Comments on: Why it’s okay to buy the MacHeist bundle

By: Trygve

Trygve — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:26:02 +0000

PS: Nothing against John, Phill and the group… these guys are great marketers, but I think developers (by their own choice of course) are getting the shaft. I don’t know what they are getting exactly but based on $39 ($38 after payment processing)….

$ 9.50 Charity
$18.00 One dollar per app to developers ($2 for the 4 higher-end apps)
$10.50 John, Phill and gang

This means $800K for the gang and $75K for an individual developer. After that $800K is split, John, Phill and Scott probably get $200K each… not bad at all – they put a lot of work into it. But the developers get a bunch of new customers that the money earned will not cover to support. Since most people will use only 1 or 2 of the apps, why not just buy those directly from the developers and focus the money to where it will directly beneifit the product?

By: Trygve Inda

Trygve Inda — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:34:11 +0000

It is a heist indeed. Better to just go donate $39 to charity and buy the apps you need directly from the developer.

By: Neil Anderson

Neil Anderson — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:06:36 +0000

It’s a great way to try out apps for a low price. Even so, none of the five people I forwarded the offer to have bought.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:10:33 +0000

Who died and left Jeff in charge. His argument is silly since he failed to document how MacHeist got a gun to their head and forced them to sell. Personally, appreciate the efforts of the developers and will now use their work. If it wasn’t for the bundle, I wouldn’t be a customer. Now the developers can ding me for upgrades and everyone wins.

Jeff, why are you the self appointed guardian for the developers? Aren’t they adults?

By: Brandon S. Adkins

Brandon S. Adkins — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:55:37 +0000

Why discuss this in such length?

The developers CHOOSE to participate and do not do so blindly. It is their CHOICE to be included in the bundle. THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE. No further discussion needed.

It’s funny that many of you make the developers the victim. The only thing they are a victim of is their own decision making. MacHeist is not at fault.

By: Aayush Arya

Aayush Arya — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:29:31 +0000

I’m pretty sure you had me (and maybe others like me) in mind when you wrote that last paragraph. I agree with you and had already come to that decision the moment I’d read on Marco’s blog that the developers were getting percentage based payments this time round.

Instead of writing about it on my blog though, I decided to write about it on Macworld, which takes some time to go through the editing process. I’ve just submitted it now and it should be appearing on the Macworld homepage in an hour or two.

So, yeah, there’s nothing wrong with purchasing the MacHeist bundle and anyone who claims otherwise is either ignorant, misled, or has a score to settle with either John Casasanta or Phil Ryu—or some combination of the above three.

Great article, by the way. Your points about the perceived value of software were excellently put.