Well to be fair, he’s been building and updating the app for 10 years now and just porting it over to Lemmy recently if you want to look at it that way. It’s not an entirely new app out of the blue.
People deserve to be paid for their labor. This is Lemmy; that’s the default position given our history. There are plenty of free as in beer and speech apps out there if someone doesn’t or can’t pay the price.
But software development is hard work, especially if it isn’t a hobby. And a lot of Lemmy apps are hobbyists. That’s the communtiy phase we are in right now. And we are a smaller community, which means fewer paying customers, which means a higher overall cost. LJ can’t throw out an app for $5 and expect a hundred thousand to convert into paying customers off the backs of over a million downloads.
I’ll never understand this criticism of Sync. I hate subscriptions as much as most people, but with software it sort of makes sense because the work never ends. It isn’t like buying a bookcase or any other static item. And Sync, in this case, isn’t like what companies such as LG are doing where they are intoducing forced subscriptions into static firmware to extract maximum wealth from customers.
I mean, yeah, obviously the dev would rather people pay the subscription when some of the Ultra features require server work and/or continued costs (translation, OCR, etc.).
Developing Sync is his full time job, which is why it initially shipped without a lifetime tier. People voiced their opinion and the dev listened by adding the lifetime option and the ad free option. If you don’t like the pricing, use a different app. Nobody is forcing you to use Sync. LJ doesn’t owe you the app for free (or any price outside of what he feels is fair).
You do realize he can charge absolutely any price he wants for a product he created right? He doesn’t have to even offer an ad-supported version, but he’s decided to give the user the choice. If someone wants to use his app for free, they can. And if they don’t agree with his model, they can just not use the app. It’s really not a predatory practice.
As someone who bought lifetime ultra on sync for reddit the day he announced the shut down it’s a price worth paying. Used the app for almost 10 years and only paid 5 bucks. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen going forward so I gave what I could in return for that service.
You have ads on Lemmy though. Which is free and open source software whos developers disagree with the idea of an ad driven internet. Paying for it to remove the ads isn’t any better though as you are rewarding this kind of behavior.
No, putting ads in software to the point that it is annoying enough to pay someone to make them go away. Selling software without this strategy is respectable.
Basically said what I would have. The app takes work. Work deserves reward. Donations usually aren’t proper reward for work put in. I value the work the dev put in.
We know it took about 360 hours. That’s a shit load of work and it will be a daily job maintaining it. Besides that lifetime price is entirely optional
Crazy he’s charging 135$ for his app if that’s all it took to build it. What a scam
Well to be fair, he’s been building and updating the app for 10 years now and just porting it over to Lemmy recently if you want to look at it that way. It’s not an entirely new app out of the blue.
Sync is also being actively developed. It’s getting updated far faster and is far more feature rich than most Lemmy apps I’ve tried so far.
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I got 8 years out of Sync for reddit. You never know.
I also got many years for like four bucks. It kinda of feels like it evens out to me
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People when developers need to pay for their homes and electricity and buy food: this is a fucking scam, absolute bullshit
People deserve to be paid for their labor. This is Lemmy; that’s the default position given our history. There are plenty of free as in beer and speech apps out there if someone doesn’t or can’t pay the price. But software development is hard work, especially if it isn’t a hobby. And a lot of Lemmy apps are hobbyists. That’s the communtiy phase we are in right now. And we are a smaller community, which means fewer paying customers, which means a higher overall cost. LJ can’t throw out an app for $5 and expect a hundred thousand to convert into paying customers off the backs of over a million downloads.
I’ll never understand this criticism of Sync. I hate subscriptions as much as most people, but with software it sort of makes sense because the work never ends. It isn’t like buying a bookcase or any other static item. And Sync, in this case, isn’t like what companies such as LG are doing where they are intoducing forced subscriptions into static firmware to extract maximum wealth from customers.
Plus the some ultra features require recurring server costs.
It’s not 135$.
It sure is if you don’t want a monthly subscription
The one time payment to remove ads costs 17€. It’s not cheap but it’s nowhere near 135€.
Eh, I think they’re talking about ultra
Yes ultra. 135$ Canadian. An insane rip off for an app, made to deter you from buying it in favor of the monthly sub
I mean, yeah, obviously the dev would rather people pay the subscription when some of the Ultra features require server work and/or continued costs (translation, OCR, etc.).
Developing Sync is his full time job, which is why it initially shipped without a lifetime tier. People voiced their opinion and the dev listened by adding the lifetime option and the ad free option. If you don’t like the pricing, use a different app. Nobody is forcing you to use Sync. LJ doesn’t owe you the app for free (or any price outside of what he feels is fair).
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You do realize he can charge absolutely any price he wants for a product he created right? He doesn’t have to even offer an ad-supported version, but he’s decided to give the user the choice. If someone wants to use his app for free, they can. And if they don’t agree with his model, they can just not use the app. It’s really not a predatory practice.
But you don’t need ultra to have a fully functioning app. If you want to pay nothing you can. If you just want to remove ads forever it’s £17.
Ultra is meant to be a premium experience.
It replicates an option the dev offered on his reddit app that added extra features.
The free app is damn good (especially if you use AdBlock DNS) but it’s almost certainly worth paying the $20 to remove ads permanently.
That option was cheaper on the reddit version of his app but it was well worth it.
$20 is still pretty cheap for no ads. That’s less than two months of a streaming service
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You’re really comparing shit practices by already rich auto manufacturers to one guy who developed a very nice app that has non intrusive ads.
For a lifetime ultra experience. I could realistically get a decade out of it. Ad free is way cheaper too
For an app’s lifetime, not yours or his.
Obviously? I know there’s a risk and I’ve accepted that.
As someone who bought lifetime ultra on sync for reddit the day he announced the shut down it’s a price worth paying. Used the app for almost 10 years and only paid 5 bucks. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen going forward so I gave what I could in return for that service.
To get the initial release out. It’s not like there’ll be no more development after that. Plus, there’s the much cheaper price for just add free.
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That a really weak rebuttal, why even bother with such low effort
If that were true it would still be a good reply since you obviously expended no mental effort in your comment.
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Thats cute
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i’m using it for free
You have ads on Lemmy though. Which is free and open source software whos developers disagree with the idea of an ad driven internet. Paying for it to remove the ads isn’t any better though as you are rewarding this kind of behavior.
Rewarding working 60 hours a week of work on a well-built app?
No, putting ads in software to the point that it is annoying enough to pay someone to make them go away. Selling software without this strategy is respectable.
There is ad supported, ad free and premium. Somehow that’s still not enough options for the FOSS extremists.
Basically said what I would have. The app takes work. Work deserves reward. Donations usually aren’t proper reward for work put in. I value the work the dev put in.
It isn’t so fucking cynical.
Using Sync. Not seen a single ad so far.
I’ll probably pay for it at some point when I have the spare cash, to support a dedicated developer.
Same
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idk why but my version has no ads
I’ve noticed that the compact mode doesn’t show ads.
aha, that’s exactly what I’m using
Adguard DNS
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Which you could remove for far less than what you’re stating.
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It’s a good thing removing ads for a lifetime is only $20 and not $135 like you are saying
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“if that’s all it took”
Are you fucking insane? I’ve never worked that hard in my life and likely neither have you
They ported over the reddit version that had been paying the bills for 8yrs… C’mon
We know it took about 360 hours. That’s a shit load of work and it will be a daily job maintaining it. Besides that lifetime price is entirely optional