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13 Reasons Why Software Is Not Free

Lately it seems more and more evident that the general population expects software to be free or at the very least cheap. This is reinforced when companies like Apple, who make a tremendous income off of their hardware, the iTunes store, and many other revenue streams, heavily discount their software. I’m thinking of the iWork suite in particular. Apple can afford to discount their software because it’s not their main source of income and by doing so they are able to sell more copies and make their computer/iPhone/iPad-buying consumers happier. It also isn’t helped by the re-occurring “dot com boom” theme of putting out products or web services for free, getting investors involved, signing up millions of people, and then only kind of worrying about how to make money. I mean who cares, all it takes is a little annoying advertising to make some money and keep the investors happy, right?

So I thought I would sit down and write to all of those people out there who are buying software for $3.99 and wondering:

Why the hell do I have to pay $3.99 for this software? Shouldn’t it just be free?! WTF?!

This article is for you…

13 reasons why software isn’t free:

1. The majority of software is made by small software shops, usually less than a dozen people. They specialize in creating software and do not have billions in other revenue streams to fall back on.

2. Software is not easy to create — especially not software that people consider easy to use and attractive. It’s a whole heck of a lot of work, in fact.

3. Good software takes somewhere between months and years to create. It’s not something you just whip up in a night like they show you in the movies.

4. Software is created by hard working people… like you. Do you get paid for your work?

5. People who make software have more to do once your purchase has been made. We are here for you when you run into issues by providing a support team to answer questions, walk you through troubleshooting steps, fix bugs, etc.

6. Software teams are constantly working on improving and updating the software to keep up with changing technologies. It’s a continuous process.

7. Not all software developers seek outside investment to fund their projects. In fact, most of us do not. This is not suited for everyone and has many strings attached which often shape the end result.

8. It costs money to put out a software product. We have to spend years creating it, paying people’s salaries, renting office space, purchasing computers, etc. If we want you to actually find out about our product, we often need to spend money to advertise as well.

9. Software is an art and a science. It takes talented people skilled in computer science, engineering, and design, and more to create a quality software product.

10. Not all of us want to show you obnoxious advertising in order to make money, rather than just selling our actual work. Some of us hate obnoxious advertisements. Advertisements are not suitable for all software projects.

11. You pay for your clothes, gadgets, your movie tickets, your lunch, your plane ticket, etc. So why not your software?

12. Without software, your fancy laptop or iPad would be… well… pretty darn useless.

13. We do our best to price software affordably. Just like a sandwich shop owner figures out how much to charge for a sandwich based on the price that adequately covers the cost of ingredients, running the store, and paying their employees. Most of us price our software as reasonably as possible.

Hopefully after reading this, you understand that software does not create itself. It’s made by hard working people just like you. We often work in small teams and we put a lot of time thought, money, and effort into creating it for you. It’s our technological work of art. We’re not perfect, but we do our best. Please think about this article the next time you drop $10 on an app. Thanks!

• software
• business
• technology
• computers