First, this post does not have any adversity towards a specific person. It is the pure truth what I think about all remarks. I will not speak in a shallow manner so it might sound rough but believe me, I'm honest and say exactly what I think.
1. Why the hell is everything for money now?
If you would like to pay my mortgage and all other expenses that total up to $2,000/month, please let me know so I will stop working. All the free projects etc. you see out there survive on donations... I don't understand why people purchase vBulletin and do no use a free alternative. If you spent money on a good software and paid for it to get it, it is absolutely normal to expect to pay for other add-ons, if you want quality.
2. Prices from Hell?
The minimum fee I charge for my customers is 1,000.00, depending on what contract I work on. My current client signed for a 4,000.00 job. However he is getting what he paid for, quality and reliability. It took me 6 months to develop the product he wants. During this time, I did not get paid a dime. Now I collect the benefits from the long nights lost. I think it is fair, especially if the client saves money. Basically, my products will save him overall 7-12,000.00/year. So investing 4,000.00 is nothing for his benefits.
3. Lite does not equal feature non existent
When this community was born, I was doing a lot of freebies. Until I saw how many people ripped my code and did similar releases, while appropriating my hard work. It was allowed, because they changed 2-3 lines of code so it did not looked the same. Not to mention that other products were pure crap, in code quality... That made me decide that I will NEVER release anything for free, anywhere. It was an excellent decision, now I can make a decent living out if my products and services. Most of them are word to mouth advertised.
4. Encryption? What the hell?
I will never encrypt any of my work. I don't have to worry about it, the price tag is to high to worry about having them distributed on the Internet.
That's all I have to say, I hope you see clearly what I'm talking about and why I take those decisions long time ago. They made my life a lot easier and pleasant... and saved A LOT of money to my customers.
Regards,
Floren