Yes, but it’s that act of self-promotion that is the issue, not whether you’re charging for it. It can be almost worse for OSS, because users can be astonishingly critical, demanding, and insulting about something you’re giving away for free. If I was charging for it, I would be less offended, because they’d have some justification for being irksome.
Promoting your software still feels like sales, somehow - that’s growing up in a capitalism, I guess, plus you’re opening yourself to all that criticism.
I mean… that sounds like open source?
Yes, but it’s that act of self-promotion that is the issue, not whether you’re charging for it. It can be almost worse for OSS, because users can be astonishingly critical, demanding, and insulting about something you’re giving away for free. If I was charging for it, I would be less offended, because they’d have some justification for being irksome.
Promoting your software still feels like sales, somehow - that’s growing up in a capitalism, I guess, plus you’re opening yourself to all that criticism.