Best approach?

[Cinjin]

Darwinian NEEDS to know what the free experiences HAS to be like before he can score in the PREMIUM market.

Perhaps he needs to know, but we definitely disagree. A product is a product is a product. XBox doesn't give away the first million software games to see if people like them. People buy products that they have never used before all the time. We look for incentives - sales, discounts, but most importantly the application itself. Perhaps Darwinian's program is far superior to all the shareware bull shit that's out there. Maybe his product will speak for itself if only he allows a user to try a tiny version of it for free. Allowing users to have the whole thing scott free, with nearly nothing stripped down is a poor decision in my mind. Here's why:

You're talking to a guy who has used dozens of free media manipulators of all sorts. I have never and will never pay for one again because there are so many programmers out there that have your mindset. Get people to use it and then show the rest of them the pricetag later. Does it work? Yes, at times, but everyone on this planet knows you get what you pay for, and the mere fact that you're charging a fee for something often tells people you've got a quality product worth paying for.

I don't do gigs for cheap ... you know why? Because somewhere in their minds everybody knows that quality comes with a pricetag.

Notoriety is great. Cash is better.
My suggestion. Offer a severely dumbed down version of your program and really push the awesome extras that they could be using for a fee. Also, there is nothing wrong with listing all the things that other programs can't do and then adding at the end, "...we can."

That shit sells. I'm like most shareware users. I'm never paying for something that I could always get for free, but I will definitely pay for something thats far superior to all the other products.


EDIT: What the hell ... I just realized Syn, you and I voted the same thing. WTF are we in disagreement about???