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Comment by csallen | Hacker News Reader

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csallen·

I built and sold an installable application in the past, and #5 was brutal. For some reason it's rarely discussed.

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I had a customer openly admit to me that they had been using a pirated version of my app until now.

Pretty crazy when you see your own app on torrent sites.

Only when your goal is making money and not making apps to further humanity

Isn't that implied if you charge money for your app?

Can't you do both? Why should people be expected to work for free?

Making money allows you to invest. If you can't make money, the scope of what is possible is restricted to "what one guy can make as a hobby".

Not all problems are workable within that constraint.

For most people, money is a tool and not a goal.

Can you share some examples of how you've furthered humanity while living for free?

Until the UBI arrives I still have to work for money.

I thought the idea was that you were allowed to make money by furthering humanity?

I've spent a lot of time on my app and I still had to pay people to help do the app.

Exactly, a SaaS product is the ultimate DRM and it's socially acceptable. Make this a native app that needs always-on internet and customers who care about it being native will flip and eat your margins like a giant Pareto Pacman.

Mind giving details on the product and experience? I’m interested.

If your app was a SaaS those people wouldn’t have paid for it anyway, they’d have signed up for the free trial then quit and signed up with a fresh email over and over.

The best thing you can do is identify them and segment them into beta / test updates for experimental features which you wouldn’t test on paying users.

I run a SaaS and in my case, this doesn't happen. Not only is it super annoying for the user but you lose all your data each time.

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