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Comment by personjerry | Hacker News Reader

The difference is that this article is an advertisement for the app they're selling.

Absolutely wrong. Howard is a retired doctor. And all of his Mac software (https://eclecticlight.co/downloads/) is free.

Also, Howard has been blogging about the Mac and making free apps available for many years. He's not suddenly going to pivot.

That is a pretty accusatory comment, given that the _freeware_ program mentioned is linked for download _right in TFA_.

Freeware is not the same as free software. You can use the former for a bait and switch.

They're not selling it, the app is free.

They are not selling it currently. Once they have enough downloads and people who rely on the app on a daily basis, who knows.

This assumes too much and isn't really fair to.

Just check the website and you’ll know. The website is well respected in the Mac world and their utilities are free since forever

edit typos

Too cynical. The author is one of the best experts on macOS (on the level of Jonathan Levin) and their utilities are geared towards understanding the OS, not so much as really doing something commercially viable

> The author is one of the best experts on macOS (on the level of Jonathan Levin)

Jonathan Levin is far more careful about verifying what he writes.

Dr Oakley is making his software for way too many years for such model to be feasible. Had he been relying for one of his apps to become a unicorn, he’d probably have gone broke by now.

The „business model” you are speculating about is second in its insanity only to making MIT-or-more-permissive open source software with an expectation that a multibillion corporation picking it up for its own use will share profits with the author in a sudden ethic attack.

People are allowed to be paid for their work and no one is forcing you to read the article.

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