Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
No good deed goes unpunished
Published on March 15, 2005 By Draginol In Industry

In various software community niches I've been described, over the years, as the software equivalent of Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars movies. I find outstanding software developers who are happily making freeware programs and lure them to the dark side of the force -- commercial software development. 

And so the belief goes that if only the evil bastards at Stardock weren't plucking these Jedi knights of freeware and corrupting them that there'd be these wonderful freeware programs.  Or put another way, that the programs that we make that have one of these star developers involved would have come out, as if by magic, as freeware if it weren't for our "greed".

The reality, not surprising, is more complicated than that.  The life cycle of a typical freeware developer goes as follows:

  1. They start developing a program because it's something that interests them personally.
  2. They continue developing it because they appreciate the accolades, appreciation, and attention they receive from whatever on-line "community" it is involved in it.
  3. They stop developing it either because they've totally lost interest, have found it extremely "not fun" to keep updating, or because the once supportive "community" has cast them aside for the latest/greatest "freeware" goodie.

As a commercial software developer, I've watched this cycle over and over.  Whenever a "free" program begins development in the market we're in, people will say "Aha! Now finally we'll have a free alternative to program X!"  What they don't know is that we use the same strategy over and over with freeware "competition"-- we wait them out. 

We can always wait out the freeware author because either his program no longer hold his attention in competing with "real life", or it'll become too tedious to keep enhancing it, or (quite commonly) the very people who once went around spamming for them on every forum telling the world that it was the greatest thing have turned around and betrayed them by tossing their support out in favor of some even newer freeware program, even if it's in competition with their freeware program.

I've seen it over and over again.  What often drives talented software developers to come to us in the first place is a feeling of betrayal at the hands of their "supporters". They'll make something for free, put it out there, and for awhile, they'll get support, accolades, and attention.

But much of that early support comes from people who worship freeware as an ideology. They use freeware regardless of whether they could afford commercial software (even when it's better) but because they consider commercial software the bane of the universe that must be fought against. But freeware ideologues are a fickle lot. As soon as the next "hot" thing comes out, off they go.  Some of the very same people who were once spamming forums talking up freeware program X will later go back and spam for freeware program Y and even mention that Y "kicks the crap out of X!"

This is something we've seen since the beginning of our company (ten years ago). But rarely is it made more vivid than a recent episode involving one of our young developers who has spent a sizeable chunk of his young life selflessly making freeware programs to help support a "community".  When we announced ObjectDock 1.11, a FREE program, it was spammed, by people who originated from the same "community" that once claimed undying love and loyalty for this program, in favor of people who want people to try out some other (newer, but far less featured) dock program. 

The reaction of some of our developers to such spamming is "Are you guys high??" because ObjectDock, at this point, isn't just slightly more mature, feature rich, etc. (and did I mention free?).  It's massively more feature rich, uses less memory, faster, more customizable, etc. than anything else available.  That's the benefit of having worked on it for 3 years steadily.  But such is the fickle nature of those with the "freeware ideology" that they'll latch on to the newest thing.  Their loyalty was never to the freeware developer or the freeware program but rather the freeware cause.  Simply put, ObjectDock, while free, got their attention already. Now it was time for them to move to some other thing. 

I've seen it so many times. Developers find it rather cutting when they discover that there's very little loyalty or depth of support for them personally or their programs.  That the "support" freeware developers receive from on-line communities is often (not always) because it is free and new and nothing else.

Because the cycle repeats and is so predictable, commercial developers rarely fear from freeware developers because it's only a matter of time before that freeware program dies out.  The life cycle of the freeware program will play out and the commercial program will be the one that continues to be updated, enhanced, and available while the freeware developer often ends up becoming part of the commercial development team.

In the long-run, it's about incentives. When a software program becomes "mature", enhancing it becomes quite laborious. There has to be some incentive to keep updating it at that point.  Commercial software provides a pretty straight forward incentive -- financial income.  But glory, accolades, and community support can make a big difference as well.  Luckily for us sith lords, community support is nearly always fickle, ultimately turning that Jedi freeware developer into a Sith commercial developer.


Comments (Page 3)
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on Mar 18, 2005
Many simply wish to support the little guy, the starting developer. Although new software may sometimes cause community individuals to jump ship, I think it's a gross overstatement to call this typical behavior. It's fun to see what innovations a new developer releases, but this doesn't automatically mean the community will jump ship. There are zealots, this is undeniable, but the thread seems to miss the other skinning compartment, those promoting upstarts just for the joy of helping someone out.

The analogies to freeware to communism and socialistic are a bit rash. Freeware can be an extremely competitive realm, free-enterprise for recognition; hardly communistic.

Draginol, it was hard to judge your motivations in the start of the thread- was it seeking to explain why commercial companies are hoovering up freeware authors to the complainers, or an attempt to vilify freeware simply for being free? Explanations are fine. Ruling out an entire sector of software simply because it's free is, as bakerstreet said, a crusade of its own.
on Mar 19, 2005
Exile, you are joking, right?
You don't get free stuff in a store, that's correct. But surely you've done some free stuff for your friends, family. Surely you've fixed a friend's car for free, or helped him move, or baby sitted his/her kid, or something? Surely you have a talent or an aptitude that you do for free just because it's fun and you share it with friends? Well, on this Internet age, sharing with friends is just a little larger than it used to be when your hobby can be distributed online. My wife's into stamping and crafting her own cards. She spends probably 15 to 20 hours per week doing this just because she loves it. Skinners, programmers, aren't much different.
No it's not communism, nor is it capitalism, it actually isn't any ISM word. It's just called loving what you do. My wife actually got offers from stores to sell her cards (she's quite good), but she's always refused. It wouldn't be relaxing and fun anymore, it would be a job that you have to do. Some people have a real job that they get paid for, and they have a hobby that they do just because they like to do it and they share it because they are proud of what they do.
Not everything is for sale you know. If somebody offered to buy my children and I refused, would that make me a communist?

There is nothing wrong with people wanting to sell the product of their work, but there is nothing wrong with people who rather do it for free either.
on Mar 19, 2005
paxx, it is said that love makes world go around, but it's actually money.

Unfortunately thats the way the world works.


Extreme of communism don't work. Pure commercial don't work either. Best way to have bit of both.
on Mar 19, 2005
Mr XX: So, loving what you do isn't important?

Have you never refused a much higher paid job because you would have hated the job? I have. So have many people I know. Sorry to disagree but love is more important than money. Love brings you happyness, money doesn't.
Of course I'm not talking about the basic amount of money one needs to live. But once you have a house, a car, clothes to wear and food on the table, the extra money is just that: extra. I would temporarely take a job I hated if it meant survival. Like if I had no job at all, I would take a job I hated that paid $20,000/year, but if I make $35,000 for a job I love, I would refuse (as I have) a $50,000 I didn't like as much.

You need money for living, but you don't need to live for money.
on Mar 24, 2005
Draginol, I sadly have to admit, your right, to an extent.
As an "amature / freelance" programmer (been doing it for 15+ years though) I have even a website or two that welcoms any new apps that I write, but at times, i just sit back, and wonder "does it need more? will the appreciate this?" and usually i do get a headache.

Good Example is eNDesk:Icon, my freeware clone like for IconX, although a bit different. Some features i cannot get done (not at my level though), but whatever i cannot add in that has become the standard, i try to improvise.

Like right now, for eNDesk:Icon, i am adding in a Widget editor, so that not only do you have enhanced icons, You also have custom made widgets that (hopefully) can do everything from controlling WinAmp to making an icon pop up your start menu.

But yes, to the point, I have caught myself at times debating if i wish to continue development.
on Mar 24, 2005
I think this the proble with the world today it's all about the MONEY.
I donat money to good freeware apps. I would rather give it to them than some faceless Corp.
one more thing
SPYBOT S&D
Hands down the best spyware APP and its free even if patrick decided to charge for it i would pay. Free or not it rocks.

FIGHT THE DARKSIDE
on Mar 26, 2005
Just a sidenote: linux is not freeware, but open source. Meaning it is IMPOSSIBLE for it to die out because millions of people can improve on it,. and not just one.
on Mar 26, 2005
Sure, Linux will probably never die out, but open source doesn't mean it won't die out. I've seen open source programs just stop being developed, and some of them were decent too.
on Mar 26, 2005

ntagk:  The world today is a lot like the world of yesterday.  Humans still need food, clothing, and shelter.  People who want those things have to trade something for those things. This in turn leads us to needing money in order to provide food, clothing, and shelter.

But for some reason, some people have a hard time seeing any value in intellectual software.  They'll happily go out and pay $300 to have a slightly faster video card but they chaffe at paying $10 for computer software and accuse those who labor to create it of being "greedy" if they try to be compensated for their labor.

on Apr 07, 2005
Yeah, this post was on "freeware". Freeware generally gets developed for a period of time and then dies out.

Open Source software is a different story, however. Yeah, much of it dies out. But so does a lot of small-time commercial software. Go to download.com and look at the LOOOOOOOOOOADS of free trial software that you have to pay for to get one little tidbit of functionality out of that a decent developer could probably write an app for in 20 minutes.

We owe more to the Open Source movement than anybody here has even considered. The INTERNET is the way it is today because of Open ideology. Heck, almost 3/4 of every server on the internet runs on Open Source software. Even Windows contains portions of BSD software (just look).

Open Software affects us all. It's not going away, and it's far from "evil". If you don't agree with the open mindset, just wait a few years when you try and upgrade your computer or purchase a new one, only to find that all those songs you downloaded from iTunes no longer works because of the DRM BS that the corporate big-wigs are all into now....
on Apr 10, 2005
If you want to pay for software, do it. If you don't, then rely on what you can find for free but don't pirate the pay stuff.

That said, there is something to be said for the open source model. The GIMP, or Gnu Image Manipulation Program, was originally a college project for a couple of guys who eventually lost interest and time in developing it. Other people took up the project, and now it's a nice Photoshop Elements replacement. With continued development, there is a chance it could rival the full Photoshop itself in the future, but that would be a few years out from now. The best music notation program for Linux called Rosegarden has a similar history.

It's not just freeware/open source programs that go this way. Microsoft used to develop a program called RegClean designed to be a registry cleaner that eventaully was abandoned, and now there is only regedit left for modifying the registry on a default install. OS/2, DOS, and Windows95 are other examples of proprietary software that has gone the way of the dinosaur too (that is not to say no one uses them, but they're not still in development or supported).

Personally, I prefer getting free software over software that costs money or has nag screens (7-Zip over WinZip for example), but that may just have to do with the fact I'm a cash-starved college kid. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.
on Apr 10, 2005

Well this topic isn't about saying that one is better than the other.

It is about what motivated software developers - the people who MAKE the stuff. 

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