I wish I could say you took the words right out of my mouth, but you actually added more and did a fantastic job of bundling the package. Thanks for making my day, Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
Hey MB - Thanks mate.
Just to add a little more fuel to the fire:
The vast majority of developers (and I'm talking major players here) who are producing Freeware are not doing so as a community service, out of the goodness of their hearts. I think it's fair to say their incentives are far more commercially orientated. In most cases, it is more of a marketing/advertising ploy than anything else; to get their product name out there and promote sales of the more advanced commercial versions. When you think about it; once the commercial product has been fully developed and is ready for sale, producing a cut-down free version would involve very little extra work and even less additional cost. So the so-called Freeware would actually provide:
1) A ready made and freely available universal avenue for very cheap advertising..... practically zero cost.
2) Plus a reliable and steady source of additional income (via the upgrade options).
I am not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, but it is, in my opinion, indicative that (largely) the original 'spirit' and motivations behind Freeware have changed dramatically. In my humble opinion that diminishes the legitimacy of labeling many of those products as 'Freeware'.
Cheers mate....Jim
1 Guest(s)
