MacHeist is almost over, let the grumbing begin
I frankly don’t get the controversy over software bundles like MacHeist. The gist of the argument seems to be that the MacHeist people are cheapskates who don’t compensate the developers enough. Of course the fact that these developers all knew the terms going in and were not forced to join never seems to sway opinion.
The other is that apparently deeply discounting your software cheapens the entire mac software market. I could provide links, but frankly these people irritate me, so just google “MacHeist” and you should find them easily enough. However I find myself wonder over and over one thing: Would we be having the same conversation if software developers offered to give away their apps for a week?
If MacRabbit wanted to give away Espresso for free over a three day weekend (or a week, or some other period of time), because they have a brand new piece of software and they want to get people hooked; would people be complaining about how this hurts the software market. Did it hurt the market because MacRabbit gave the beta out for free?
When Crossover gave away their software last Oct, did that even cheapen the mac software market?
Does Mariner Software’s habit of offering deeply discounted bundles at the point of sale, damage mac software developers?
In my mind the answer is no. And if you answer no to any of those; then I have a hard time seeing how MacHeist is doing a bad thing. Back in the day we used to call this HeroinWare (“the first hit is free”). It provides an opportunity to get people playing with software they might not have otherwise, and get them on the upgrade path.
You get the point so I wont even bring up the issue of educational discounts ;)
