MacHeist Software Bundle Ending This Weekend

[MacRumors]

The final software bundle for the MacHeist scavenger hunt was announced earlier this week and is on sale until Sunday night. So, this weekend is the last chance to take advantage of this sale.

The final Mac software bundle ($49) includes the following Mac applications: Delicious Library, ShapeShifter, DEVONThink Personal, Disco, RapidWeaver, iClip 4, a Pangea game, Newsfire and Textmate. The total value of the applications purchased individually comes to $307.74.

The promotion has generated a significant amount of controversy amongst Mac developers.

Against: Gus Mueller, Rouge Amoeba
Pro: Will Shipley, Oliver Breidenbach

The debate essentially boils down to the perceived value in giving away applications at significantly discounted prices and the shifting of revenue to the Macheist team. As linked above, however, the developers participating in the promotion, however, appear pleased with the results at this early stage.

Update: Originally Textmate was to be locked until $100,000 in charity was raised, but it appears they have unlocked it early.

 

[arn]

for reference sake, it appears the applications are full licenses with the exception of Textmate which provides 1.x updates only, but with 2.0 Leopard update coming with a discount.

arn

 

[flopticalcube]

Looks like Textmate has been unlocked early!

 

[mark88]

I bet my left nut that Will Shipley would not have put Delicious Library 2 in the bundle. It's good for him because his puts in DL1 which has been out ages and sold thousands already. DL2 is out soon and he knows he can make money from upgrades. So let's be clear about that.

I feel kinda sorry for developers who have apps competing against those in the bundle. I really don't see how bargain basement software is good for Mac Software in the longterm at all.

Keep giving people these incredible deals, just don't complain later on when you struggle to sell your software at full price.

 

[decksnap]

Financial analysis by John Gruber on how exploitive the pricing scheme is.

http://daringfireball.net/2006/12/iniquities_of_the_selfish

 

[theheadguy]

Why is everyone getting so upset of this? Many Mac users are not "die-hard" like us and probably wouldn't spend a penny on any of these programs... This is in many ways a win-win.

 

[treblah]

Financial analysis by John Gruber on how exploitive the pricing scheme is.

http://daringfireball.net/2006/12/iniquities_of_the_selfish

Remind me how a developer can be exploited if they opt in to the program.

 

[nagromme]

Maybe it does make more money for MacHeist than it makes for any one developer, but at least developers joined in voluntarily--they weren't forced to.

And I don't know that it devalues anything: it's a SHORT term deal. A holiday sale. Which, like other sales, can have the long-term benefit of raising awareness of certain products. It can also sell products to people who would never have paid full price: better to make some money rather than none, from a buyer who doesn't need/want your product as much as other buyers.

I didn't buy the bundle, but it (and the rest of MacHeist) caused me to learn about apps I might be interested in (or might recommend) later. And I would guess that a lot of people bought the bundle who would never have bought those apps at full price.

I can't speak about the financial details, or whether developers SHOULD have joined in or not, but in general, it seems like a positive thing--putting the spotlight on Mac software and indie developers.

Plus, this sale is the culmination of the whole heist/game thing--it doesn't just stand alone. (People earned additional discounts that way, and the spotlight was put on even more apps--which were given away in non-upgradable but non-demo form.)

 

[decksnap]

Remind me how a developer can be exploited if they opt in to the program.

exploitive of the industry.

 

[Butters]

TextMate is indeed unlocked My purchase was now officially well worth £25

 

[arn]

exploitive of the industry.

Well, people seem to assume that the Macheist people provided no service and therefore should not have been paid so much (Based on the assumptions on the articles).

But, there is value to promotion. And inherent risk involved... in that if they had not cleared the amount they promised then they would actually have lost money. There was certainly no guarantee they would have sold enough to cover expenses.

arn

 

[decksnap]

Well, people seem to assume that the Macheist people provided no service and therefore should not have been paid so much (Based on the assumptions on the articles).

But, there is value to promotion. And inherent risk involved... in that if they had not cleared the amount they promised then they would actually have lost money. There was certainly no guarantee they would have sold enough to cover expenses.

arn

True. Just posting the link so people can get a better understanding of the scheme they've set up. That said, the amount they stand to make is stupidly disproportionate.

 

[IlluminatedSage]

Personally, I think MacHeist was a waste of time for anyone but a high school or College kid.

If a company wants to do a real promotion to drive attention to the software, there are other ways to do it.

I dunno why people really care about this at all.

or why publishers actually have anything to lose. this stuff is mostly shareware type software.

it's not like they were giving away Aperture, Office or an Aspyr type game.

 

[bousozoku]

Why is everyone getting so upset of this? Many Mac users are not "die-hard" like us and probably wouldn't spend a penny on any of these programs... This is in many ways a win-win.

That's what I've been saying. You see one or two you like and you get all of them. You might just find that you like the rest of them and want to pay to upgrade them sometime in the future.

People are getting something but not as much as they would have alone, though more than they might have when people just delete the application from their machine.

 

[Flowbee]

Looks like it's been a pretty successful promotion overall. It's certainly brought a lot of attention the the bundled apps, and the controversy is only helping. It'll be interesting to read the participating dev's comments on how successful it was for them when the whole thing's over.

 

[mmmcheese]

Rouge Amoeba? haha...oh well, at least they got the spelling of the hard words right.

 

[Rod76]

It's pretty simple in my case, I'd never even consider most of the software offered at its retail price. This discount is giving devs my money whereas they would normally not have gotten my business.

This is the same reason I now use MacZot and MacUpdate deals to buy software. I'm a big supporter of the Mac shareware scene and I'm glad devs are now making these exceptions. I just hope they don't all decide to update their apps and charge me upgrade fees the week, day, and hour Leopard is released.

This is a great business model, and I hope it continues. I now get to use programs that for so long were just things on my want/wish list.

 

[cherrypop]

They named this "promotion" MacHeist for a reason.

No one wins except MacHeist themselves, and perhaps the customers (depending how you look at the situation).

Sure, the charities get some cash, that's good. But the developers get just 3% of the gross by some estimates.

 

[randomlinh]

I bet my left nut that Will Shipley would not have put Delicious Library 2 in the bundle. It's good for him because his puts in DL1 which has been out ages and sold thousands already. DL2 is out soon and he knows he can make money from upgrades. So let's be clear about that.

I feel kinda sorry for developers who have apps competing against those in the bundle. I really don't see how bargain basement software is good for Mac Software in the longterm at all.

Keep giving people these incredible deals, just don't complain later on when you struggle to sell your software at full price.

In his interview, he pretty much says exactly that. This was a way to get a userbase... and get them on an upgrade path. I see no problem with it if whoever buys it sees value in it. Otherwise, don't buy.

I wanted textmate, and figured at least a piece of this is going to charity, so why not?

Besides, everyone who joined did so on their own free will

 

[flopticalcube]

They named this "promotion" MacHeist for a reason.

No one wins except MacHeist themselves, and perhaps the customers (depending how you look at the situation).

Sure, the charities get some cash, that's good. But the developers get just 3% of the gross by some estimates.

But how much would the developers make without the promotion? Probably nearer zilch in most cases. Nothing stopping other developers getting together and making their own promotion. Sour grapes all round really.

 

[SciTeach]

I'm curious to know if anyone has gotten the bundle and how they like the apps. I appreciate indie development but I'll be honest and I only get the ones that are useful to me. The deal sounds good.

 

[tk421]

They named this "promotion" MacHeist for a reason.

No one wins except MacHeist themselves, and perhaps the customers (depending how you look at the situation).

Sure, the charities get some cash, that's good. But the developers get just 3% of the gross by some estimates.

Even if it is only 3%, 3% is better than 0%.

I would never buy any of these programs at the price they are normally. Not a chance. But I bought the entire package because I thought it was a good deal. And it cost the developers nothing to participate. There's no tangible merchandise or costs associated with that.

 

[Kingsly]

So... how much would the bundle have cost had I taken the time to participate in the heists?

 

[Doctor Q]

I'm curious to know if anyone has gotten the bundle and how they like the apps.

There are some comments about that in the Will you buy the MacHeist bundle? thread.

 

[Hattig]

I wouldn't have purchased any of them.

Now I will get all 10.

Maybe I will like a couple enough that I will get updates in the future.

Nobody has lost out from me here, as I wouldn't have got them. Indeed now they've all got maybe $1 to $3 each from me, so that's a net gain.

I imagine it is the same for a significant proportion of the other purchasers.