The price is in the box, the cost in our motivation, the utility in the use we give it, the value in our appreciation.
This is a rather sensitive issue depending on the point of view of the one who is giving his opinion, on what he works at, and on the one who pays their expenses; usually we associate the software cost worth its label followed by the dollar sign, often unobtainable to small markets or because we compared it with others not exactly in the same context.
I am a strong believer than open source licenses are an irreversible trend and that within a few years (if it is not already happening) will take a good proportion of the market in most of the technological world in a sustainably way (which is not happening). But the fact of free software doesn’t imply it will end the hunger of humanity. The implementation, innovation, training, and update of software have a price that must be paid by someone; and at the end the commercial software must exist to make tradable trends.
When this morning I heard Greg Bentley’s voice, telling us how many millions of dollars they have accumulated in 25 years with the Microstation & family software, I may have as first thought a string of atrocities which unfit for this space. But when we realize that this is the prize of one who innovates, over the second stone in the company of others and many more, we end up acknowledging that it is a reward for their efforts, that their other 23 university classmates didn’t get (including me or my father).
It is still likely to think that this credit is taken away because many have used and refined their tools. True, but also others have done their own profits, which by nature law would have achieved with any other software, in greater or lesser extent, but most likely with similar effort.
So, if we are critical of software prices, its limitations to our demands, service quality or even including their mad policies; we must also be aware that we could be eating because their existence; just in use or with competition.
AutoCAD consume lots of memory, Bentley is a bit intuitive, gvSIG advances too slow, ESRI is very expensive; Windows is outdated, Manifold is little known, Google Earth is extremely vague…
Pessimism has not won many awards in history, making the troll is very easy (and sometimes delicious), but it is (almost) always possible to find a “win – win” perspective within the value-added chain of relationships:
– My successes are the result of my technicians, exploiting them very hard but also with their incomes they have increased their resumes and paid their bills. At the end, I learned more of their skills than them of my poem; some of them will go further than me, because they have much potential.
-They will gain benefit from its history, though I am who receive the applause now; not understanding this can decant professional jealousy or frustration. But later they will have their own successes, I will enjoy it and this is a chain that should happen to whom now is my boss.
Something similar happens to the software:
-Bentley makes much silver and in return gives me a prize of $ 300, but with their tools I fed my guys, developed knowledge and experience.
-AutoCAD monopolize the global market, but thanks to its popularity I have many students in my class who are willing to pay and many visits seeking to use and even how to run the keygen.
-ESRI does not respect some community standards, but GIS owes much to its aggressiveness and for me, going to a conference in San Diego has inspired the motivation that may have the masses.
Depending on what we do, we could have pessimistic thoughts about ESRI, Bentley, AutoCAD, gvSIG, Google Earth or Windows marks. But they are the result of someone who took the initiative to create them from scratch or from very primitive ideas than they are now. A good portion of what we eat daily is due to its existence, the sum of your persistence, innovation and enjoyment of life makes all win. The road is the price, the achievement is the value.
Give me the name of your least sympathize software… well, if it wouldn’t exist, perhaps you wouldn’t have any knowledge and the 8 minutes you need for reading this post will be unnecessary, because this blog wouldn’t exist. In conclusion, the value of the software will be in how many productivity we succeed on it, perhaps too much, too little, economic, hysterical or exciting.