From Thomas Junker (in reply to Vlad):

this same idea works with software. you don't see software as an end product. you see it as something that is evolving over time. and whenever you send money to a company for software, in this new system the idea is that "I like this software, and I want to see it grow. here is my contribution to that".

People as marketplace players do not think like that. .................................................... This is a very important point to consider: how a person as a customer will _actually_ think. It is easy enough to propose schemes based on one's preferences of how one would like a potential customer to make decisions about services, products, and methods of payment for what is offered. But doing the customer's thinking for them doesn't automatically transform them into that line of reasoning. To better compute whether they will proceed according to how you have imagined, it is more realistic to consider how the other person reasons on the circumstance they are facing - from their perspective. Market researchers actually carry out tests for consumer response and acceptance of products or payment schemes in order to gauge their success. And there are many kinds of potential customers, who will make different decisions in regard of the same thing: some will find it a good idea to think about software in terms of "contributing to its growth" in the longterm, but some will have immediate needs which they are trying to satisfy and may think "I need a solution to my problem *right now*" and will look for the product/service which will solve their problem as it stands in the present. This is another attractive feature of "the free market": in it one can find all sorts of schemes & methods for solving all sorts of problems in different ways. There is no single type of consumer, no single circumstance, no one service or product or scheme which will satisfy everyone, equally, at all times. "May the Best Man Win", and "To the Victor Belong the Spoils". <g> .. Blanc