I would like to share my experience as a user who reports bugs. I enjoy bug reporting, but only if it is productive. I'm not very eager to go out of my way to spend the time reporting bugs that will never be fixed. There was a proprietary program I used on GNU/Linux for a while, that I even wasted money on at one point. Some of the bugs took an awful long time to fix, others were never fixed at all. It made it all feel useless (compound the problems of multiple different versions of linux and libraries getting out of date, and of course these problems are not in any way exclusive or even remotely caused by proprietary software, any significantly complex project with a small development team is effected unless they want to install 100s of Linux distros and test on them all including ones that have not been released yet. That is why things like flatpak were invented, not to, as some people say, promote proprietary software, but rather make complex software crafted by small teams viable on a large number of various distros. ) I've also seen where in some larger freedom respecting software projects, users report a lot of bugs but the developer team spends their time basically saying. "Okay, nice you found a bug, now go fix it yourself, we don't exist for you to order around," or something to that effect. But if they got paid perhaps they would fix the bugs (or perhaps not, but maybe if not they shouldn't keep getting paid year after year.) Where I have found bug reporting to be most useful is in small teams or even solo developers, when using the latest version from the repository. In fact I gave a talk a couple years ago (2019) called "The Joy of Bug Reporting. >>>>So, with this background of my software and strategy, let me explain some psychological effects that happen with the customers. In gratis-ware, such as the common type of free software project, users will just stop using the software if it doesn't work for them. They didn't invest any money into it, and so they don't invest any of their own time to ensure they get their money's worth ($0). So, if the software doesn't work precisely right for them, they'll just stop using it. Or, if another software does something similar but also something else, they'll switch without a second thought. Yeah, there is defiantly something to that.
On Monday, September 14, 2020, 12:05:12 PM EDT, Davis Remmel <d...@visr.me> wrote: Hello libreplanet-discuss, In my experience very few free software developers sell their work. I want to share my experience with selling free software, and why I think it's important for developers to realize why it's beneficial, and explain the psychological processes that compound to support the software _more_ than gratis-ware. As background, I've now exclusively developed free software for about 4 years, and have just began selling it myself. Previously, I developed an industrial IoT platform built entirely with free software (real-time display of industrial processes, sidestepping proprietary vendors like Rockwell). This was not a consumer market, priced very high, and done contractually so the users were not casual consumers. This week, I released a piece of consumer-level free software, and in one week has generated over $500 in sales (45 paying users) from a single post on Reddit. As long as sales continue at the current pace (they have tapered off, but still making above the poverty limit) I am able to pursue writing all the free software I want, independently. For some background on why people buy my tool, it's because this tablet's manufacturer has crappy software, and there is only one other software vendor that also has crappy software. Usually, documents are transferred to this tablet via the manufacturer's cloud, but my tool transfers documents locally. Also, the manufacturer's software allows exporting of a user's documents, but they look like bad photocopies (they wanted to keep their pencil shading code proprietary)--my software has its own renderer, and produces images that actually look like what the tablet's screen shows. Coincidentally, my software exports these documents locally (secure), faster (rendered on-PC), with higher quality, and lower file sizes. Ergo, my software is plain better, and so it fills many consumer needs--this is a huge factor in why it sells (not just because its free). With a $12 purchase, I give customers 1 year of email support and updates. And, I have written a high-quality user manual that I showcase to let users know exactly what the software does before buying. My sales pitch is blunt, straight-forward, with no bullshit. The _bonus_ for customers is that my software is not restrictive. The other available clients are incredibly restrictive: one client uses the manufacturer's cloud (Google), and the other has typical proprietary ToS and charges 3x the price. The GPL lets the users share mine freely and spread it around. I don't care if they share copies because I have an advertisement for the 1-yr-support+updates in the About pane, and who wouldn't want updates and support for $1/month, especially when it fills a need in their daily workflow? So, with this background of my software and strategy, let me explain some psychological effects that happen with the customers. In gratis-ware, such as the common type of free software project, users will just stop using the software if it doesn't work for them. They didn't invest any money into it, and so they don't invest any of their own time to ensure they get their money's worth ($0). So, if the software doesn't work precisely right for them, they'll just stop using it. Or, if another software does something similar but also something else, they'll switch without a second thought. Two-fold, without charging money, if there is a bug in the gratis-ware the user will typically not submit a bug report, or if they try to it is locked behind some restrictive interface (a software forge with user accounts). The developer is left with no money, and no bug reports. My first release contained some blocker bugs (some users couldn't start the program) but they paid for it and wanted to get their money's worth. I offered support, and virtually all problems were fixed the next day with release #2, and my inbox has been pretty quiet since (except for payment notifications ;) ). To make it easy, I give my customers priority email. This doesn't require any account registrations, nothing blocking them from talking to me. I've developed a relationship with some of my more-enthusiastic customers, and some have offered to be testers; many have given me feature requests. In-exchange for testing, I give them perpetual gratis updates and support. This one-on-one communication comforts them, knowing that there's someone there to help immediately, and that _someone_ is the author himself. This personal relationship solidifies trust. So, if you want to be able to fund development, you have to charge. And, if you want to get bug reports, you have to charge---and give customers an easy way to do that (direct email to the author is convenient). With these bug reports, I make my software better, which lets it sell better, which continues the cycle of self-perpetuating development. Although I choose not to do this (to give a no-cost bonus), I think it's entirely possible to charge _more_ for free software. If one company sells 'seats' of their software for some $$, why wouldn't a customer want to pay a little more for an unlimited number of seats in-perpetuity (freedom)? As long as the software is good, fills a real need, and comes with support then people will buy it. -- Davis [1]http://www.davisr.me/ _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list [2]libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org [3]https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss References 1. http://www.davisr.me/ 2. mailto:libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org 3. https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
_______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss