I've been told that the "new age" way to make money with software is to offer it for free, and then make money off of advertising on the web site or in the product itself. This is especially true if the product is web-based. Such an approach is contrary to Cadent's current strategy of charging for products/services and to not have any advertising. I've been called "old fashioned" and "out of date" because I have not jumped into the advertising pool.
How the advertising model came about is going to be a topic of a future blog (which will be very controversial) but for this blog, we have to just accept that the advertising model has made significant inroads into the software industry and is heavily promoted by companies such as Google. For me, I'm just not interested in following the advertisting model. It does not make sense to me that I should work months on crafting good software, and then have to give it away for free expecting my revenue to come from being an advertising conduit for the likes of Google.
I see this as a false economy: I can't get paid directly for what I do as a profession but rather have to bring into play a middleman like Google to see that I get some sort of compensation. Having to do this de-values my work. I might as well be working for an advertising company and give up software development altogether.
With the economy in such bad shape, I predict the advertising model will take a nasty hit in the months ahead. With less money, companies will cut back on advertising which will impact companies such as Google. That, in turn, will have a ripple effect of cutting back on the money software developers make from advertising. By marrying your revenue to an ad company, you end up sharing their fortunes even if customers are very happy with your product.
Being paid for the actual product, your software, is a true economy where good workmanship makes money, and badly written software goes broke. Under the advertisting model, both good and bad software can be equal if the hit rate on the web sites is the same. The assumption that a web site's hit rate is a reflection of the quality of the product is one I do not accept. In addition, software download sites like VersionTracker and MacUpdate can put your software into many hands without any advertising revenue coming your way.
Going back to a traditional model where people pay for the software they use helps to ensure well written software thrives and badly written software fades away. I'm not saying we should go back to the 80's and 90's where proprietary software was very expensive (usually over $100). The economy of scale of the modern computer industry means you can charge much less and make much more. That is why Cadent charges much less for our products than our competitors do. We are not free, but I feel we are reasonably priced. And Cadent web sites are now, and will alway be, free of advertising and the "visual pollution" such ads bring.