3 ms·

I buy the software that I use a lot, but as a startup, I end up doing a million different things and sometimes I need a piece of software that is too damn expen

by jbrun 18y ago

I buy the software that I use a lot, but as a startup, I end up doing a million different things and sometimes I need a piece of software that is too damn expensive (over a hundred dollars). I just cannot justify buying one of these if I am only going to use it to modify a few files and then leave it on the shelf for 10 months. If I there was a pay-per-use or pay-per-day, then that might be a different story.

sanj 18y ago
Just to be clear: you can't justify buying the software, but you can justify stealing it.
- jamesbritt 18y ago
  Maybe jbrun doesn't consider copyright violation to be stealing. #include "copying-vs-stealing-permathread.h"
pingswept 18y ago
With all due respect, I think "I need" is a weak excuse. We'd probably all agree that copyright law is a terrible mess. Still, I don't think that justifies deciding that you get to take what you want and then pay if you like the license terms.
patio11 18y ago
(over a hundred dollars) You are literally the first consultant I have ever heard in my life who would mention a hundred dollars as if it were a lot of money. Egads, man, you're a 1st world businessman, not a starving peasant in Africa. If it saves you an hour once a year it should be on the CC without you batting an eye. That's an extra hour of billable time and/or the prospect of more work because you're more efficient than the next guy, right?
- gcheong 18y ago
  I agree with you, but the idea that someone might pay per use or per day for software is intriguing. I know some service apps (e.g. Fog Creek Co-Pilot) are built on this model, I wonder if there are any others that have pay as you go pricing models though. I can't think of any reason why it couldn't be done more.
  - patio11 18y ago
    I could offer it for my software fairly trivially. Here's why I don't: 1) Customers hate buying things multiple times, particularly in my niche. 2) Authorizing transactions frequently is friction. I hate friction. 3) I'd rather charge $30 than $5 because $30 communicates that the product is worth $30 and $5 communicates that the product is not worth your time. 4) If I charged $5 it would be unprofitable for me to advertise and Paypal would make much more than ~4% of my sales. 5) I strongly suspect that average lifetime revenue per user would be much lower if I charged per-use as opposed to per-lifetime. If a customer wants to use my software to do an activity tomorrow, and I told her "Its going to cost you money just for tomorrow", she might decide otherwise. If I tell her "Its going to cost you money, BUT you'll be able to do it for the rest of your life for free", then she (empirically) frequently decides to purchase for me.
- coffeeaddicted 18y ago
  He didn't write he's a consultant, but a startup. And that means there is no billable time - you only calculate stuff against your living costs. And then a hundred dollar are no longer an extra hour, but up to 2 extra days. You learn that stuff if you fall on hard times someday - and if you try doing a startup then this is something that occasionally does happen. Well, anyway, as much as I understand him, myself I still don't work with pirated software. Usually that means I search for OpenSource alternatives and learn to use those.
  - patio11 18y ago
    He didn't write he's a consultant, but a startup. His profile says he is a consultant, so I sort of assumed that his startup was run concurrently. Thus, he's perfectly capable of selling the time he saves by using productivity-enhancing software, which makes the "It costs money!" objection rather unpersuasive to me. Its not like I'm telling him rent, ramen, productivity software: pick any two. (Although I would say it.)
    - coffeeaddicted 18y ago
      OK, I didn't check his profile. I don't think it's ok anyway to use pirated software. But I don't care that much that it would for example stop me from working with someone who does.
- jbrun 18y ago
  Hey, Sorry, I have not updated my profile in a long time. I used to be an environmental consultant, but am now a web-start up. So, take that for what you will. Another thing I try and do is support smaller projects rather than blindly purchasing large corporations' software simply because someone has sent me a file in that format. Happily, open source and free software (google docs, open office, Gimp) is getting better by the minute and is replacing proprietary stuff (office, photoshop etc.) Cheers, JB

by jbrun 18y ago

sanj 18y ago

Just to be clear: you can't justify buying the software, but you can justify stealing it.

jamesbritt 18y ago
Maybe jbrun doesn't consider copyright violation to be stealing. #include "copying-vs-stealing-permathread.h"

pingswept 18y ago

With all due respect, I think "I need" is a weak excuse. We'd probably all agree that copyright law is a terrible mess. Still, I don't think that justifies deciding that you get to take what you want and then pay if you like the license terms.

patio11 18y ago

(over a hundred dollars) You are literally the first consultant I have ever heard in my life who would mention a hundred dollars as if it were a lot of money. Egads, man, you're a 1st world businessman, not a starving peasant in Africa. If it saves you an hour once a year it should be on the CC without you batting an eye. That's an extra hour of billable time and/or the prospect of more work because you're more efficient than the next guy, right?

gcheong 18y ago
I agree with you, but the idea that someone might pay per use or per day for software is intriguing. I know some service apps (e.g. Fog Creek Co-Pilot) are built on this model, I wonder if there are any others that have pay as you go pricing models though. I can't think of any reason why it couldn't be done more.
- patio11 18y ago
  I could offer it for my software fairly trivially. Here's why I don't: 1) Customers hate buying things multiple times, particularly in my niche. 2) Authorizing transactions frequently is friction. I hate friction. 3) I'd rather charge $30 than $5 because $30 communicates that the product is worth $30 and $5 communicates that the product is not worth your time. 4) If I charged $5 it would be unprofitable for me to advertise and Paypal would make much more than ~4% of my sales. 5) I strongly suspect that average lifetime revenue per user would be much lower if I charged per-use as opposed to per-lifetime. If a customer wants to use my software to do an activity tomorrow, and I told her "Its going to cost you money just for tomorrow", she might decide otherwise. If I tell her "Its going to cost you money, BUT you'll be able to do it for the rest of your life for free", then she (empirically) frequently decides to purchase for me.
coffeeaddicted 18y ago
He didn't write he's a consultant, but a startup. And that means there is no billable time - you only calculate stuff against your living costs. And then a hundred dollar are no longer an extra hour, but up to 2 extra days. You learn that stuff if you fall on hard times someday - and if you try doing a startup then this is something that occasionally does happen. Well, anyway, as much as I understand him, myself I still don't work with pirated software. Usually that means I search for OpenSource alternatives and learn to use those.
- patio11 18y ago
  He didn't write he's a consultant, but a startup. His profile says he is a consultant, so I sort of assumed that his startup was run concurrently. Thus, he's perfectly capable of selling the time he saves by using productivity-enhancing software, which makes the "It costs money!" objection rather unpersuasive to me. Its not like I'm telling him rent, ramen, productivity software: pick any two. (Although I would say it.)
  - coffeeaddicted 18y ago
    OK, I didn't check his profile. I don't think it's ok anyway to use pirated software. But I don't care that much that it would for example stop me from working with someone who does.
jbrun 18y ago
Hey, Sorry, I have not updated my profile in a long time. I used to be an environmental consultant, but am now a web-start up. So, take that for what you will. Another thing I try and do is support smaller projects rather than blindly purchasing large corporations' software simply because someone has sent me a file in that format. Happily, open source and free software (google docs, open office, Gimp) is getting better by the minute and is replacing proprietary stuff (office, photoshop etc.) Cheers, JB