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I do not believe that any legitimate valuable software product has lost a significant piece of their marketshare to free software. The free options HAVE require
by RK 18y ago
I do not believe that any legitimate valuable software product has lost a significant piece of their marketshare to free software. The free options HAVE required that the paid software have a true value though.
Which browser are you using?
Not only have open source browsers like Firefox gained huge market share, but if you remember back in the day, you had to pay for any browser until MS decided to start giving IE away.
- brk 18y agoI use Firefox. Pretty much all browsers are free. I remember browsers backs to Mosaic, don't remember there ever being a charge for personal use. As important as the browser is, in many ways it is also transparent (or least supposed to be ;) ). I'm not sure that there ever really WAS a market for browsers. I remember Netscape was trying to make their money by selling server software, not the browser itself for the most part. A little like the razor blade model. Your point is well taken, and there are exceptions to every rule.
- RK 18y agoNetscape had a weird policy, giving away their browser free for academic and non-profit use, before finally giving it away for free to compete with MS. I actually remember bragging to a friend when I was in college, since I didn't have to pay for Netscape, but he did... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator
- ahoyhere 18y agoNetscape sold Netscape up until version 4, if I recall correctly. For $20-40. In certain situations, the browser was free. But you could walk into Computer City or CompUSA and buy it in a box. Opera was un-free for a long time. So were a number of Mac OS browsers. (iCab, etc.) Perhaps you should have your memory checked ;)
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]