FlickrExport 2.0 released

Ben,

I'm not sure what you mean by "reduction"? Please get in touch at support-at-connectedflow-dot-com and I'll help you as best I can.

Fraser

Where can I find V 1.3.4 for download??? I installed v 2.0 without realizing the *reduction* in service it provides!

ugh... I need to read my posts more carefully.

"but if I can afford it, I ultimately have to look for an alternative app that offers a free solution"

Should actually be "but if I can't afford it, I ultimately have to look for an alternative app that offers a free solution".

Fraser, I appreciate your lengthy response to my less than level headed post ;) Pretty cool that a dev reads the comments actually.

I would like to recant somewhat and thank you for a very useful util and will likely plunk down the $$$ once the beta runs out.

-Michael

"I don't think twice about buying a low cost app that doesn't cost much more than a value meal.. but I think long and hard when it crosses the $15 point for me."

Same here (though I'd never eat a value meal), like I wrote when Frasier originally announced FlickrExport 2.0 would be shareware. If it were $15 I'd likely already have paid for it; at ~$22 I'm holding off.

And my expectations for support change with most +$20 apps. Any acknowledgment and feedback I get when contacting developers is important. I normally only ask for support after other resources fail, or when I have a feature request that doesn't have a workaround. I'm certainly not pestering developers to scratch every itch.

I don't think it's the fact that you are now charging for the app, I think it's the price point. I honestly think if you charged less, more people would buy, and complain less. I like flickr export a lot, but it's not an app that I couldn't live without.

I think people would be likely to buy 1000 copies of an $8 app, than a $20x app. There has to be something in selling mass quantities at a lower rate. I don't think twice about buying a low cost app that doesn't cost much more than a value meal.. but I think long and hard when it crosses the $15 point for me. When I register an app, it makes me feel good that I am supporting the authors, but if I can afford it, I ultimately have to look for an alternative app that offers a free solution. I am sure it is hard to find a good balance, but I really believe people want to support the developers, but they have to look at their disposable income first. People don't think twice about ordering a $20 pizza.. but will easily forego an app that cost that much. Regardless, I do like your App, and your work is definitely appreciated.

I think the free app 1001 is good enough to do this job... I've till now uploaded almost 3gb of pictures to flickr without any problem using 1001...

Fraser Speirs is interviewed about Flickr Export 2 on the latest episode of Northern Bytes. If you're criticising him for pricing FE2 as it is, I'd recommend you take a listen.

http://northernbytes.org

Michael, to answer your questions:

1. "I find it highly unlikely that people were not donating."

Some people certainly did donate, and I thank them all for doing so. In the 18 months that FlickrExport was "open source plus donations", my donation income was, on average, 92p per day. So, yes, some people were donating but not enough to justify the evenings and weekends I was spending on FlickrExport. I would have been better off spending my evenings flipping burgers at McDonalds.

2. "I suspect the response to such donations serves as an excellent metric for how many people would be willing to buy an app and $$$ start dancing in developers heads."

Actually, I think the number of voluntary donations is an exceptionally poor indicator of potential market size. Much more interesting measuerments are the number of downloads, the number of active users. I have some information on both of these and I can tell you that the number of active users was tens of thousands greater than the number of people who donated. Active use of the product is proof of demand for it. However, most people like to get something for nothing, so voluntary donations are the actions of that rare individual acting with enlightened self-interest.

3. "Bottom line, this guy has put a GUI on an API. Nothing earth shattering."

Certainly, FlickrExport doesn't contain any cutting-edge algorithms or data structures. Most consumer applications don't. It does, however, represent many thousands of hours of work in programming, UI design, QA, bug tracking and user support, to say nothing of the cost of the bandwidth just to distribute the downloads (the donations, in total, didn't even cover that).

I totally respect your right as a consumer to determine whether or not FlickrExport represents sufficient value for the money. That's Capitalism and I'm a big fan of it. I'm just pointing out that your approach to market analysis does not match the data I have.

Justin, I find it highly unlikely that people were not donating.

Why? Because it would undermine your outrage? Have you asked Fraser? Or are you just making baseless assumptions?

Bottom line, this guy has put a GUI on an API. Nothing earth shattering.

I look at iSale and Garagesale which put an GUI on the eBay API, and which cost a lot more than FlickrExport and go "hmm".