Shareware has always seemed weird to me
Anyone actually buying Tree?
Because I just have to wonder: I am pretty sure I could clone it in a weekend.
It's very basic, only for Mac...
And yet the author asks for $40 for the full version. Tell you what, readers, pledge me $400 (american dollars, that is ;-) and I promise I can deliver:
An app of similar features
Open Source
Multiplatform (Mac/Win/Linux at least)
In one week. While doing my job and taking care of my boy.
In fact, I don't expect it to take more than one full day of coding, and 400 bucks is more than my usual rate anyway.
If I don't release it, don't give me the money and keep the code anyway, which would be in a public repo for progress monitoring.
The reason why ppl buy application even today is coz they are naive when it comes to computers.
1) Most don't know about FOSS/open source alternatives,
2) Opinion that what is paid is better than what is free.
While we geeks/computer programmer give that 100 yard stare and say WTF I ain't paying for that.
Not all shareware is basic, not all of it can be cloned in one week.
Besides, there's much more to it than just coding. Design can take a lot of time. In fact design may take much more time than the execution. That's why it is so easy to clone an existing project - because the cloner doesn't have to repeat the longest and hardest design part of the project.
@Alexei: sure, but a lot is. And it's not like this is the first outliner ever!