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Originally Posted by wgrimm
But I do think several things are going to change in regards to commercial software. Pricing for one; Microsoft's dreams of conquering the world with windows just aren't working. Alot of computer users across the world simply can't afford their prices. Individuals and governments are moving towards free software, and will continue to do so. I see commercial software as becoming more and more of a niche product. Specialized software, requiring support, will remain commercial (accounting systems, etc.) but stuff like office suites and os's will be free.
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Yes, I agree with you. As a "one man" software developer, I could never compete against the "big boys" in the software field, but there are plenty of "niche markets" where specialist software companies such as mine can excel. I write software for amateur astronomers - it draws star charts, controls telescopes, etc. That's a very specialist market area in which all the half dozen or so serious contendors are extremely small, specialist companies. There is free software out there - as you rightly say, one has to compete with that in areas such as providing outstanding support to one's customers.
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As for eBay, I can well believe it. Don't you have any recourse against sellers there? The few times I have bought items from eBay, I have put the cash in escrow when ordering. Luckily I had, because two of the items I bought were not what was advertised. Also, you might try some type of net activation to unlock your software. Alot of other smaller developers have had to go to this.
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All that eBay will do is pull an auction when notified of illegal trading; they won't actually take any action against offenders. Luckily I have had some success against people selling copies of my software through taking action against them in the UK's civil courts.