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A guy who puts out something for free is a jerk. Why? Because there can be another guy who has tried to make a living from selling a product in the same niche

A guy who puts out something for free is a jerk. Why? Because there can be another guy who has tried to make a living from selling a product in the same niche - a high quality product for a reasonable price. And the 'altruistic jerk' has just ruined the business of the good guy turning the niche into a monopoly of the free crap.

Potando 12y ago
If you consider the purpose of industry as being to make sellers rich, then yes. But if the purpose is to make consumers better off overall, then no, he's not being a jerk at all. The guy who produces software too inefficiently to compete with the free one shouldn't be subsidized by all the users. I am that guy, I do worry about open source software encroaching on my niche. But I don't blame the authors for stealing my customers!
- perdunov 12y ago
  Are you familiar with the concept of predatory pricing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing)? Do you think it is an okay thing, applied to either brick and mortar or software?
  - Potando 12y ago
    Predatory pricing doesn't benefit consumers overall, so if I'm most interested in their wellbeing, I don't think it's an OK thing.
    - perdunov 12y ago
      Isn't releasing a free product also predatory pricing? No "free" software is actually free. The developers have just used some resources from elsewhere to create the product (spare time while earning a living from a daytime job also counts), and then released it for free gaining an unfair advantage over those who try to make the product development self-sustained. This is purely cheating or predatory pricing.
kpcyrd 12y ago
If a bunch of 'altruistic jerks' can drive you out of business in their spare time, maybe you didn't deserve that business in the first place.
- perdunov 12y ago
  It's like pulling someone into a pile of crap at the expense of going into a pile of crap yourself. With this kind of reasoning the person who is pulled into the pile of crap deserves it. I see lots of free projects that could have made their authors rich, but didn't. Instead the authors keep enjoying their daytime jobs. Actually, speaking of "deserving the business", the question should be why is the thing free? Why won't the 'altruistic jerk' set a fair price? It may be because in this case they would simply lose the competition, and the only way they can make it is by seducing the customers with free stuff. So who does actually deserve the business and who doesn't?

Potando 12y ago

If you consider the purpose of industry as being to make sellers rich, then yes. But if the purpose is to make consumers better off overall, then no, he's not being a jerk at all. The guy who produces software too inefficiently to compete with the free one shouldn't be subsidized by all the users. I am that guy, I do worry about open source software encroaching on my niche. But I don't blame the authors for stealing my customers!

perdunov 12y ago
Are you familiar with the concept of predatory pricing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing)? Do you think it is an okay thing, applied to either brick and mortar or software?
- Potando 12y ago
  Predatory pricing doesn't benefit consumers overall, so if I'm most interested in their wellbeing, I don't think it's an OK thing.
  - perdunov 12y ago
    Isn't releasing a free product also predatory pricing? No "free" software is actually free. The developers have just used some resources from elsewhere to create the product (spare time while earning a living from a daytime job also counts), and then released it for free gaining an unfair advantage over those who try to make the product development self-sustained. This is purely cheating or predatory pricing.

kpcyrd 12y ago

If a bunch of 'altruistic jerks' can drive you out of business in their spare time, maybe you didn't deserve that business in the first place.

perdunov 12y ago
It's like pulling someone into a pile of crap at the expense of going into a pile of crap yourself. With this kind of reasoning the person who is pulled into the pile of crap deserves it. I see lots of free projects that could have made their authors rich, but didn't. Instead the authors keep enjoying their daytime jobs. Actually, speaking of "deserving the business", the question should be why is the thing free? Why won't the 'altruistic jerk' set a fair price? It may be because in this case they would simply lose the competition, and the only way they can make it is by seducing the customers with free stuff. So who does actually deserve the business and who doesn't?