Ingrates

Scotty_32 wrote: am just saying i see it as pritty useless with google ads, i feel it degrades my site, if i wanted ads all over it ad would paste ads all over it, but i dont and i AM willing to pay, but as i said, running a non-profit site, you dont have much insentive to throw money at the site, as you wont see it come back,

There are millions of sites on the internet that use google ads on their sites personally I dont think it degrades them at all, I think people have got used to them. Infact I myself have found some very useful apps and services from google ads that I would not have found otherwise.

You say you dont want to "throw" money at the site and see no come back, thats like saying " I dont want to pay to ride the train, because once I am at my destination I have nothing to show for it".. You are paying for a service whether you get something in return or not.. I would understand your argument if Borg was asking for £200 but hes asking for £30 odd.. You cant even go to dinner and movie for that kind of money these days..

Scotty,

There's a problem with giving away software to non-profits. e.g. I have a "non-profit" site - www.panasonicsucks.org - but that clearly shouldn't fall into the "get a free copy" category.

Registered charities? (e.g. The Red Cross) Well, perhaps - that would be up to Bruce. If it were me, I'd give it away to registered charities. That's just good marketing sense though and with purely profit driven motives. But then Bruce might have to maintain 2 versions... NOT fun.

I have no idea what your non-profit is and can't comment on that.

Scotty_32 wrote: < *snip* > i personally feel borg needs to find another way to make money other than google ads (i dont mean other than the forum) i think it might even encourage the "selfish ingrates" who remove the link-back, to also remove the google ads

Now please don't take this the wrong way - I don't mean to sound like a jackass, but it really sounds like you know absolutely nothing about selling or marketing software.

Anything else that Bruce can do would be much more "heavy handed" than just Google ads.

Scotty_32 wrote: i have no problem with borg trying to make a living, i just think google ads are wrong, and i feel they degrade the forum and any site using it for free (if anyones happy to use it with google ads)

You're making me wonder if you know how the web works. It's almost always about wealth in one form or another. "All paths lead to Rome." Kind of like that. That can be prestige, reputation or whatever. But at the end of the day, those still "lead to Rome". You've got to pay the bills.

If you've got a better suggestion how WWF can make money without being heavy handed, I'd LOVE to hear it. I'll be your #1 fan at that point.

There are much easier ways to make money on the Internet than selling/creating software, but those people that choose to produce a real product with real value... Hats off to them. That's a hard path and I've got a lot of respect for that. The easy ways are just slimy and cheezy. I think Bruce has a lot more character than to go down that path.

If you want to find out what real world programmers think, join the ASP or AISIP.

Tegwin wrote: This is to everyone, next time any of you write some software.. lets see you give it away for nothing and then see your reaction when people complain about some of the things you have done to it..

What are you? Nuts? My next 2 releases are commercial all the way!

The fact is that when you get paid to do something, you do a better hob. Whether that's because you care more or because you can devote more time to it is irrelevant. Look at all the abandoned projects at Source Forge. Hmmmm... Food for thought...

Speaking of which I've wasted far too much time here posting when I should have been working! Heck... Need a little fun though!

Actually, my last release is free - check it out - Email Protector. It works really well at the strongest level of protection. I might update it with another stronger one later or improve the looks. That will be free. But then again, that was just a fun project that didn't take me long to do either.

Scotty,

It's not an easy problem to solve. Many companies struggle with revenue models.

I do understand your post about ads being a pain in the ass. They are. I hate them. I don't install software with ads. I pay for it. That solves my problem. Not everyone can pay for software all the time. I also understand that. I don't have a problem with piracy in places where the price is a week's wages.

And for people getting upset... I've had people swear at me and even gotten death threats for giving away free software. There are some real idiots out there.

I didn't mean to come off like I was attacking you. I just wanted to point out how hard it is to make a legitimate living.

I know you're willing to put out the few bucks for a license. It's the lame whiner freeloaders that are a pain. I realize that you're not in that crowd.

Sorry if I came off as saying that you were. That was not my intention.

Cheers,

Ryan