Well they just hit $80,000 in charitable donations a few minutes ago. Phil Ryu wrote a post on the boards earlier announcing the early release of TextMate. I thought that was kind of cool.
So, $49 now gets you all of the apps. *shrug* I'm happy.
I just went to buy the bundle and noticed that there's no charity choice with a religious component.
I would have liked to see World Vision or Compassion (child sponsorship) or maybe the Christian Blind Mission or someone else that I was already familiar with.
When I choose a charity for donations, I like to have a sense of what they are doing and undertake a bit of research. While I'm sure they're all good causes, I don't know most of them very well.
I'll pick one later on, but I think the MacHeist guys missed a major opportunity to get local CMUGs involved and canvassing church groups (especially Church musicians, where there are a lot of Mac users.)
Alright. . . I'm not interested in the morality of macHeist. ultimately, the developers shoose to include their work, so that's where I'm going to end it in my eyes.
But what I'm more curious about is the value of the bundle.
So yeah, I'm saving money should I buy them all individually. But in all honesty I'm not sure how much I even want these programs. Some of them seem somewhat appealing, like DevonThink, but has anyone used these apps who finds them to be really great? Please be specific, because I'm thinking about buying, but need a little bit more reason to do it.
"I thought the controversy was not over the bundling but the promotion of the bundle as beneficial to shareware developers when in fact they are getting the smallest cut."
That is what many have been objecting to--and there is no question that developers are getting the smallest cut here, and that MacHeist is making out like a bandit. Folks like grahamw can namecall if they wish, but that economic fact is the factor that many are having a hard time with.
"I thought the controversy was not over the bundling but the promotion of the bundle as beneficial to shareware developers when in fact they are getting the smallest cut."
That is what many have been objecting to--and there is no question that developers are getting the smallest cut here, and that MacHeist is making out like a bandit. Folks like grahamw can namecall if they wish, but that economic fact is the factor that many are having a hard time with.
Good post, mrmister 8).
Which is why I didn't take advantage of this "once in a lifetime" offer \. I too don't know the final numbers but, like mrmister, I believe the Independent Software Developer's that participated received somewhat less than an equitable share of whatever the final tally ends up being and, in my opinion, this is just wrong on any number of levels. Your opinion may differ, and that's OK...
"I thought the controversy was not over the bundling but the promotion of the bundle as beneficial to shareware developers when in fact they are getting the smallest cut."
That is what many have been objecting to--and there is no question that developers are getting the smallest cut here, and that MacHeist is making out like a bandit. Folks like grahamw can namecall if they wish, but that economic fact is the factor that many are having a hard time with.
You think this way because you don't understand how business works.
MacHeist is getting the largest upfront cut of the money.
Most of the profit for a software developer does not come from the upfront sale of software.
When a developer sends a product to a distributor, who sends it to a retailer, who sells it to the customer, they don't make much money - sometimes none at all.
The profit is in the subsequent upgrades. If the developers can turn some of these casual users into paid upgrades over the next two to five years, they will be far ahead of where they are now.
And MacHeist does not receive any of that subsequent income. This is why the participating developers think it's fair.
"You think this way because you don't understand how business works."
Save your ad hominem attacks for someone else--regardless of future income stream, there's no question that the developer cut is the smallest cut with MacHeist, which strikes some people as hypocritical when this week is touted as "for the independent mac developers".
"Most of the profit for a software developer does not come from the upfront sale of software. When a developer sends a product to a distributor, who sends it to a retailer, who sells it to the customer, they don't make much money - sometimes none at all."
Despite apparently not knowing anything about business, I do know that most of these titles are shareware, and don't follow this model at all.
"This is why the participating developers think it's fair."
Good for those who may have convinced themselves of this, but regardless MacHeist is getting an incredible percentage as middleman, and I don't want to encourage that business model, as it is bad for shareware long-term. The feelings of developers who've agreed to the program don't change the numbers.
There's really little to complain about. The hardest thing for a company to do is get eyeballs on their product and get distribution and advertising at an affordable rate. Mac Heist has accomplished all three.
I will pony up for future upgrades on the apps that I don't want to live without. They have a chance to earn my future loyalty in business and to me that's worth it.
Comments
So, $49 now gets you all of the apps. *shrug* I'm happy.
I just went to buy the bundle and noticed that there's no charity choice with a religious component.
I would have liked to see World Vision or Compassion (child sponsorship) or maybe the Christian Blind Mission or someone else that I was already familiar with.
When I choose a charity for donations, I like to have a sense of what they are doing and undertake a bit of research. While I'm sure they're all good causes, I don't know most of them very well.
I'll pick one later on, but I think the MacHeist guys missed a major opportunity to get local CMUGs involved and canvassing church groups (especially Church musicians, where there are a lot of Mac users.)
But what I'm more curious about is the value of the bundle.
So yeah, I'm saving money should I buy them all individually. But in all honesty I'm not sure how much I even want these programs. Some of them seem somewhat appealing, like DevonThink, but has anyone used these apps who finds them to be really great? Please be specific, because I'm thinking about buying, but need a little bit more reason to do it.
That is what many have been objecting to--and there is no question that developers are getting the smallest cut here, and that MacHeist is making out like a bandit. Folks like grahamw can namecall if they wish, but that economic fact is the factor that many are having a hard time with.
"I thought the controversy was not over the bundling but the promotion of the bundle as beneficial to shareware developers when in fact they are getting the smallest cut."
That is what many have been objecting to--and there is no question that developers are getting the smallest cut here, and that MacHeist is making out like a bandit. Folks like grahamw can namecall if they wish, but that economic fact is the factor that many are having a hard time with.
Good post, mrmister 8).
Which is why I didn't take advantage of this "once in a lifetime" offer
I'm interested in Fotomagico, Delicious Library, Newsfire and Rapid Weaver most of all but I'll try everything.
"I thought the controversy was not over the bundling but the promotion of the bundle as beneficial to shareware developers when in fact they are getting the smallest cut."
That is what many have been objecting to--and there is no question that developers are getting the smallest cut here, and that MacHeist is making out like a bandit. Folks like grahamw can namecall if they wish, but that economic fact is the factor that many are having a hard time with.
You think this way because you don't understand how business works.
MacHeist is getting the largest upfront cut of the money.
Most of the profit for a software developer does not come from the upfront sale of software.
When a developer sends a product to a distributor, who sends it to a retailer, who sells it to the customer, they don't make much money - sometimes none at all.
The profit is in the subsequent upgrades. If the developers can turn some of these casual users into paid upgrades over the next two to five years, they will be far ahead of where they are now.
And MacHeist does not receive any of that subsequent income. This is why the participating developers think it's fair.
Save your ad hominem attacks for someone else--regardless of future income stream, there's no question that the developer cut is the smallest cut with MacHeist, which strikes some people as hypocritical when this week is touted as "for the independent mac developers".
"Most of the profit for a software developer does not come from the upfront sale of software. When a developer sends a product to a distributor, who sends it to a retailer, who sells it to the customer, they don't make much money - sometimes none at all."
Despite apparently not knowing anything about business, I do know that most of these titles are shareware, and don't follow this model at all.
"This is why the participating developers think it's fair."
Good for those who may have convinced themselves of this, but regardless MacHeist is getting an incredible percentage as middleman, and I don't want to encourage that business model, as it is bad for shareware long-term. The feelings of developers who've agreed to the program don't change the numbers.
Is it fair when a distributor and then a retail outlet gets more than the developer?
Or do we reserve our anger just for certain middlemen?
If that is the criteria for avoiding the bundle, are you advising everyone not to buy software at retail?
I will pony up for future upgrades on the apps that I don't want to live without. They have a chance to earn my future loyalty in business and to me that's worth it.
Anyone buy the bundle and want to sell their TextMate license?
My offer is $15, that's 30% the cost of the bundle and if you're not going to use TextMate then it's a great deal