Re:The chemfp project: problems selling free software
by dalke on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @05:00AM
(#23905378)
My running hypothesis is that many people see open source as a way to avoid dealing with upstream developers.
If I "pip install" a package which brings in a lot of other packages, I don't need to have any relationship with any of those developers. It Just Works.
I don't have to know about their projects, find their web sites, read their calls for funding, learn their licensing options, etc. I don't have to worry about billing. It Just Works.
Even if the price is $100, the fact that it doesn't Just Work means the effective price is far higher.
I decided to focus on industrial customers who were used to software in the EUR ~5-20K/yr range (rather than the ~$1000/yr range) so the overhead costs are proportionally smaller. And why I try to make the code fit into the "Just Works" framework, eg, on Linux-based OSes:
If I "pip install" a package which brings in a lot of other packages, I don't need to have any relationship with any of those developers. It Just Works.
I don't have to know about their projects, find their web sites, read their calls for funding, learn their licensing options, etc. I don't have to worry about billing. It Just Works.
Even if the price is $100, the fact that it doesn't Just Work means the effective price is far higher.
I decided to focus on industrial customers who were used to software in the EUR ~5-20K/yr range (rather than the ~$1000/yr range) so the overhead costs are proportionally smaller. And why I try to make the code fit into the "Just Works" framework, eg, on Linux-based OSes: