Question

What are your opinions (as users as well as developers) on begware that e.g. at the start screen or intermittently shows a modal dialog for x seconds? What about other methods of getting the user to pay (or send you a postcard or any other kind of appreciation) instead of using the trail version?

Answer 1

Nagware is a bit pointless Imo, any thing you do to limit the software so that the ‘free’ version is somehow encumbered will ultimately lead to it being reverse engineered and people will just download the out dated and possibly virus infected alternative of your software, which although not your doing, makes your software look bad.

I know this isn’t viable for all software types, but whats nice is to just give up that fight, and give your software away for free, and then find other circumstances that make you money from the software.

• Dual License, Free for Private/Non-Profit use, Licensed for Corporations/Companies.
• Charge for consumable releated services , ie:
  • Support
  • Subscription to online service ( many games do this )
• Aferro GPL: Anybody can use it but must share their source to all people using it. People wanting to not share have to contribute a licensing fee.

Many ideas just have different payoff rates, the ‘give it away’ and then collect funds on related services may sound like it will never help you, but being free gets it out there faster, and then its a numbers game as to when you’ll have a large enough base to fuel the other services.

( The contra-idea is having a product that costs millions, you sell once, and it doesn’t spread because of the high cost )