Quote:
Originally Posted by leebase
+1
I've heard some express such appreciation for Calibre that they send the developer money....even when they don't have to. It is far more likely the developer will keep improving Calibre if he keeps making money from it. It MAY be the case that he just likes to do the work and will continue anyway. It's MORE likely that -- if he made enough money -- he could give full time effort into making improvements, and doing so quicker.
You know...just like an author writing books.
Me....I'm a free rider...taking what he makes for free and what others support with their money. But I don't kid myself. I'm not supporting him just because I use his product. I'm no more value to him than those who don't use his product. Really, I'm morally worse.
I've tried to help people reconsider books as SEPARATE from meaningless commodities like milk or cars. They are works of art, created by an artist. Thus, if I appreciate the art and would like MORE from the artist, I SHOULD (if I can) support the art with my money.
In other words: you don't matter (to them) and you never did  |
You need to do a little research into open source and free software. Kovid has, for whatever reasons, chosen to make Calibre available for free. I have little doubt he could have made a lot of money had he chosen to go the commercial route. You are not a freeloader in the derogative sense in which you use that word because you buy something at the price at which it is offered. Nor is there anything morally wrong with you choosing to buy a cheaper book over a more expensive alternative. It happens every day in a market economy. Price is one basis on which sellers compete. Often the predominant one.
As much as I appreciate your patronising attempts to convince me and others that books are not commodities, I do not agree. Published books are commercial products. Many are deliberately written as such. This does not exclude them from being works of art, though too many of them are bad works of art. But works of art are themselves commodities. The greatest "priceless" works of art cease to be commodities, but when they do change hands it is at a price. But a print of the Mona Lisa does not sell for huge amounts of money. It is the scarcity and uniqueness of the original that attracts most of the value. The original is not a commodity. The prints are. With few if any exceptions, published books are also.
And, being commodities, they are priced as commodities and subject to whatever competition exists in the marketplace. Tradpub books compete with Indies. Books of all types compete with television and movies and music and games. And indeed with sports and other leisure activity. People's time is scarce and all sorts of products and activities compete for that time.
I have no objections to your somewhat romantic view of books as special snowflakes, nor do I object to you paying more than required to obtain a copy of a book. You are not a fool or a dupe for choosing to follow your own moral code, even a mistaken one. If you are happy with the value you are getting, that is what matters.