I just read
Rick Borup's post about
FeedDemon becoming free.
FeedDemon is a great application, bad timing though, I am too used to Google Reader already.
The arguments exposed
on Nick Bradbury's blog are sort of "product stays the same, we'll charge the companies now, not the individuals".
The decision looks demagogic to me. It sounds like Newsgator can now afford
to be free for individuals after they've used their money and their invaluable
input.
This leaves those paid subscribers at the same level as someone who
never paid, and all because those paid subscriber individuals are not
a target anymore since Newsgator can now charge companies good money (with the product those individuals helped create).
I would feel very bad if I had bought the software a few months ago, a little "used" I should say. Here's an idea: if you suddenly decide to go free on a product, considering the software had a yearly
subscription basis (as I believed it had), and you are presenting this
as a great giveaway to the community, why don't you give back to subscribers the
money collected since 12 months ago. That would earn you SOME respect among former paid subscribers.
My point is, if you are going to make a free product, you better do it from the beginning.
I'll give a real life, Seinfeld-like, example. Let's suppose that you are at an expensive restaurant having dinner with somebody you know. For whatever reason, you are not hungry and only order a salad. On the other hand, your partner goes through a 3 course meal plus dessert. After the meal, noticing your meal was cheap, your friend decides to pick up the check under the argument "Don't worry, you'll pay next time". How would you feel? If you are going to treat me, make it from the beginning, not after you realized I wasn't going to cost you that much.