got a blog? - sjk

You make several valid points (which I generally agree with) but a weblog might be more suitable than VT comments for expressing a rather lengthy "opinion piece" like this. If you'd summarized and linked to it here I'd have read it there, with a possibility for more interactive discussion (if comments were enabled) than is practical here (where responses are often likely to go unnoticed).

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Tuesday, June 13 2006 @ 11:43 AM PDT

New Rating Scale - Peter Maurer

Nice try on insulting me. Did you follow the discussion resulting from the TUAW posting on the same issue?

Read this: <http://www.tuaw.com/2006/05/23/smileonmymac-releases-textexpander-1-3-the-customizable-typing/>, including the comments and the follow-up on my blog.

Notice how everyone apologized eventually?

Contact me via e-mail if you're interested in discussing this in earnest.

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Wednesday, June 21 2006 @ 09:25 AM PDT

New Rating Scale - neonlight

I completely agree with signata. I’ve also used the free Textpander for some time because it was a good value for money (and the free version still is). At 30 bucks it really isn’t anymore. It’s a nice small tool that could save you some time (or some more time, if your writing is slow) but nothing more. If you compare the $30 to… let’s say $25 you have to pay for GraphicConverter, TextExpander really seems to be a bad deal. Before they rose the price, you could get a whole word processing application (Mellel) for 30 bucks which really was worth the tag (and with the improved features still is (imo) worth the new price) but Textpander has morphed from a great tool to a overpriced piece of code.
As signata said, it’s not only the features but the value for money.
It’s also true that MenuCalendar was great once and still is a good tool. I think it’s a little bit too expensive too, but I have bought it over a year ago because it was the only tool that fulfilled my needs then.
As nobody likes to search for a new software if she/he once found something suitable, it is a risk to use any of your (Peter) software. If I (for example) like to use MenuCalendar, Textpander and ServiceScrubber and one happy day you decice to sell all three for 30 dollars each, I have to pay (if I like to use them further and need a update, because of a new OS X) or search for something new. Two of those apps are already sold, I’m waiting for the third.
Compared those (imaginary) 3 apps at $30 which gives $90 to a new release of OS X (a little bit more than $90) do anyone still think that’s a fair price (I know, such comparisons shouldn’t be made)?
If you start to offer your apps at a fair price, everyone could decide to buy, use or search for an alternative but converting a free app to a (imho) overpriced one won’t help to build a good customer base.
When Dan Schimpf converted it’s free MacJournal to a paid version, every former user of the free version was justified to get the new version for only half the price, plus the free version (2.6 then) still was and is available for download. So a customer could decide if the full version (4.0 now) is worth the price or if she/he sticks with the free one.
Converting a free app to a paid one with almost no feature increase that may substantiate the “new” price and wiping the old one from the download section couldn’t be called a nice game.
Still your are the developer and you could do with your apps whatever you like to but it’s easier to frighten away users (those that like use tools for free and those that like to pay) than you might think.
On your website you’ve written:“I love distributing stuff as donationware, because it gives users the possibility to pay as much as they can afford“ but this includes people that can’t afford anything or can’t pay because they don’t have a paypal account. Think of some pupils, that now don’t have a chance to use Textpander for free. Would you call them all a “archetypical example for the sad fact that donationware doesn't work”? Maybe you expect too much from donationware. Does a street musican shout at everyone who listen to the music but doesn’t pay even if he had a small lable “donationware” sticked onto his guitar?
I have donated to some some developers even if their software was freeware, if I felt their software being a helpful thing.
If donationware doesn’t work for you, how about trying something different. You could sell your apps to normal people at a reasonable price and give free or cheaper licences to pupils, students, non-profit organizations and people who could explain to you why they need this tool but couldn’t pay a cent.
That woudl be a fair game.
Just my opinion, others may differ.

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Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 04:22 PM PDT