What will make you actually pay for a software?

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What will make you actually pay for a Windows software?

If it has a mobile app-like low price (e.g. $1)
1
8%
If it's a time unlimited freemium
2
17%
If it's a time limited shareware
0
No votes
If it has no periodical activation
1
8%
If it's NOT an adware
0
No votes
If it's NOT an nagware
0
No votes
If the license is for life (i.e. all future versions)
1
8%
If it has a public forum and/or bug tracker
1
8%
If it's useful to me, regardless of its business model
6
50%
 
Total votes: 12

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lwc
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What will make you actually pay for a software?

#1 Post by lwc »

Let's be honest, I bet you guys are the toughest crowd out there when it comes to convince you to buy Windows softwares.
So what does it take to convince you (and thus hopefully other crowds)?

Feel free to ask for explanations or suggest more answers.
Last edited by lwc on Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:51 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Midas
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#2 Post by Midas »

I'll get the ball rolling: to get what few monies I have, it would have to be something that I couldn't do any other way and that was absolutely essential to my daily computing (or else, that so contributed to simplify it that I couldn't pass it by...). :mrgreen:

But I want to leave you another hint: I'll find it easier to pay if there's a strong community connected to the product...

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Craunch
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#3 Post by Craunch »

If I am to pay for software, it must be a one-off payment that preferably gets me a bit more functionality for my money than the free version, there must be no alternative that also does what I want cheaper and it must be software that I really need.

I usually avoid time-limited shareware or trial software like the plague and similarly adware. I recently deleted STDUViewer when it showed advertisements and I will not be using it again, even if it removes the advertising, because I no longer trust the developer. I find advertisments extremely irritating and regard having to pay to get rid of them a form of blackmail especially if the payment provides no other benefits. So far as nagware is concerned, it usually only takes one nag for me to delete the software.

I believe that software written by someone who is doing it for their own use and enjoyment results in more reliable and usable software rather than that written purely for commercial gain.

lwc
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#4 Post by lwc »

Your input is really great, I've even added your suggestions to the poll!

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webfork
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#5 Post by webfork »

Little late to the party on this one, but here goes:

I think the supposition with this poll is that, as a Freeware site, there's resistance to paying for software. I don't know if that's accurate for other people here but for me personally, I do try to focus on Freeware options just because it might pay off in terms of my work here.

Anyway, my answer is a little different than the available options:

What I'll buy:
  • Save me time and energy. CubicExplorer for example saves me god only knows how much time.
  • General positives - All good things include: positive reviews, a good help system/community, active development, good user interface, developer responds effectively both to feature requests and reasonable criticism.
  • Automation - Includes effective and easy batch/automation within the program that works smoothly and logically. Some Adobe programs I've used are plodding and difficult to use sometimes, but their in-built automation programs help make up for slowness and oddities.
  • 90 day trial - I want to really run a program through the motions before buying. For whatever reason, a 30-day trial just never seems enough. I almost didn't buy Camtasia recently because of a major program bug that I couldn't attempt to resolve because my 30 day trial ran out. I know the fear here is that I'll be done with whatever project I needed the program for after 90 days, but I believe in software marriage: once I find something I like, I seem to hang on to it.
  • Reasonably priced. I can't see spending more than $50 for something that isn't my primary use program (e.g. CAD program for landscape/3D artists, Photoshop for photographers, etc.)
I'll donate to something that I really want to support, meaning I have some sense that when I give this person money it's because they've done me a HUGE favor by making it available or I want to encourage the already active development around said program.

What I won't buy:

Essentially whenever it's not a sure thing ...
  • Anything sight-unseen - if I can't test it out and I don't know it's clearly going to work. A great example of this is my next point:
  • "Freemium" stuff because I don't really know what I'm getting. PDF X-Change and XMind both are great programs that have some cool premium features but I can't test them out effectively without buying the product first.
  • Subscriptions. I like self-contained, boxed software that just works (a big part of why I'm on PortableFreeware). I've been burned way too many times on services that forget who I am, get hacked, lose my data, close down their servers, or in any way force me to find some other means to do what I need.

lwc
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#6 Post by lwc »

Good to hear more input. Wish others would vote too.
Just 2 notes:
  1. Reasonably priced means $50? You seem pretty optimistic...
  2. Subscriptions may be a pain but anything else means you might as well give it for free. Due to people hacking the EXE, that is.

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Midas
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#7 Post by Midas »

[After O'Reilly,] you could think of the cracking as progressive taxation: the more you get it, the more well-known and positively viewed your program is. :idea:

It worked for Microsoft...

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SYSTEM
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#8 Post by SYSTEM »

lwc wrote:Subscriptions may be a pain but anything else means you might as well give it for free. Due to people hacking the EXE, that is.
Most people don't use cracked payware or shareware because they realize it is wrong.
My YouTube channel | Release date of my 13th playlist: August 24, 2020

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webfork
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Re: What will make you actually pay for a software?

#9 Post by webfork »

lwc wrote:Reasonably priced means $50? You seem pretty optimistic
I wrote "...more than $50 for something that isn't my primary use program". In other words, it would be weird to spend more than $50 on any software I don't NEED to have. I'm happy to spend the $300-1,000 whatever on Ableton if I were a musician or Mathematica if I were an engineer.
lwc wrote: ... you might as well give it for free. Due to people hacking the EXE, that is.
Let's make a distinction here: what you're talking about is moving to *Web* subscription services. XMind for example has a subscription for some premium stuff that works on local software. I'm sure it's not hard to hack XMind to get the same effect. So in order to not "give it away for free" as you put it, we're by-and-large talking about Web-only services. Ask Adobe customers how that's going. That's not a risk I want to take.

I think the wide variety of music and other media services out there that offer DRM-free material at a reasonable price are excellent evidence that people *want* to pay for something legit. It's not much more difficult for folks to find an album on various file sharing services, but if it's easily accessible and a reasonably price, people will put down money.

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