burned after paying for worthless stuff, so the worth of money seems to play into his argument.
- mdemare 19y ago
  But people have no trouble paying for real life stuff. It's just software that people just will not buy if they can at all avoid it. And while that includes me, I cannot come up with a satisfactory explanation.
  - Goladus 19y ago
    I actually have made a conscious effort to avoid buying stuff I don't need, long before PG wrote his essay about it. I will pay for a bed, because I know that I don't want to sleep on the floor and I can't make a bed myself. I won't pay for a chair, because I have a piano bench and a few blankets that work fine, so long as I maintain a good posture. I may pay $1 to download a song from iTunes even though I already have it on a CD somewhere, because it's faster and easier to do that than it is to dig up the CD and rip the mp3. Very often when you're looking for tools such as Beyond Compare, you're looking to solve an immediate problem, in the next 5-10 minutes. For a programmer asking a question like "show me the difference between two text files" you are probably be expecting an immediate solution. If you're using unix, all you may need is a page that tells you to try 'diff -u file1 file2'. For a problem that straightforward, a programmer will tend to be suspicious of someone charging $30.

msg 19y ago

Another level of simplicity is licenses and DRM. I've got multiple computers and OSes (Win, Mac, Linux). I'll have more computers in the future. The words BSD, GPL, and public domain simplify my life enormously. There's a tradeoff when I have to pick which open source implementation is best, but I would much rather do that than read legalese. And unlike proprietary software, I do not pay rents based on operating systems or have to think about how many computers I've installed something on. Ignorance is bliss.

wanorris 19y ago

Especially compared to taking 20 seconds to grab something with Synaptic or apt-get. I'm about 5 times as likely to try something out if I can just grab the packages for it than if I have to install it through some other means. Of course, the most popular closed stuff (Flash, Java, etc.) is in the Ubuntu repositories, but the vast majority isn't.