 KCWebMonkey wrote:
Bluefrog wrote:
e.g. If you are willing to let some runt kid use your software for free because you know he's not making money from it, and he's just playing around/learning, then that's probably a good thing.
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But who's to say if that kid will turn around and buy it WHEN he starts making money off of that software...
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True enough. And I don't think that this is a problem that is going to be solved easily.
zMaestro - I think you're right about making software affordable, but for a lot of software that is used to make money, it is very expensive to develop and you have to recoop those costs, and hence high prices often ranging into thousands of dollars. Other considerations might include licensing technologies like LZW for GIFs or other compression technologies (MPEG prices are really high... with an initial capital outlay of no less than $10,000).
For now, I think piracy and policing do a relatively good job of taking care of the situation. The police don't come into your house to search your computer, but they check offices - which is primarily where money is made. Unfortunately, this is still not ideal.
I like what Bruce has done here - "donation-ware". I've donated (and I hope others have as well), but I'd guess that Bruce hasn't been adequately compensated for his work. Kind of a catch-22. 
As for Kaaza, I think it's a great thing. I use it to distribute trial software and people download it. The only thing I have to do is keep some computers running. It's a very cheap way for publishers/developers to distribute software. CNet wants $80.00 now to list software there - that's just to have it listed - and CNet is such a mess now with so many titles that your results (or ROI) is dubious at best. After a week or so there are a ton more applications added and yours is way down the list where nobody will ever find it. Simtel lists for free and mirrors it even - a much nicer situation there.
Oh Happy Day~!
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