I am convinced, that people do not necessarily need to pay for good software and I just include services (in the internet). I just read an article of a popular blog, in which the author explained his (opposite) view about this and lists three examples, which he is (willingly?) paying money for. I would really like to add my personal oppinion to this argumentation and the examples in detail:
1. WEB.de Mail: The author refers to the continuousness and security of the as major reasons for his choice. But I really wonder which company, if not one of the biggest in the world, is able to provide the most continuousness? I think that either the price for web.de mail will increase, or the offered service (disk space, etc) will decrease. In the matter of security, I also think, that Google is in a much better position, just because it has a lot more money to invest in development than, web.de and I therefore consider it as "secure enough". 100% security is only reached in fairy tales anymway!
2. XING: I agree with that one, there is no comparable free service like that. Therefore it's imperative: paying at Xing or nowhere for free - that's it. But it's not that easy. 6 Euro per month is, especially for a businessman, no remarkable spending and that is exactly the target group. Thus, and because I heard a speak of Mr. Hinrichs about the development of his company, I consider this measure a "clean up" of the plattform to prevent it from too much scrooges. Sure, how could they be successful if they can't even afford 6 Euro a month!
3. Skype: If it was not that buggy and int....rupted, it would surely sell much better. But it's no question: when using the full potential it will run great.
Now to my personal conclusion about free content in general. I provide a big part of my work for free on the websites I run, because I think it sharing makes the world a bit better and those who have (too) much of something (money, knowledge, power) could sleep much better, if they were able to share. I believe, that everyone could feel a lot better then. By providing a donation link, I already got some money from conin.de for my work, thanks again.
You should not release everything you like or need, but just now, in the digital age, when you can share something without giving it away, it could not be made easier to you. It could be very nice, also. Just when it becomes a bidirectional action of giving and taking, when someone else decides to give back something to free voluntarily. Like with the new radiohead album. Why not let everyone decide how much he would like to pay for something or can afford. Deep inside, I know that everyone feels bad with ripping off somebody else. And one day there will be be the day when people who have lived that way, even for their whole live, get their enlightement that this was wrong. I deeply believe in that.
Ich bin völlig deiner Meinung, dennoch wird es immer Leute geben, die kein schlechtes Gewissen haben, wenn sie andere “ausbeuten” bzw. halt nicht für ein Angebot zahlen, wo man nicht muss. Und bei denen bleibt dann leider auch die Erleuchtung aus…
Da hat sich jemand Schmalz aus dem Hirn gesaugt, ein Plugin, ein Feature oder eine Exension programmiert, da kann man auch schon mal in pekuniärer Weise ‘Danke’ sagen. Mir hat es sehr geholfen, und ich hätte das selber in annehmbarer Zeit nicht realisiert. Schnelle Hilfe, schnelle Kohle, so sollte das immer sein