A Philosophical Point

[Mark Wieder]

Richard-

Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 7:25:59 PM, you wrote:

RG> We have at least one anecdotal data point in which the hobbyist was
RG> quite happy to use only the free version with narry a though about
RG> buying a license, and only after Rev discontinued the free version did
RG> he obtain one.

RG> I used to believe the old free version was a good idea, but it's hard to
RG> argue with data like that.  ;)

<arguing for the sake of arguing here>

It's not hard at all to argue with a *single anecdotal data point*.

If I remember correctly, the free version never expired, but in order
to use the new features you had to upgrade. If said hobbyist wasn't
impressed with runrev, he could have passed on upgrading to a new
version and continued with the free one. Obviously that wasn't the
case. The free version hooked the user and made enough of an impact
that he decided to spring for a paid upgrade.

Seems to me like the free version was the cause of a sale.

Of course, I'm one of those weirdos who pays for shareware if I find I
like and use it, so don't take *my* word for anything...

-- 
-Mark Wieder
 mwieder at ahsoftware.net