Comments on: 15 Websites and,or Services I’d Actually Pay For

By: Igor

Igor — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:22:06 +0000

I do pay for flickr and I cant imagine life without gmail, but with programs like WP and Firefox, I would just move to something else… movable type and my browser of choice camino.
Again I would pay for an instant messenger program, but having to pay for adium would just make me switch back to AIm or something.

By: Sidetrack » If the price is right

Sidetrack » If the price is right — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:01:32 +0000

[...] Mark’s article on 15 websites/services that he will pay for: Will you pay for the free online services that you have been leeching using and have since built [...]

By: 15 Apps/Services I’d Actually Pay For | Design Adaptations

15 Apps/Services I’d Actually Pay For | Design Adaptations — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:24:42 +0000

[...] I use daily that improve/simplify my life or business, but until I saw Mark Ghosh’s list of 15 websites or services he’d actually pay for (spurred by Ryan Spoon’s post of the same name), I never gave it much [...]

By: Dan Cristo

Dan Cristo — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:46:56 +0000

without doubt Google Analytics. The company I work for is actually moving away from WebTrends in favor of Google Analytics. That’s a savings of $50,000 a year! I enjoy Google Analytics over WebTrends for 2 main reasons - Speed and Format of reports.

By: Top Rated

Top Rated — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:53:41 +0000

How about services I get for free, but would only pay for if they didn’t have a free version. Guess I’m just too cheap. Two I use that fall into those category, are Mozy for backups, and AVG for virus protection. Not sure if AVG counts as a web service, but I included it anyway.

By: Tom B

Tom B — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:45:10 +0000

My favorites list would be : Wordpress, Skype and Firefox. I use them everyday. By the way, not everybody knows that skype is more than just a chat and calling program, it has plenty of interesting plugs too! Just go to “Do more” and find out.

By: Cairnarvon

Cairnarvon — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:44:06 +0000

There’s nothing in the GPL that says you can’t charge for the software. It’s entirely possible for software to be free without also being gratis.

By: Elpie

Elpie — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:33:46 +0000

There’s a lot of great software I’ve used that I would not have even bothered trying if it had not been free. There’s even more that I’ve used and discarded, never to touch again. I wouldn’t pay money for WordPress - it costs me time and money just keeping up with the updates. There’s always a cost with free software, even if you don’t value your own time. I do pay for plugins that save me time. But I believe in the principle of “pay it forward”. It doesn’t cost money to tell developers they are doing a great job, or to help them identify bugs, or to pass on some of the knowledge gained over the years. If I have to pay for something up-front though, this puts the application on a completely different footing. A bug I have to spend hours working around in a free app is not something I would expect to spend time on it I had paid for it. As a customer, I expect quality code and support services. As a user of free software, I take what is offered and make the best of it, and pay it forward where I can.

By: Casey

Casey — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:21:39 +0000

another cool web development tool add-on for Firefox is MeasureIt… which allows you to draw out a ruler of any size anywhere on the page, move it around and such… as a web designer/developer, I can’t live without this… it’s my favorite tool for working with those print designers (who can’t understand the difference between paper and the web) who have to have everything just so on the their pages!

By: Milorad

Milorad — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:49:29 +0000

What an absolutely ridiculous post, and really, utter lies too for the most part. Your most-used tools are free, and if anyone thinks they’d be your most-used tools today if they weren’t free, they’re an idiot.

If you had to pay for these things, you’d have found something free to use - and then posted about how you might pay for THAT years after becoming accustomed to it.

This post is so silly it makes my brain hurt. If any of those services you mentioned started charging - they’d absolutely murder their growth percentages, as new users don’t automatically approach a concept with years worth of love for it.

Giving limited-time free deals is just as bad, because when you’re choosing something to use, you don’t want the threat of a price tag hanging over your head giving you a reason to find fault.

I’d only ever pay for my blog if I were making money off it, and frankly with the amount of wordpress-related content on this site, you’d be writing for a VERY small audience if they charged for it.

Wow, the sh*t that crosses people’s minds just makes me whince.

By: ¿ Qué servicios web pagarías por usar ? | hombrelobo, una mente dispersa

¿ Qué servicios web pagarías por usar ? | hombrelobo, una mente dispersa — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:51:16 +0000

[...] en Weblogtoolscollection Compártelo: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover [...]

By: nanio

nanio — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:24:24 +0000

Flickr for me too (I happily pay $25/year for a pro account). And blip.tv.

By: Avrila

Avrila — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:34:20 +0000

WordPress wouldn’t be as good if it were for sale, because fewer people would try it, so the community effect wouldn’t have happened, which is a big part of why it’s as good as it is.

By: Wendy Piersall

Wendy Piersall — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:05:51 +0000

I’d be willing to pay for Woopra too. Especially if it allowed me to be finally rid of Google Analytics. Just being able to get Google off of my site would be worth the price.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:47:01 +0000

$200 !! How about everyone paying $10, that would add up, but it wouldn’t be a substantial barrier.

By: Software and services - free or paid? | billso.com

Software and services - free or paid? | billso.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:33:10 +0000

[...] Here’s a few quick lists of what I’m using, inspired by this discussion on Weblog Tools Collection: [...]

By: Ozh

Ozh — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:37:09 +0000

I’d pay for Firebug. Actually, I wanted to donate, but couldn’t find how to do so

By: Rodney

Rodney — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:12:10 +0000

gmail, wordpress, firefox, akismet…in agreement there.

I actually do pay for skype, but it’s still a great value.

I haven’t gotten the woopra fever yet, although my first site has been approved. I’ve been a little worried about slowing down my website performance.

Another one of Google’s services that I’d gladly pay for is their HELLO instant messenger, unfortunately they are shutting it down on May 15, 2008 Hopefully I can help change that: http://savehello.org

By: Venu

Venu — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:26:45 +0000

Most of the items in your list are popular because they are free (there are few exceptions)

If they were not, I am sure there are other free alternatives out there which match their features.

From your list, I would probably pay only for Gmail
Mint Analytics is the other app which I found worth paying for !

By: Tadd

Tadd — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:31:31 +0000

Not to sound like a jerk, but if these services were required to be PAID for I honestly wouldn’t use them. As one user said, I’m not made of money. In fact … I don’t even HAVE money. If I had money, I’d happily make donations … but really if they if I had to pay for it, even my love, WordPress … then I never would bother trying it in the first place. Sorry … but I’m poor.