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MacHeist "Week of Mac Developer" Causes Schism

Posted by kdawson on from the fair-deal dept.

ernesto99 writes "MacHeist began selling a software bundle of ten highly sought-after OS X applications last week with the stated goal of raising the profile of Mac shareware developers. 25% of the money brought in goes to charity. The bundle sale will go down as possibly the biggest success in Mac shareware history, as total revenues are approaching $650,000 after only six days. But some observers, including Daring Fireball's John Gruber, have called into question the ethics of MacHeist. MacHeist advertises itself as 'The Week of the Independent Mac Developer,' yet the MacHeist organizers stand to make vastly outsized gains relative to the very developers they have championed. Gruber calculates that MacHeist will record double, if not triple, the profits of all ten participating developers combined. (In fact the promotion has done so well that the promoter-to-developers profit ratio now stands at about four to one.) In an interview, Delicious Library developer Wil Shipley defends his involvement in MacHeist, saying that the publicity and reach of MacHeist has already paid him dividends. The whole affair has created a heated dialogue, resulting in a direct clash among some of the biggest names in the Mac community."

6 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If the individual developers have agreed..... by Mex · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's a reeeeally slow sunday, that's how it became news.

  2. regarding the schism by dangitman · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, for one, denounce the Catholic Church overlords.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  3. Just one thought comes into mind by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slap fight.

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    He tried to kill me with a forklift!
  4. Re:If the individual developers have agreed..... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Funny
    In other words, it sounds like a problem for people who want to charge large amounts for a shareware product but can't due to a competitor, or who feel like a chump for buying a product that now costs a lot less than what they paid for it?

    It onl sounds like that if you ignore most of what I wrote.

  5. Re:If the individual developers have agreed..... by LKM · · Score: 2, Funny
    Not really. We aren't talking about "most people" - we are talking about Mac shareware buyers.

    Contrary to popular belief, most Mac shareware buyers are pretty normal, average people. Not all Mac users are homosexual graphic designers snorting coke while drinking starbucks coffee and listening to indy pop on their iPods.

  6. Re:If the individual developers have agreed..... by ultramk · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey! I'm not gay and I prefer DIET Coke. So there.

    Otherwise.... yeah pretty much.

    M-

    --
    You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas