Wired - Paying for software is bad?November 18, 2006
Yesterday Wired posted a round-up of the best software for retrieving music off your iPod, and I noticed something disturbing about one of their reviews: iPodRip - Shareware, $15 Good: Sync iTunes to iPod with one click. Support for Mac OS X and Windows. Many additional features if you’re looking for something more than a simple iPod-to-computer transfer. Bad: No video transfer. It isn’t free, but it can be used 10 times with no limitations. Since when did having to pay for a software application count against it? I can see the point if it’s too expensive or isn’t as good as cheaper/free alternatives, but marking down software just because it costs money isn’t a valid criticism.
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Well, when compared to other software that does *exactly* the same thing, but is free (as in beer) — or better yet, free (as in speech). then yes, cost is a minus!
Comment by Stas — November 21, 2006 @ 11:16 am
I agree with you, and I’m not arguing that free software is a bad thing. As I said, I can see the point marking down a product when it’s too expensive or isn’t as good as cheaper/free alternatives. I don’t agree, however, with marking down software simply because it costs money (notice the reviewer didn’t present any qualifiers such as “It’s bad that it costs money because the open-source alternative is just as good”).
Comment by James Stewart — November 21, 2006 @ 7:23 pm