After a bit of
"Mobile Linux is Doomed" ranting, it seems appropriate to ask Nokia Internet Tablet owners how much they'd pay for quality software on their Internet Tablets? The poll is up on the TabletBlog.com main page, as usual. The options posted are:
- Nothing - Software should be free.
- Nothing - I don't use third party software
- Up to US $10. It's only a mobile device.
- Up to US $50 like comparable PC apps.
- As much as it takes to suit my needs.
Before voting, it may be helpful to
scan the reader comments from this older article. People already have good thoughts on this subject.
13 comments:
I'd say $0. Software should be free. I will occasionally drop a buck or two, but for the most part $0.
It also depends on the platform. Maemo unfortunatly is a bit laggy compared to more polished iPlatforms, so I'd be more likely to invest in software for a device I know I'll keep for years.
It depends on the software. I like free software as much as the next guy, but I'll happily drop $10-20 dollars if the software is worth it _to_me_. I quite often donate to free projects, just to help them to keep helping me.
It's unfortunate that free has two very different meanings. i.e., "free as in free beer" and "free as in freedom." The term "free software" was suppose to refer to the latter. That is, software where the source was unencumbered.
As Linux got more popular, that message got lost somewhere and the "free as in free beer" definition took over. To be fair, it's the more obvious definition to the mainstream. It was never the intent of the free software movement that programmers not make any money for their work. The intent was to encourage innovation and collaboration.
As an imperfect analogy, cars are somewhat open source in that there are lots of manuals that detail in enough detail such that you can fix anything that goes wrong with them. Does that mean that mechanics ought to work for free? Just because the source code to a program is freely available doesn't mean that the programmer who fixes its bugs is obliged to maintain it for free.
Or say a restaurant is willing to share, for free, the recipe for one of its dishes. (This is actually not uncommon.) This is not the same thing as the restaurant simply giving away the finished dish. (This would be quite uncommon.) For whatever reason, we have problems understanding this when it comes to software.
Lots of people may want software to cost nothing. Big surprise. Lots of people also want puppies and ponies.
Just because the source code is available to anyone who wants it doesn't mean that it's wrong, immortal, or unethical to charge for the executable. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be free. Just that saying that they shouldn't have to pay for software because the source is freely available doesn't make a lot of sense.
I mean, if you really don't want to pay for it, set up a development environment and build it yourself from the source. (Otherwise, it's like saying that you shouldn't have to pay the plumber because you were theoretically capable of repairing your furnace yourself.)
Even then though, you've still taken advantage of the people who wrote the program and contributed bug fixes in the first place. If they choose to offer it for no money, there's nothing wrong with accepting that offer. But to argue that it should cost nothing because it's open source smacks of an overgrown sense of entitlement.
Another point to remember that end users accepting all the free(as in beer) software doesn't take anything away from the developers. If anything, they're probably excited to have anyone using the software.
Even free (as in beer) software can be paid for by someone other than the end user. Looking at Novell for example, they're paying SAMBA developers, because if SAMBA gets better, Novell's Linux does better.
For me, the price point beyond which I will not go for mobile apps is $15. But where I see the real value in mobile apps (be it for the tablet, the phone, or even a laptop) is in the service it provides.
While I may pay some money for a real top-notch information management system, I would pay real subscription fees so that I could access it in a useful way from all those devices I mentioned above.
I am willing to spend money on software as long as it meets a need in my routine. The great thing about free software is I can play with software that I would not normally use and get a feel for if it would be useful for me. This could be accomplished just as well with trial versions of the software but I have not come across much software with trial versions for mobile devices.
$10, it's a mobile device that I'll probably not have in two years time.
However, let's just get some good quality software out, free or otherwise. Less "I can shoehorn Windows XP into my tablet" and more "lots of people are moaning about the lack of --whatever-- apps, let's do something about it".
Yet another thoughtfix poll without the right option for me... :/
(Like many people, I prefer to only pay for Free/Libre software. Nokia's proprietary bits are an unfortunate exception.)
Ill toss in a vote as well for distinction between free as in beer and free as in speech.
I will, and have, paid for open source software, and will pay for that over closed source software.
I will pay for software, and have no problem doing so. Putting an absolute limit on what I will pay is pointless, as I will pay much more for a strong peice of software that addresses my needs in a way that fits perfectly. Technical software aimed at my field would fall under this.
As was said before, open source does not mean you can't charge for it.
Seablade
For an application that really unleashes the potential of a tablet, I'd say I could pay more than for a similar pc application.
Exactly because of the convenience and possibilities that lies in applications that "fit in a rather large pocket" :)
First, about prices.I'm saying $0. When I'd already payed to vendor almost some $500 or so for their device, I'm strongly dislike idea to pay for software at all.Taking into account that all new devices from Nokia are always overpriced as a hell, $0 is seems to be appropriate, keeping in mind that vendor should care about platform quality. Or wtf I'm paying 1.5x more when device just arrives than it will cost some months ago?
Second, about closed\commercial software. At the best possible extent I'm avoiding it. Human's life is longer than any platform and program lasts. And if you're sticking to closed-source stuff, the day will come where you have to change OS version or even a platform. And once you will not find this program for new platform. And you will be unable to do anything about it as well - you have to live with this. So, to avoid dissatisfaction and frustration I'm just preferring to ignore such software as much as possible.Also commercial software is often crippled or causes headache with piracy protection crap and so.Do you like to buy headache for your moneys?I'm surely not.
Well, now the third part. We all agree that really skilled and talented authors who made you happy should have a proper reward. As for me, if I'm used some program and after some use I still like it, I'm going to donate to author, as any other humble and honest person should do.As for me, this is slightly better idea than to buy some doubtful stuff and pay before you can evaluate if you're like to use it at all.And shareware... yep, it's here ... and it's permanent annoyance with nag screens, keys crap, restrictions and other stuff which makes me to hate such apps on it's own.
So I vote for new business models and free software. Old proprietary ones are defective by design anyway and soon this will end. Surely on iPhone you can buy "I am rich" app for some $999. But on Nokia you can install "I am free" for $0 :).That's why I'm using Nokia n810 and will not buy iphone. I'm simply do not need useless crapware and headache with sim locks, restrictions and similar crap for decent amount of moneys. Iphone is for brainwashed morons IMHO.
P.S. however I see no prob's if Nokia will allow to pay to some authors of software. If someone want to pay for software it is strange to forbid him to do so. As for me I'm preferring to see a comfortable donation system though so I can give a donation to author of free program I like in one click or so.
I don't expect my phone (even my quite expensive phone) to come with everything I want. I am fine with paying for something, but agree that the business models need to change somewhat. A proprietary application is fine, but the data and the interface to the data needs to be open so that I can access that data at a later time in a different manner.
I have so much personal information I want to access that many of my software choices are now guided by how well it works with/can import my existing data.
The biggest N800 disappointment for me was that the OS was not true, ready-to-wear, Linux. The Linux open source community is large enough to sustain effective development of cool new software. The n800/810 market is so much smaller and the software development is a dribble, apparently mostly by hobbyists.
I also vote with the person who said that gadgets need effective Nokia-supported software out of the box.
--pk---
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