(June 2, 2012 at 11:55 am)Tiberius Wrote: Speaking as a consumer, I usually use Google to see what kind of products are out there, and I'll always give the free ones a try if they look good. I don't generally like shareware with a trial period that disables everything, and certainly in your case the free competition will completely destroy you if you go down that route (VLC, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, etc).
Donations are good, but they really require an existing fan base to work. You can always switch to that option later. I think the best option left is to have it free but with a trial for premium features. That gives the user a chance to try out the full product, rather than (from their perspective) taking a risk with their money.
Agree with your analysis. Disagree with your course, as you still recommended the annoying feature you hate -- disabling features.
NEVER give users features that you take away. They only feel like you're out to get them.
I recommend a middle route -- enable one premium feature for free, put that in the free build. If they want more, they pay you a small fee that gives them the CORRECT binary from your store that has ALL features.
Trust me, you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don't want to "simply disable" or put a lock on your software. There are plenty of warez crackers I know who live to break that shit, giving them a full featured client for nothing.
REMOVE THE SOURCE CODE for the disabled features. Leaving only the UI elements.
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
