I pay a bit of money for software each year - whether it be outright payments for off-the-shelf type packages, or bundled into hardware that I buy. But the fact is, purchasing software is neither cheap or convenient. Even after you burn your internet quota downloading it, or wait 2 weeks for a disc to arrive in the mail, your computer turns into a zoo of apps that need you to manually update them, or are continuously blowing up balloons in your tray telling you that they're trying to do it themselves.
Even if they get updated, what are the chances that they're not compatible with the other mash up of software on your PC? That's if you have a PC - what about Mac & Linux compatibility?
With so many headaches its suprising that client software is such a big industry. It goes without saying that prior to the internet and high speed DSL links there wasn't much of an option for anything else. But now companies like Google are trying their hand at their own "Office" type software, but offering it all online.
It's not bad either. You can create your own documents, even open MS Word docs, and when you're done save it to your space in Google so you can access it whereever you happen to be. Sure it lacks all the features of the MS one, but it's acceptable as a word processor, and a trail blazer in terms on online productivity.
Futhermore, no longer do you have to upgrade your own software, worry about compatibility issues, or even think which hard drive you saved that document on - it's all contained in the cloud; so as long as you have a link then you can access your stuff.
The best part about it all is that it's free. Free in the sense that their advertisers pay for you to use it. But as online software increases its presence and abilities, is such a sponsored solution really feasible, and is it able to pull a decent chunk of revenue?
Probably not.
So how about the other options? Aside from the aformentioned advertising model, there are a number of ways web based software can make some cash:
- Subscriptions
- Free usage, but additional costs for additional features
- Pay per use (purchase usage credits directly from the site)
- Trickle payments (ie: $0.01 per session, but deducted from your eg. paypal account)
- Get your software hosted/purchased from a big player with established revenue models
- Purchase 'package' subscriptions - like Pay TV
Perhaps there is no clear winner. Some would will continue to opt for advertising, some will force subscriptions; some might ofter a choice to either pay for the service, or accept advertising. The point is that as software moves further into the online environment, pricing models and structures will differ signifcantly than traditional off-the-shelf packages.
It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds as time goes on, but ultimately we all end up paying for it somehow.