Richard-
Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 7:25:59 PM, you wrote:
RG> We have at least one anecdotal data point in which the hobbyist was RG> quite happy to use only the free version with narry a though about RG> buying a license, and only after Rev discontinued the free version did RG> he obtain one.
RG> I used to believe the old free version was a good idea, but it's hard to RG> argue with data like that. ;)
<arguing for the sake of arguing here>
It's not hard at all to argue with a *single anecdotal data point*.
If I remember correctly, the free version never expired, but in order to use the new features you had to upgrade. If said hobbyist wasn't impressed with runrev, he could have passed on upgrading to a new version and continued with the free one. Obviously that wasn't the case. The free version hooked the user and made enough of an impact that he decided to spring for a paid upgrade.
Seems to me like the free version was the cause of a sale.
As I read it the termination of the free version was the cause of the sale. But the cause-and-effect is not entirely clear from the story, so I may well be mistaken.
Of course, I'm one of those weirdos who pays for shareware if I find I like and use it, so don't take *my* word for anything...
Freak! :)
I paid for Tex-Edit twice only because I liked it so much and use it so often and it's so affordable. Same with GraphicConverter -- one of the best values in this history of software, IMO.
Personally I liked having the free version, and use a very similar feature-restriction-with-no-time-limite model for every package I make. While I have no hard data on the efficacy of that approach for RR, for myself and my clients it's done very well.
But I don't run RR, and they don't run 4W, and we both like it that way. :)
Kee Nethery of the great Kagi.com feels strongly in favor of this model too, if memory serves -- Kee, care to share your experiences?
-- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Media Corporation __________________________________________________ Rev tools and more: http://www.fourthworld.com/rev _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
