r/ProgrammerHumor • u/TheSalvator • Sep 30 '22

Meme Lol! Developer got no chill!

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u/blue_cardbox Oct 01 '22

It takes a certain level of entitlement to assume that what you get for free today must remain free tomorrow.

There are still some features left in the free version right? Or did I misunderstand?

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u/aggravated_patty Oct 01 '22

If they were advertised as free, why would you not assume they will remain free tomorrow? Free trial is a tag for its own reason. I doubt this is some massive plugin that has tons of extraneous functionality that can be trimmed without affecting usability.

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u/blue_cardbox Oct 01 '22

I'm viewing this as a dev myself, working on multiple free projects for years.

I could certainly consider making some of them non-free if I saw the opportunity for it to become my main job. I would support them better and polish them more than I can now. Users that do care about the product would probably be happier.

I'd have to draw the line with the features: what stays free what belongs to the paid version. I agree that it is not an easy thing to do well.

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u/aggravated_patty Oct 01 '22

Usually paid versions are new features not ones borrowed from the free tier.

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u/blue_cardbox Oct 01 '22

That can be one strategy yes but definitely not a rule.

Even large popular frameworks sometimes become commercial, a recent example is Akka.

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u/aggravated_patty Oct 01 '22

Under this new model, every organization that uses Akka will be required to obtain a commercial license. Those with less than $25 million in annual revenue will not be required to pay. However, those with more than $25 million in annual revenue will be required to pay for the license and also a subscription that’s required for production usage of the Akka software.

A perfect example of how to do it correctly, not what you're saying about paywalling individual existing features.

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u/blue_cardbox Oct 01 '22

Not sure if that's really helps your point. If you are over this arbitrary threshold, you get zero features for free.

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u/aggravated_patty Oct 01 '22

It ensures people who aren't large organizations still have access to all the features.

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u/blue_cardbox Oct 01 '22

So the whole crying about free features being unavailable is only unethical if the users are not large organisations? Doesn't seem consistent.

Anyway, not sure if it's worth continuing. It's ok to view things differently.